“American Idol” is starting up again today. And Houston Chronicle columnist Joey Guerra has some suggestions for songs he’d like to see deleted from the show’s songbook. Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing” is on the list. Actually Guerra says anything by Houston, Mariah Carey or Alicia Keys needs to go. He’s also in support of the rumor that “At Last,” by Etta James has been officially banned.

If you’re not a fan of “American Idol” you going to find this depressing. USA Today puts together a list of “5 reasons ‘Idol’ could roll on forever” in today’s paper. Its track record as a star-maker, its simple contestant-focused format, and its position as leader of the Reality Singing Show Contest genre are offered up as reasons for the show’s staying power.

The New York Post comes out swinging on its front page this morning. “Chicken of the Sea” is the headline below a photo of the captain of the Costa Concordia. Just-released audio puts the captain on a rescue boat about an hour after he’d run the 950-foot, 3,200-passenger cruise ship into the ground. The Coast Guard’s reaction: “Get back on board for f—k sake!!!”

After years of encouraging viewers to serve bacon cheeseburgers on Krispy Kreme donuts, Paula Deen announced yesterday that she has diabetes. Apparently, she’s known about her condition for three years. But she’s talking about it now because she’s the new spokesperson for Victoza, a diabetes drug. The Savannah Morning News says the news didn’t deter diners at her restaurant from ordering Deen’s fatty favorites.

The Boston Globe has an interesting article today, featuring “confessions of ex-vegetarians.” One man says it wasn’t until he started eating meat again that he realized the meat substitutes in his diet were giving him headaches. Another says he didn’t feel strong enough for rigorous activity on his meat-less diet.

O.M.G. Guess what a group of researchers from the Berkeley just discovered? Gossip, they say, is good for society. Spreading the word about someone who’s behaving badly plays a “critical role in maintaining social order, preventing exploitation and lowering stress. Says one of the study’s psychologists: “Much of what we call gossip is driven by a sincere desire to help others.”

Mitt Romney revealed his tax rate yesterday. It’s about 15 percent. The Wall Street Journal says the disclosure has put a focus on the GOP candidate’s wealth. New Gingrich, who supports a 15 percent flat tax plan, took the opportunity to offer this jab: “We ought to rename our flat tax…the Mitt Romney Flat Tax.” By comparison, in 2010, President Obama and the First Lady paid 25.3 percent of their $1.8 million income.

On one side there’s the music and movie industries, who say SOPA will protect “America’s creative class from thieves.” On the other side, are privacy advocates and Silicon Valley, who say SOPA will “undermine free speech and due process.” In today’s paper, the Wall Street Journal puts together a helpful guide on the Stop Online Piracy Act, now making its way through Congress.

Buying a lightbulb used to be as simple as choosing between 60 watts and 75. Nowadays, one must answer a litany of questions before buying bulbs. The Wall Street Journal offers some advice to help decipher the new labeling, as well as pros and cons on the three main types—incandescents, compact fluorescents (CFLs) and light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

Scientists are trying to crack their own da Vinci code of sorts, says the LA Times this morning. A team based out of the University of California San Diego is in Italy to decipher if a mural by the artist has been hidden in plain sight,  behind 16th century fresco, for hundreds of years. The team is using tablets to determine where to drill through the fresco, by artist Georgio Vasari, in order to place tiny cameras in the wall.

There’s an opinion piece in the New York Times this morning, written by a bipolar woman whose sister is a writer for my favorite show of the moment, “Homeland.” She’s apparently the model for Claire Daines’ psych issues. She says “the show cuts close to home at points, but it gets the lead character’s story right.”