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In Ukraine's eastern city of Donetsk, activists who want to align the country more with Russia seized a regional administration building in the center of town last weekend. NPR correspondent Ari Shapiro went inside the building Friday and reports on what it was like:

Overnight, reports said pro-Russian protesters here in Donetsk had reinforced the barricade surrounding the 11-story government building that the demonstrators have occupied since Sunday. This morning, I made the 10-minute walk through wintry weather with my translator and security adviser, to see what the new construction looked like.

The scene had changed completely in just a few days. On Tuesday, the weather was warm and people paraded outside the building with their children. There were balloon arches. The operation looked like a Disneyland version of an armed occupation, except the Molotov cocktails and lead pipes were real.

Today, several new layers of barricades had been erected. There were two solid borders made up of tires and razor wire surrounding the building. At the only gap, a masked man checked identification of everyone who walked through. We explained that we're American reporters, hoping to interview one of the protest organizers. After scrutinizing our press cards, he handed us off to another man in fatigues, who whisked us inside.

We passed at least three checkpoints, pulling out identification at every stop. Our bags were searched. Inside, the building was a beehive of organized activity. Lights were on, even though the government says it has disconnected electricity to the building. Streams of young men ran up and down flights of stairs, carrying palettes of supplies. In a corner, a large pile of canned and jarred foods suggested that the demonstrators are planning to be here for a while.

At a table, women sliced cheese, sausages and pickled tomatoes for sandwiches. Some brewed hot tea, which they distributed to the men outside. Other women stood at a first aid station behind a table of pills and other medical supplies. Behind them, signs listed a phone number to reach a building supervisor.

The entire operation seemed far more coordinated and hierarchical than just a few days ago. On Tuesday, people were drinking in public. Today, there was no alcohol to be seen.

The walls were lined with posters and handmade signs in Russian. One read, "If you pillage, I will break your hand." Another had a dollar sign followed by, "Go away!" "Ukrainian media are lying sluts," read a third.

I tried to pull out my iPhone to take a picture. "No photos," our escort said in polite but firm English.

We walked briskly down a hall, and reached a man in fatigues sitting behind a desk. Our escort explained in Russian that we are American reporters seeking an interview. "Nyet, nyet," the man behind the desk said crisply.

We left as quickly as we arrived, our bags searched one more time at the final perimeter.

Once we had left the building but were still inside the barricade, we crossed paths with an American reporter we'd met earlier. He was eating a chocolate truffle. "They just held me in a room for an hour," the journalist said. "They gave me this on the way out."

April is National Poetry Month, and Code Switch is celebrating by writing about great poets of color and their poems that address issues of race, culture and ethnicity. We began the series with an invitation to our readers to help us build a collaborative poem. Today, we take a look at the intersection of boxing, race and verse. Enjoy, and share your favorite poetry recommendations in the comments.

South Texas is in the midst of a massive oil boom. In just a few years, it's totally transformed once-sleepy communities along a crescent swoosh known as the Eagle Ford Shale formation and has brought unexpected prosperity — along with a host of new concerns.

Among the towns drastically changed by the drilling is Cotulla. It's southwest of San Antonio, about 70 miles up from the Mexico border. The area is called brush country — flat, dry ranchland, scrubby with mesquite and parched by drought.

Before the boom, jobs were few and poverty was high. Then, in 2008, oil company Petrohawk drilled the first discovery well two miles deep into shale. It was successful and led to a drilling frenzy.

Now after just six years, more than 8,000 oil and gas wells have been drilled with permits for another 5,000. They're pumping more than 1 million barrels of oil a day, making it the No. 2 oil-producing region in the U.S.

Now train cars roll in to the Gardendale rail yard bearing miles of pipe and vast quantities of the chemicals and sand used in hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking.

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An Australian plane detected yet another possible signal from the missing Malaysia Airlines jet in the southern Indian Ocean on Thursday, as searchers said they were feeling more confident that the aircraft's flight-data recorder would ultimately be found.

Angus Houston, who is coordinating the search off Australia's west coast, says an Australian air force P-3 Orion, which has been dropping sonar buoys in the search area, picked up a possible signal that may have come from a man-made source.

"I'm now optimistic that we will find the aircraft, or what is left of the aircraft," he said.

"Hopefully with lots of transmissions we'll have a tight, small area and hopefully in a matter of days we will be able to find something on the bottom that might confirm that this is the last resting place of MH370," Houston said.

Reuters says:

"The signal, which could be from the plane's black box recorders, brings to five the number of 'pings' detected in recent days within the search area in the Indian Ocean.

"The first four signals were detected by a U.S. Navy 'Towed Pinger Locator' (TPL) aboard Australia's Ocean Shield vessel, while the latest was reported by an aircraft picking up transmissions from a listening device buoy laid near the ship on Wednesday."