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NPR's Steve Inskeep profiles Vermont Sen. Jim Jeffords, a moderate Republican who cast a crucial vote against President Bush's $1.6 trillion tax cut proposal. Sen. Jeffords' tie-breaking ability on close votes in the evenly divided Senate gives him considerable influence. He used it to help reduce the size of the tax cut by about a fourth and divert more than $200 billion of it to pay for special education. Jeffords was just re-elected and has received less criticism in his home-state than from conservative Republicans in Washington, D.C.

Jimmy Buffett fans would be able to help a charity the late singer founded by paying for a specialty license plate, under a proposal filed Thursday for the 2024 legislative session.

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with the Rev. Howard-John Wesley of the historic Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Va., about his sabbatical, which coincided with the beginning of the pandemic.

NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with civil rights activist Xernona Clayton about growing up in segregation, her first racist experience and working with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

NPR's Steve Inskeep speaks with Miles Bruner, a Republican operative who walked away from his job. Bruner says the GOP is increasingly corrupt and has devolved into a cult of personality.

What happens after a public callout? For comedians Hari Kondabolu and Hank Azaria, the answer to that has a lot to do with their race.

Danielle Bensky, who met Jeffrey Epstein when she was a young ballerina, is speaking out against the Justice Department's decision not to release additional documents about his case.

The Eta Aquarids, named for the constellation of Aquarius, may be seen in the early morning this Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

The Earth has existed for nearly 5 billion years and, to this point, no other forms of life have been identified in the seemingly boundless expanse of outer space. Commentator Marcelo Gleiser says this simple fact has deep implications for who we are and how we should treat life here on our home world.

UPDATED 2/14/15 9 A.M. WITH RESCHEDULED GAME, RANKINGS AND PLAYOFF SCHEDULE: It's tough to say Tampa's not a hockey town when you look at the highlights…

Belugas play, a sperm whale nurses, and orcas teach their pups to hunt in a series of photographs from National Geographic photographer and explorer Brian Skerry.

NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with sports psychologist Dr. Mark Aoyagi about the way athletes deal with psychological pressure at the Olympics.

Under intense security, President Bush arrives in Pakistan, where he is greeted with violent protests. Bush will meet with President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday. The newly announced nuclear agreement with Pakistan's neighbor, India, could affect Musharraf's cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

The Cat in the Hat, the book about a mischievous, irrepressible soul who always seemed kind of ageless, is 50 years old. At the time of its debut in 1957, the Cat was an instant success. The Dr. Seuss classic is still captivating to children and the adults who read to them.

A charismatic young writer poaches plot points from the lives of established authors in John Boyne's new novel. Critic Maureen Corrigan calls A Ladder to the Sky "erudite and ingeniously constructed."

The Supreme Court has delivered significant blows to President Biden's student loan forgiveness plan, LGBTQ+ protections and affirmative action. Those rulings are reverberating on the campaign trail.

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf was once the lead cleric associated with the proposed Islamic community center some critics called the "ground zero mosque." In his new book, Moving the Mountain, Rauf calls for moderate Muslims to step up and marginalize the voices of extremists.

Blues, jazz and gospel; a civil rights movement that began with the Emmett Till case; modern glass and steel buildings that dared the sky. In Third Coast, Thomas Dyja writes that "the most profound aspects of American Modernity grew up out of the flat, prairie land next to Lake Michigan."

The National Book Critics Circle has announced that two feminist literary scholars, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, will receive a lifetime achievement award. Critic Maureen Corrigan says their groundbreaking 1979 book, The Madwoman in the Attic, changed the way we read.

In time for the 110th anniversary of the author's birth, Ernest Hemingway's posthumous memoir, A Moveable Feast, has been restored — or rather, as Maureen Corrigan would have it, "remixed."

Disinformation ran rampant on the social media site formerly known as Twitter after explosions at a hospital in Gaza. Changes to the platform have made finding credible information harder than ever.

Two U.S. Marine fighter jets have disappeared while flying in Iraq. The body of one pilot has been found. The U.S. military says there is no immediate evidence that hostile fire contributed. Meanwhile, violence broke out near the Syrian border, and Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's struggles continue as he tries to complete a cabinet.

The battle lines have been drawn over Scotland. Nationalists want to push forward with a referendum on independence from Britain. British Prime Minister David Cameron is maneuvering to make sure Scots vote "no" on independence.

Facebook has announced changes to how the company shares data with third parties. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Bloomberg columnist Shira Ovide about what the changes include and how much they matter.

Maureen Corrigan runs down her list of the year's best fiction, including a series of books set in post-Sept. 11 New York City, Richard Ford's last installment in the Frank Bascombe trilogy and fiction by two Alices.