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Saturday's Jefferson-Jackson dinner marks the beginning of the home stretch leading up to the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3. With actual voting less than 60 days away, six of the major Democratic candidates were on hand, hoping to rally their supporters for the last eight weeks of the campaign.

Oil prices are soaring to levels never anticipated – nearly $100 a barrel. The price of oil affects just about everything that is made, transported, eaten and sold in the United States. But the cost hasn't had the impact on the economy many analysts expected.

Earlier this week, NPR's Christopher Joyce reported on an experimental fire scientists set in Brazil to understand how these fires affect climate change. Here, he offers a reporter's notebook on what it's like to chase a fire through a tropical forest.

Beloit, Wis., resident Joan Salzberg, discovered a green-breasted mango hummingbird feeding in her backyard. The bird is rarely, if ever, seen north of Mexico. It had clearly lost its way. Thanks to a concerted rescue effort — just in time for winter — the little hummer now calls a Chicago zoo home.

More than two dozen Broadway theaters have been dark since the stagehands went on strike a week ago. But Broadway fans still find entertainment opportunities in other amusements in the New York theater district.

Pharmaceutical giant Merck will pay $4.85 billion to end thousands of lawsuits over its painkiller Vioxx. The amount, to be paid into a settlement fund, is believed to be the largest drug settlement ever. Claims must meet certain criteria to qualify for payment as the settlement is not a class action.

Next week, the African National Congress will choose its next leader. An intense rift between the candidates — South African President Thabo Mbeki and his one-time deputy Jacob Zuma — is causing many to question the party's future.

What new information could lead 16 intelligence agencies to change their conclusions on Iran? New York Times reporter Mark Mazzetti talks with Melissa Block about how the NIE came together — and what the new estimate says about changes in the intelligence community.

The National Endowment for the Arts has released a study on reading trends in the U.S. The study shows "startling declines" in "how much and how well" Americans are reading.

Officials in New York are on track to spend $1 billion taxpayer dollars refurbishing 40-year-old Winter Olympic sports and tourism sites near Lake Placid. Critics doubt it will pay off.

A tape of a September shootout in Baghdad involving Blackwater USA leaves Iraqis unable to distinguish between U.S. military personnel and private security contractors. The Blackwater shootout left 17 Iraqis dead.

The sudden rise is blamed on violence in Nigeria and new warnings that OPEC will have problems meeting global demand for oil in the next two decades.

Nearly 20,000 people convicted of drug offenses could find out Tuesday if they'll be spending less time in prison. The U.S. Sentencing Commission may reduce the extra punishment that's given for crimes involving crack, as compared to powdered, cocaine. The Supreme Court ruled that federal judges may give lighter sentences to crack cocaine defendants than has been required.

Hundreds of people have died in post-election ethnic violence in Kenya. A hospital in Eldoret has received more than 70 bodies since election results were announced, including 17 burned alive in a church. Raila Odinga, who narrowly lost the presidential election, has called for protests Thursday.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Anne Hull grew up in the rural interior of Central Florida during the 1960s and '70s. Her memoir evokes a land of perfect citrus, and the cruel costs of its harvest.

Jill Homer, Iditarod biker, shares the secret joys, fears and survival tips for cycling in serious snow. Hint: It helps to have the right brakes. Expect to go slowly. And watch out for moose tracks — those deep holes are just killer.

In January 2003, U.S. Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) took over as the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee and, as the ranking member, was briefed in February 2003 on the existence of videotapes of CIA interrogations.

As Kosovo's future remains in doubt, the city of Mitrovica, the province's most divided community, is noticeably tense. Members of the Serbian community say they can't live in an independent Kosovo under majority Albanian rule. Albanians driven from the north say they want to return to their homes.

The Justice Department is considering whether to bring criminal charges against Blackwater employees for a shooting that left 17 Iraqis dead. NPR FBI correspondent Dina Temple-Raston shares the stories of three witnesses — a traffic officer, a bank employee and a doctor who lost his wife and daughter in the shooting.

The Federal Reserve's move to infuse money into the banking system is getting mixed reviews. The plan aims to ease anxiety among banks afraid to lend to each other because so many have taken hits from the U.S. mortgage meltdown.

The Republican presidential candidates faced off for the final time in Iowa before the state's influential caucuses next month. The candidates were subdued and positive during the debate, despite the highly contentious race.

Ken Rudin, NPR's political editor, and Juan Williams, NPR senior correspondent, discuss the neck-and-neck race in New Hampshire and South Carolina. They'll also weigh in on recent Democratic and Republican debates, and what Oprah's endorsement could mean for presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

Democratic presidential candidates try to score some last-minute points during their final debate in Iowa, which goes to the polls on Jan. 3. Voters are looking for a change of direction.

While the new energy bill delivers good news to those in the ethanol business, it disappoints many in the business of cultivating alternative energy sources — such as wind, solar and geothermal power.

South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress, chooses Jacob Zuma as its new leader, rejecting South African President Thabo Mbeki. That puts Zuma, a controversial politician, in a position to become or select the country's next president when Mbeki's term ends in 2009.