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Labor advocates say raising the minimum wage stimulates consumer spending. Problem is, with the unemployment rate still at 8.8 percent, elected officials don't want to do anything that might discourage job creation.

The Williamsons of Carlisle, Pa., live well below the poverty line. And in the family's struggle to obtain enough food, nutrition sometimes takes a back seat to necessity. Hunger in America is complicated. It's not just getting enough food, but getting the right food -- and making the right choices.

With the federal deficit soaring, annual interest payments on debt will reach $916 billion by the end of the decade. Serious consequences have long seemed like far-off problems, but they are now likely to hit the country with considerable force within the next several years. And although everyone can see the train wreck coming, lawmakers seem powerless to stop it.

In his first year in office, President Obama did better even than legendary arm-twister Lyndon Johnson in winning congressional votes on issues where he took a position, a Congressional Quarterly study finds. That was while Obama tackled two wars, an economic crisis and battles over health care.

Rick Rubin could have written about the music industry and insider stories. Instead, he spent eight years writing what is basically a spiritual text about making something meaningful.

Questlove, drummer and co-founder of The Roots, is coming out with a memoir in June called Mo' Meta Blues, co-written with Ben Greenman. The musician spoke with NPR intern Lidia Jean Kott about why the movie Spring Breakers made him feel like less of a rock star, and whether you can ever outgrow being a dweeb.

Mohamedou Ould Slahi, one of the best-known prisoners, may be close to release. The U.S. prison in Cuba is down to 80 prisoners, but it's unlikely President Obama will meet his promise to close it.

Prince on defining his music: "The only thing I could think of, because I really don't like categories, but the only thing I could think of is inspirational."

Advocates say schools nationwide are misusing the practice in response to behaviors prompted by bullying or frustration over assignments. The hospital trips for psych evals, they say, often follow months of students' needs not being met.

Every election we're told that each vote counts. Ryan Roth, the newly-elected city council member for Rainier, Wash., is now proof that it does.

Mario Livio's new book profiles five brilliant scientists and thinkers who, despite their seminal contributions to our understanding of the world, were also wrong about some big questions. Commentator Adam Frank says Livio's engaging work highlights how the collective process that is science always gets it right in the end.

Hilary Mantel is the first woman to win the Man Booker Prize twice, first for her 2009 novel, Wolf Hall, and then for that book's 2012 sequel, Bring Up the Bodies. The novels are part of a historical fiction trilogy about Tudor England and the events surrounding the reign of King Henry VIII.

Soldier Brian Turner is no silent witness to war. Instead, he used verse to chronicle his time in the U.S. Army, publishing a book of collected poems titled Here, Bullet. (Originally broadcast on July 22, 2008.)

Students in a queer cohort at the University of South Florida, part of the school's "living and learning communities," celebrated five years since its creation.

The U.S. says Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is the democratically elected leader of Belarus. NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to her about efforts to change her government from exile.

Texas processes foreclosures fastest, with an average of 90 days. At the other end is New York, with an average of 1,019 days. Experts say there are pros and cons to getting through them both too fast and too slow. The national average is 348 days to complete a foreclosure.

After an initial presentation Wednesday, residents can offer their input on the Historic Gas Plant District during a series of meetings in January.

When tourism to the fabled city took a downturn, two guys came up with an idea to bring in a little income for the local tour guides.

There's a type of spider that can slowly stretch its web taut and then release it, causing the web to catapult forward and entangle unsuspecting prey in its strands.

Biologists are keen to understand how a type of flatworm known as a planarian uses powerful stem cells to regenerate an entire body from a headless sliver of itself.

North Korea had already promised to dismantle part of the site. Now, with fanfare, it's offering to let the world watch — which analysts say is not that much of a step forward.

Texas is one of the largest producers of wine in the U.S. But the grapevines in the High Plains are facing a threat that's causing them to twist and wither. And it's coming from the cotton fields.

Hair is soft compared with steel, but shaving can dull a razor surprisingly quickly. A new study examines exactly how a strand of hair can chip and crack a sharp blade.

Diseases like cancer involve changes that occur inside a cell — and usually out of sight. A new technology can reveal a cell's inner workings, using inexpensive graphics processors from video games.

What if human diet drugs curb the appetite of bloodthirsty mosquitoes? That's the question a new study set out to investigate.