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Public support for the medical use of marijuana is rising, but the Obama administration has begun lashing out against the drug. The Justice Department has warned that dispensaries aren't immune from prosecution, even in states where medical use is legal.

Some churches have said they will end their affiliation with the Boy Scouts after its decision to allow openly gay members to join. Others, including Southern Baptists, are considering their next move. Another group plans to hold a meeting in Louisville later this month with parents who say they want a more Christian organization for their children.

The court did not take up the part of the law that banned abortions because of fetal abnormality or race or sex of the fetus, which a lower court had knocked down in addition to the burial provision.

The death of Jordanian-born al-Qaida leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in an air raid in Iraq was a rare moment of good news from Iraq for the Bush administration. Madeleine Brand speaks with NPR White House correspondent David Greene about the White House response to the news, which was confirmed early Thursday.

Emboldened by an outpouring of international support in his showdown with Hamas militants, the Palestinian leader on Monday told a receptive President Bush that it is time to restart Mideast peace talks.

Laura Anne Gilman creates an authentically spooky Old West in her novel, where it seems perfectly reasonable that the Devil might wear a sharp suit, run a saloon, and always stay true to his bargains.

Through the arc of the poet's career, Craig Morgan Teicher shows that while we are often too distracted to appreciate each other and our universe — poetry demands that we pause and listen.

Congress and the White House say they want to do something to help the nation's automakers, which are close to insolvency. Executives from Ford, GM and Chrysler will be on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to plead their case. But there is no consensus on what to do for Detroit. It may be next year before Washington acts, which the industry fears may be too late.

The Defense Department is planning to detonate 700 tons of non-nuclear explosives at the Nevada Test Site. Called "Divine Strake," the test is part of the military's effort to design "bunker-busting" explosives. Many locals and "downwinders" in Nevada and Utah object to the test.

Calm settled on financial markets and Capitol Hill Tuesday after the House voted Monday to reject the Wall Street bailout plan. The Senate will vote Wednesday on a modified bill. Supporters hope a few changes will also lead to passage in the House.

Maureen Corrigan reviews Brothers, Yu Hua's epic, 600-plus-page comedy that details life in a Chinese village from the early days of the Cultural Revolution to the giddy capitalist present.

Sarah Blake's The Guest Book is a multi-generational drama set against a backdrop of war and social upheaval. The Last, by Hanna Jameson, centers on the survivors of a nuclear holocaust.

In 2011, Kim Brooks intentionally left her 4-year-old in a car as she ran into a Target. In her new book, she attempts to reckon with the consequences of her decision, and parenting in today's world.

Eve Babitz had long been forgotten, when a profile by Lili Anolik triggered a reissuing of the former Hollywood glamour girl's literary works. In a new book, Anolik fills some, but not all, the gaps.

The 11 stories in Joshua Ferris' new collection have all been published before, but they provide a fine showcase for his sly wit, proceeding from the ordinary to the uncomfortable and even bizarre.

Kevin Barry's hallucinatory new novel imagines John Lennon in 1978, at his lowest, wandering around Ireland (with a very mysterious tour guide) in search of a private island he bought but can't find.

Writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank revisit and revise the origin of DC Comics' Caped Crusader, freed from the chains of comics continuity, in Batman: Earth One. NPR critic Glen Weldon says their take features some electrifying moments for fans.

In former television writer Maria Semple's second novel, Where'd You Go, Bernadette, 15-year-old Bee searches for her missing mother, an eccentric former architect. Semple mixes police and FBI reports, school documents and catty emails, all with commentary from Bee.

McDermott's latest novel, which centers on two American women who meet in Saigon in 1963, explores themes of religion, humility and insistent charitable intervention.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan says her only frustration with Keegan's work is that she wants more of it. So she was happy to read her nuanced, three-story collection, So Late in the Day.

Days after it was revealed that Iran has been building a secret nuclear enrichment plant, Iran staged a show of force, testing missiles that could reach Israel or U.S. bases in the Middle East. Will Iran's tactics provoke tighter international sanctions?

A trained gynecologist, Gao became well-known across China for her relentless activism in exposing a man-made AIDS crisis and for her educational work to remove the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS.

The U.S. Supreme Court has made it easier for workers to bring employment discrimination suits over job transfers. The decision was unanimous, but the reasoning was not.

The city hasn’t given all those benefits to Joey Davis, president of the Tallahassee firefighter’s union and a cancer survivor.

NPR's Leila Fadel talks to former ICC President Chile Eboe-Osuji about the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor seeking warrants for Israeli leaders — as well as Hamas.