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The 108th Congress opens this week. Former Senators George McGovern and Alan Simpson talk with NPR's Liane Hanson about the state of civility in the political discourse of members of Congress.

The 11-piece band crammed into a coffee shop in Queens, New York, to play three of the most tangible songs from their album, Madison.

Nearly half a million Americans are jailed because they can't pay bail. Public defender Robin Steinberg wanted to change that. She created an organization to pay bail for those who can't afford it.

Amal is a nine-year-old Syrian refugee. She's also a giant puppet. Theater director Amir Nizar Zuabi discusses how art can deliver a new message on the plight of refugees in his project "The Walk."

Syed was convicted in 2000 of murdering his ex-girlfriend. In October, a series of podcasts produced by the makers of This American Life re-examined his case and raised questions about his guilt.

Russian President Vladimir Putin received the honorary black belt back in Nov. 2013 from World Taekwondo, the international governing body of the sport. He is known to be a fan of martial arts.

A multistate outbreak of norovirus illnesses linked to raw oysters from Canada is under investigation in 13 states by the FDA.

Walter Orthmann has been working at a textile company in Brazil for 84 years and nine days, as verified in January by Guinness World Records. He celebrated his 100th birthday this month.

The Bush administration neither confirms nor denies allegations that the United States has run covert flights and prisons in Europe. Despite keeping mum on the reports, the administration has maintained its practices have been lawful.

The story of how Sam Cooke became a musical success story is the subject of a new book by music historian Peter Guralnick, Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke. In his account, Guralnick details how Cooke struggled against a music industry that often devalued black artists.

Detriot musician James Yancey — also known as J Dilla and Jay Dee — was one of the music industry's most influential hip-hop artists. But after just a brief career in the spotlight, he died Monday night at age 32 after battling lupus.

Time is running out to save the endangered northern right whale. But researchers continue to comb the seas in search of the elusive mammal, hoping to find a way to prevent its extinction.

More than 10 million illegal immigrants are thought to live in the United States. Most are from Mexico. A new report from the Pew Hispanic Center examines where and how these undocumented immigrants live and work.

The Clinton Foundation announces a new initiative that will lower the price developing countries have to pay for AIDS drugs. The foundation has been a key force in helping poor countries negotiate with pharmaceutical companies.

As a special Independence Day weekend event, Liane Hansen tests the political trivia acumen -- and wits -- of NPR editors and NPR.org columnists Ron Elving and Ken Rudin. Find 15 additional questions online.

Handel, a German composer, became a superstar in London, England, by writing Italian operas. Ariodante, one of his best, was premiered in 1735 at a then brand new opera house at London's Covent Garden.

The son of folk-rockers Richard and Linda Thompson says he didn't listen to any music made after 1959 until he was 16. But his new album furthers his folk and country roots with some of the contemporary sounds he's grown to like.

The pop band Weezer is known for its quirky nods to pop culture, most notably in music videos that reference the Muppets and the Internet's most popular memes. Now, the rock band has embraced the Snuggie — the blanket you can wear.

Camille Saint-Saens lived from the waning years of music's classical era, all the way into the early decades of 20th-century modernism. The tumultuous, romantic opera, Samson and Dalila is one of his many masterpieces.

Edna St. Vincent Millay, an American lyrical poet and the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, is the inspiration for Caroline Weeks' debut solo album, Songs For Edna. Struck by the beautiful imagery in Millay's poems, Weeks found that the music flowed freely when she picked up a guitar.