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Some signs are pointing to an agreement being reached soon to avoid the automatic tax hikes and spending cuts. Of course, President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner have tried to strike a "grand bargain" before, only to have it fall apart.

Don't hide your bodice rippers under the bed! Writer Bobbi Dumas says being a romance fan is nothing to be ashamed of. It's "lovely, affirming storytelling," and a billion-dollar industry to boot, making up more than 14 percent of consumer book sales in 2011.

Starting in January, the French government will provide contraceptives for girls ages 15 to 18 — without charge and without parental notification. The measure, which passed parliament without debate, aims to reduce teen pregnancies by increasing access to birth control and education.

You may remember Danica McKellar as Winnie Cooper in The Wonder Years. Today, the actress is also a math advocate and the author of Girls Get Curves: Geometry Takes Shape. In Tell Me More's 'In Your Ear' series, McKellar talks about the songs that helped her beat stress as a teen and inspire her as an adult.

There's a lot of talk about students struggling in K through 12 classrooms. But once they get to college, many students fall even further behind. Host Michel Martin speaks with Sarah Gonzalez, NPR's StateImpact Florida reporter, about the high number of college students enrolling in remedial classes.

There are some warnings parents drill into their kids: don't drink, don't smoke, and don't do drugs. Now that Washington state and Colorado have legalized marijuana, those conversations just got more complicated. Host Michel Martin speaks with pediatrician Dr. Leslie Walker for advice on how to talk with young children and teens about marijuana.

The president has long said he's in favor of reinstating the ban. In the wake of Friday's mass shooting at a school in Connecticut, he has now publicly given his support to Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein's effort to ban such weapons.

In South Africa, drug users are crushing HIV medications and mixing them with marijuana, heroin and other illicit drugs. Public health workers worry that people who smoke so-called whoonga are helping to fuel the rise of drug-resistant HIV.

Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) was known for his military service during World War II and his work to improve Hawaii's infrastructure. When he died on Dec. 17, 2012, he was the second-longest serving senator in U.S. history. Bill Dorman, news director at Hawaii Public Radio, reflects on what made him so influential in Hawaii.

Many airports send their discarded french fries, burgers and Cinnabons to the landfill. But Charlotte Douglas International plans to transform that garbage into fertilizer for flower beds. All it needed was a couple of million red wiggler worms.

Controlling the flow of verifiable information, and trying to keep the news media in one place by holding regular news conferences, is a strategy that law enforcement has used in past major stories.

With the announcement of Congressman Tim Scott filling the soon-to-be vacant seat of U.S. Senator Jim DeMint, South Carolina Republicans gain a continued…

A university based in West Virginia with branches in Hickory and Mooresville is closing. Mountain State University will have its final graduation ceremony…

The "Giving What We Can" campaign urges members to donate 10 percent of their incomes to effective charities. Over many years, the group's calculators suggest, such giving could improve far more lives than you might imagine.

There are some warnings parents drill into their kids: no drinking, no smoking, don't do drugs. But now that two states have decriminalized recreational marijuana use, those conversations have become tougher.

Governor Bev Perdue announced Tuesday a temporary stopgap to keep about 1,400 North Carolinians from potentially becoming homeless next month. Perdue is…

Another Progress Energy executive is out at Duke Energy in the latest personnel shuffle of the merged companies. A Duke Energy spokesman says changes…

An unassuming brick building in Brooklyn houses a factory that makes animatronic puppets, elves and polar bears for the holiday season. NPR's Neda Ulaby drops by Mechanical Displays Inc. to talk with Lou Nasti, who's been at it for almost 44 years.

Executives at Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity group, say the Sandy Hook shootings are a "watershed event" and has decided to withdraw its investments in a group of firearms makers, including Bushmaster, Remington and others.

The wildly popular photo-sharing site Instagram nearly caused a user revolt when it revamped its terms of service and privacy policy to suggest it could allow uploaded photos to be used in ads without users' permission. Instagram later clarified its position in an effort to quell concerns.