New state laws reflect controversial national issues such as immigration. They also regulate local concerns from requiring teaching about important gay figures in California schools to limiting when New Yorkers can fertilize their lawns. NPR's Corey Dade and Pam Fessler discuss 2012's new laws.
We've invited the heavy metal rocker to answer three questions about Mike, a chicken in the 1940s who lost his head and still went on to achieve fame and fortune.
Designer Katie Shelly's upcoming cookbook offers 50 illustrated recipe "blueprints" for basic meals — from simple snacks to more hefty dishes like eggplant Parmesan. She hopes they'll inspire any level of cook to improvise in the kitchen.
Of all the current Washington scandals, the one involving the IRS appears to have the most staying power. It rolls into one package an agency many love to hate, partisan suspicions and the American appetite for conspiracies.