It's looking more and more likely that the NBA won't have a season this year. NPR's Elizabeth Blair reports the TV networks have been playing extra episodes of CSI: NY and extended editions of Sports Center for now.

"Smoot" is one of 10,000 new words featured in the fifth edition of The American Heritage Dictionary, out this month. In an era when every definition is just a click away, why publish an enormous book of words? For the answer, host Audie Cornish turns to the dictionary's executive editor, Steve Kleinedler.

Two weeks ago, Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain found himself fending off reports of sexual harassment published in the Washington political newspaper, Politico. He said there was "nothing else there to dig up." That was, predictably, not the end of the story.

It seems like hardly a month goes by without seeing celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred on television. This week, Allred was in the news again, representing one of presidential candidate Herman Cain's sexual harassment accusers. Her bold use of media to call attention to her clients' causes has earned the respect of some, but the irritation of others. NPR's Karen Grigsby Bates has a profile.

Facebook is reportedly moving toward changing its privacy policy, abandoning an "opt-out" approach for one in which its members would have to "opt in" to allow strangers to see personal information stored on their profile pages.

A steady drip of revelations in the News Corp. phone-hacking scandal has called into question James Murdoch's testimony before a parliamentary committee in July. Murdoch has been asked back to clarify the discrepancies.