Requiring students to pass a swimming test to graduate was once a widespread tradition. Today, only a handful of colleges still require the exams. Some schools are trying to persuade procrastinators to put the test behind them long before their last college semester.

The former NFL star reportedly shot himself in the chest Wednesday in California. While he did not leave a note, the medical examiner's report confirms what had been suspected.

After examining presidencies going back to Dwight Eisenhower, and figuring out both the expected and actual voter-approval ratings for those White House occupants, a political scientist concluded that President Obama is actually outperforming the favorability rating history would predict.

Forty years ago, only 1 in 3 American workers was a woman. Today, it's 1 in 2. What jobs did all those women get? And how did gender breakdowns change by industry?

A small-town mayor in Utah is trying to make congressional history. Mia Love wants to become the first black Republican woman in the U.S. House of Representatives. She has her party's nomination, and if elected, vows to bring conservative principles to the Congressional Black Caucus.

U.S. farmers have planted more acres of corn in 2012 than in any year since the Great Depression. And while some are concerned that a bumper crop could push down prices, some analysts say global demand will help offset an increase in corn yields.

Robert Siegel talks to J. David Goldin about how he led authorities to learn that a long-time employee of the National Archives had been stealing sound recordings. Goldin is the man who donated many of them, and he found one being sold online.

The prosecution of Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, charged with killing 17 Afghan civilians, appears to be stuck in limbo, over the issue of his mental competency. The Army wants to conduct a "sanity board," a medical process conducted by psychologists to evaluate Bales' mental state, but his defense attorneys have instructed him not to cooperate, because they're afraid the sanity board is really a "fishing expedition" for evidence.

Campaign finance law isn't the most titillating topic. But the trial of John Edwards over alleged violations has been anything dry. On Wednesday, Edwards daughter, Cate, fled the courtroom in tears after intimate details were revealed about her parents' marital discord. Audie Cornish talks legal strategy with attorney and legal analyst Hampton Dellinger.