'Tis almost the season, and what would the holidays be without our favorite foods? For this year's festivities — from Thanksgiving to New Year's — NPR will feature some of these unique dishes, on-air and online. What special food do you look forward to (or dread) all year long?

The sister of an alleged victim says she's had to avoid going to class because of the jokes others are telling. And an attorney for the victims says trustees should have held off on coach Joe Paterno's firing in order to avoid protests.

His performance at Wednesday night's GOP presidential debate might be the stuff of history — the kind of history that candidates don't like to make. Thursday, he admitted he had "stepped in it" for being unable to remember he wants to eliminate the Department of Energy.

Penn State students flooded downtown State College, Pa., after the school's trustees fired football coach Joe Paterno and university President Graham Spanier amid a growing furor over their handling of sex-abuse allegations against a former assistant football coach. Police in riot gear used pepper spray to try to break up the crowd.

In sports, the SEC is very popular these days, especially in football. But, as Frank Deford points out, it's hard times for members of the Big East.

Recent reports from Nashville,Tenn., and Phoenix spot the trend of "chickenpox parties" and virus-infected items such as lollipops to avoid vaccination. Former Assistant Surgeon General and family physician Douglas Kamerow says this is a really bad idea.

This week's Political Junkie column: President Obama says Joe Biden is doing a great job as vice president. Biden says he will run again in 2012. Hillary Clinton says rumors of her replacing Biden on the ticket are nonsense. And they are. So why doesn't this story go away?

It is always tempting for Americans to look at problems in Europe and ask, "What does that have to do with me?" It's not just the billions of dollars U.S. banks hold in Greek debt; the European Union was created in answer to history.