NPR Staff

Veteran Foreign Service officer Peter Van Buren wrote a book critical of the State Department. And although the department approved the publication, Van Buren says State officials retaliated against him, effectively ending his career.

When voters in Michigan go the polls Tuesday, it's unlikely many will tick the box for Newt Gingrich. In part, that's because the former House speaker has all but written off the state. It's a calculated decision, he says, all part of a new strategy to reclaim front-runner status.

Ron Cushman's journey to teaching started when he was severely wounded in the Vietnam War. Having a hook for a hand made him nervous around students until he found a way to make his injury a part of the lesson.

The entire public school system has flunked; the Missouri Board of Education revoked its accreditation on Jan. 1. Decades of mismanagement and declining enrollment have broad consequences. The mayor says there is nothing he's supposed to do "that isn't some way affected by or built on education."

To help U.S. troops ease back into civilian life, veteran Anthony Bravo Esparza has set up a trailer in the parking lot of a Veterans Affairs campus. There, he gives the returning soldiers free haircuts — and a friendly, safe space to hang out.

Mitt Romney has cut deeply into the substantial lead Rick Santorum held earlier this month. Romney's campaign and superPAC are flooding the airwaves with attacks on Rick Santorum.

The number of deaths from breast cancer has gone down, but the rate of new cases remains about the same. One family has had three generations of women survive the disease. A two-time survivor in that family sometimes hears, "There's so much money that's given all the time, why can't they find a cure?"

The U.S. is determined to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, saying ominously that "all options are on the table." But just what are those options? Are any of them up to the task of stopping Iran from getting the bomb?

If a feat is "quantifiable and breakable" and there is media proof of it, RecordSetter's co-founder says, the website will recognize it as a world record. The website accepts submissions for just about anything.

"Peng Liyuan has been touted now as sort of the Carla Bruni of China," says one music critic. She's regularly featured on Chinese television's blockbuster Spring Festival Gala, and she's also a major general in China's People's Liberation Army.