For Gingrich, A Week Of Attacks And Falling In Polls

It’s been a week of marathon campaigning for GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich: five or six campaign events each day, hitting Rotary meetings, pizza restaurants and coffee shops. With the caucuses just days away, it’s time for closing arguments in Iowa. Gingrich says his is that he’s a supply-side conservative with experience both in balancing [...]

Peanut Prices Make A Go-To Snack More Expensive

It’s lunchtime at the Barber home in Macon, Ga. Three-year-old Samuel has just gotten up from his nap, and he’s hungry for a creamy peanut butter sandwich. Carol Barber says Samuel eats peanut butter for lunch almost every day. He’s not the only one; she has three other little boys. Millions of Americans love peanut [...]

Midwest Learns To Manufacture More With Less

CEO Eric Treiber walks out onto the factory floor of Chicago White Metal Casting. Workers are busy making aluminum, zinc and magnesium metal parts for cars, swimming pools and farm equipment. The floor’s a lot louder than it was a few years ago. At Chicago White Metal Casting, revenue is up 4 percent from 2010 [...]

Obama’s Grade In Foreign Policy 2011: ‘Incomplete’

One of the most important things to understand about global affairs is how much lies beyond any one country’s control, even for the most powerful country in the world. Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies says the limits on American power were especially apparent this year. “American power has always had [...]

Iraqi Refugees Struggle For Peace In America

The Iraq War may be officially over, but for thousands of Iraqis who fled to America during the conflict, there’s no going home. Many left successful careers to settle in Detroit, where finding their future is a challenge. The U.N. estimates several million Iraqis are now refugees — either inside Iraq or outside the country. [...]

This Year In Congress: Much Drama, Little To Show

Congress got plenty of attention this year, but it was for all the wrong reasons. There were at least three countdowns to shutdown, there was the debt-limit fight, plus the will-they-or-won’t-they drama earlier in December over the payroll tax holiday. Looking at how few bills were actually signed into law this year, one might conclude [...]

Try A Champagne Cocktail For A Sparkling New Year

For many people, the New Year begins with popping a bottle of champagne or sparkling wine. It’s the go-to drink for the celebratory moments in our lives. Yet champagne is far more versatile than many people think. Beyond just pouring it into a glass, you can mix it with any number of spirits to create [...]

Wave Of Arsons Blisters Jim Morrison’s Former Home In The Hollywood Hills

When Jim Morrison sang, “Come on baby, light my fire,” he couldn’t have dreamed of what would happen Friday in Los Angeles. Arsonists torched car after car across a 2-square-mile swath of Hollywood during the wee hours after midnight, and in several cases, the flames leapt onto nearby houses. The Associated Press reports that firefighters [...]

College Football Bowl Preview: Compelling Matchups, Dead Ahead

College football is set to enter its final week, and that means the biggest bowl games are coming up. This weekend will see teams such as Auburn, Oklahoma and Georgia Tech in action. And the first week of 2012 will feature marquee matchups like Oregon vs. Wisconsin, and Oklahoma State against Stanford. Talking about the [...]

Confused About The Iowa Caucuses? Here’s A Guide

At 7 p.m. Central time on Tuesday, Jan. 3, the first contest of the 2012 presidential nominating process takes place in Iowa. As you’ve heard countless times, Iowans vote in caucuses, which are small political meetings held in 1,774 locations scattered around the state. NPR political correspondent Don Gonyea has prepared this basic guide to [...]