Audie Cornish

Authorities have dropped charges against a man accused of mailing ricin-laced letters to President Obama and Congress.

Cahn's inspiration for the high-end leather totes came from her experience delivering noodles during the Depression. "One of her suggestions early on was: Why can't we make a shopping bag, but out of leather?" recalls her husband, Miles Cahn. Lillian Cahn died March 4 at age 89.

The Senate easily confirmed the nomination of John Brennan as CIA director, that following the dramatics of Sen. Rand Paul, who filibustered against it for nearly 13 hours on Wednesday night. Is this the dawn of a new era of these, old-school, "talking" filibusters? Tamara Keith talks to Audie Cornish.

Audie Cornish talks to Tom Gjelten about what's next for Venezuela after President Hugo Chavez's death. He died Tuesday at the age of 58.

Go on, pick a favorite in this year's NCAA tournament. We dare you. There's more than a dozen legitimate contenders to pick from. And then there's all those potential Cinderella teams. Mike Pesca talks to Audie Cornish about the upcoming NCAA Men's College Basketball tournament, which is as wide open as it has even been.

The Obama administration is set to file a friend-of-the-court brief Thursday urging the Supreme Court to overturn California's Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage. Nina Totenberg talks to Audie Cornish.

As part of the "fiscal cliff" deal moving through Congress, a two-year-old payroll tax holiday comes to an end. Under the tax holiday, the 6.2 percent payroll tax was cut to 4.2 percent for all American workers. NPR's John Ydstie talks about what the change will mean for employees and the economy.

Congress had hoped to be out of town for the holidays by the end of this week. That's not looking likely anymore, with the negotiations on efforts to avert automatic tax hikes and spending cuts moving slowly, if at all. Tamara Keith talks to Audie Cornish.

Audie Cornish talks to Joe Palca for the latest on where Sandy is and what she is doing.

On one side are tough-talking Republican politicians, including Russell Pearce, the former state Senate president who sponsored Arizona's tough immigration law. On the other are the Mormons who helped vote him out of office.