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Brazil's fertility rate has dropped dramatically over the past half-century and is now below that in the U.S. Here, women lie with their newborns at the Pro Matre maternity hospital in Rio de Janeiro.

Brazil's Falling Birth Rate: A 'New Way Of Thinking'

In the past half-century, the fertility rate for a typical Brazilian woman has tumbled from six children to fewer than two. There are several factors at work, and one of them appears to be the glamorous female characters in hugely popular soap operas, who have few, if any, children.

The End Of Stimulus Funds: Missouri's Budget Takes Center Stage

As Missouri lawmakers return to session this week, they’ll face a multitude of tasks, but front and center will be the state’s budget. Missouri faces a…

Rows of solar panels at a solar farm in Kings Mountain, N.C.

Solar Panels Compete With Cheap Natural Gas

With new, affordable supplies of natural gas coming to market, renewable forms of energy are having difficulty competing. Electricity prices are down, which means it now takes longer for people who installed solar panels to recover their investment.

Zachary Weaver, 19, of Overland Park, Kan. He's one of the winning playwrights of the 2011 National Playwriting Competition.

Teenage Playwright Wins National Competition

Thirty years ago, legendary Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim might have sensed that the pool of up-and-coming playwrights was a bit lacking and founded…

Tourists visit the Sphinx and the Pyramids of Giza near Cairo. Tourist numbers have plummeted this year with the political turmoil in Egypt. Now, some Islamist politicians are proposing rules that could discourage visitors.

Will Islamist Politicians Hamper Egyptian Tourism?

Egypt's tourist industry is crucial to its economy, and the number of visitors has fallen off sharply this year. Islamists are now expected to hold a majority of seats in parliament, and some have suggested banning alcohol and segregating beaches by sex.

Rick Santorum with news media after a campaign stop in Indianola, Iowa.

What Does Santorum's Iowa Rise Mean? Likely Not Much

This moment in the presidential campaign sun for Santorum feels like it could be very brief indeed. It's just difficult to see how he would sustain his momentum coming out of Iowa, assuming he wins there.

Trucks loaded with Chinese goods head across the Yalu Bridge and into North Korea one day after the memorial service for the late leader Kim Jong Il, at the Chinese North Korean border town of Dandong on December 30, 2011.

Desire For Stability Keeps China, N. Korea Allies

When North Korean leader Kim Jong Il died last month, few were sorry to see him go, except in neighboring China, where the state-run press ran a smiling photo of Kim and mourned the loss of a "friend." So why did China back one of the world's most loathed dictators and is now supporting his youngest son?

Newt Gingrich, whose run for president nearly derailed earlier this year when many of his top staffers quit, now sits atop the polls. As a result, his campaign organization is growing. Here, he arrives at a town hall meeting last week in Staten Island, N.Y.

Gingrich's Most Important Adviser: Himself

The candidate's recent — and sudden — rise in the polls has required him to quickly pull together a larger campaign organization. He has added paid staffers in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina and has a group of unpaid advisers. Still, the chief figure in the Gingrich brain trust remains Gingrich himself.

Inside The Nutcracker

This year marks the Kansas City Ballet’s 39th annual production of The Nutcracker. It’s a holiday tradition, with a cast of more than 200, mostly…

Candidate Jim Rowland poses by the deli case at Bela Napoli. Rowland says small businesses like this one are the key to Kansas City's economy.

KC Mayoral Candidate Jim Rowland

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-951402.mp3Kansas City, MO – Interview transcript -- KCUR's Steve Bell talks with…

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