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In the days since the movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colo., there's been little discussion of the laws that allowed the gunman to acquire his arsenal. National politicians in both parties are generally wary of offending the powerful gun lobby.

The Second Amendment remains off limits for many politicians, with even those favoring gun control unlikely to bring it up in an election year. But long-term shifts in U.S. demographics and culture could lead to changes in the gun-rights versus gun control debate in coming decades.

Much has been made about the rebel takeover of Syrian border towns in recent days. NPR's Kelly McEvers spent last week with anti-government rebels, in rural territory they hold near the Turkish border. The second part of her series on that trip begins in a town where fighting shows that while the rebels are gaining ground, the Syrian regime still has them outnumbered.

Many farmers carry terrific crop insurance, and the worse the drought becomes, the more individual farmers will be paid for their lost crops. The federal government picks up most of the cost of the crop insurance program, and this year that bill is going to be a whopper.

The world's top influenza researchers agreed to a voluntary moratorium on working with contagious, lab-altered forms of a particularly worrisome form of bird flu back in January. The hold was supposed to last just 60 days. It's now been more than six months, and scientists don't agree on what should happen next.

The bear that strolled into Sears at the Pittsburgh Mills shopping mall had to be tranquilized and taken away. Now a second bear has appeared at the same mall, near the Olive Garden. It didn't stick around, but later returned, backing up traffic on a highway. State game officials say they now plan to set a bear trap.

Some residents of Kansas have the chance to send a Founding Father to Congress. Jack Talbert is the Libertarian candidate in the state's fourth district — or, to be precise, a man formerly named Jack Talbert. He legally changed his name to Thomas Jefferson, calling it a tribute.

As Medicare prepares to start punishing hospitals with higher than expected readmission rates, new government data show that some hospitals with high readmissions are doing a better job than most in keeping Medicare patients alive.

During sentencing the judge said William Lynn had enabled "monsters in clerical garb" to abuse children.

You can fly with me across vast distances, go to impossibly faraway places because you have the tool that lets you — that hunk of flesh in your head. But can the universe outwit us?