NPR News

Money flooding in from outside groups contributed to 33 percent more political TV ads in 2012 than 2008. The ads pounded away at voters' eyeballs and ears in just a few targeted cities in battleground states.

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Dorner is suspected of going on a killing spree that led to a multi-state manhunt. The remains were identified using dental records.

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The potential Democratic Party contest between 89-year-old Sen. Frank Lautenberg and 43-year-old Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker had been shaping up to be a generational battle royale. Alas, it won't happen now that Lautenberg has announced that he won't run for re-election in 2014.

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A Vatican spokesman denied that had anything to do with Benedict XVI's decision to step down. But the revelation came just two days after the spokesman said the pope underwent a secret operation late last year to replace the battery for a pacemaker.

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Ramiro Gomez Jr. is an artist — and nanny — who places cardboard paintings of domestic workers in affluent Los Angeles neighborhoods. Some people see him as an activist, but Gomez shies away from that label; he just hopes his project will help to humanize immigrant workers.

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Lautenberg had already been challenged by the younger and very popular Newark Mayor Cory Booker. In a statement, Lautenberg said he still had a lot of work to do in his remaining two years.

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Military leaders are among those warning Congress of the consequences of the automatic spending cuts set to kick in at the beginning of March. But many on Capitol Hill seem resigned to the cuts taking place.

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The Crystal River nuclear plant was a driver of commercial life in rural Citrus County, Fla. The power company's decision to close the troubled plant will leave taxpayers and ratepayers on the hook for up to several billion dollars and has residents worried about their region's future.

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The vote makes the former Republican senator the first defense nominee to be filibustered.

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Kittens regained sight in a blind eye after being plunged into darkness for 10 days. Researchers say that prolonged darkness may reset the brain to an earlier stage of development, allowing the kittens to recover their vision.

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Remember Sen. Marco Rubio's paean to his Florida neighborhood in giving the Republican response to the State of the Union address? It seems Rubio is still living in West Miami because he's been unable to find someone to buy his house in the three months it's been on the market.

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George Prendes was 23 when he was sentenced under New York's Rockefeller drug laws — tough mandatory sentencing guidelines for nonviolent drug crimes. The 15 years Prendes served for a drug transaction still reverberate for him and his family.

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One expert said logistics and safety are considerations, while another said it likely comes down to a question of money.

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Small amounts of the drugs that people take end up in wastewater and then in streams and rivers. It's usually not enough to harm the health of humans who swim in or drink the water. But there is growing evidence that pharmaceuticals in wastewater may affect wildlife.

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President Obama will cap off a busy week of politicking with some R&R in Florida, traveling to the West Palm Beach area for what his spokesman called "some well-deserved downtime."

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Maureen O'Connor pleaded not guilty to a money laundering charge, but agreed to repay $2 million she took from her late husband's charity. O'Connor's attorney said she had a gambling problem, stemming from a brain tumor.

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"Canada will never become a safe haven for zombies, ever," the nation's minister of foreign affairs declared this week. It was a tongue-in-cheek moment in Parliament. Or is tongue-in-cheek the wrong analogy in this case?

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The German economy shrank 0.6 percent during the last quarter of 2012, dragging the eurozone deeper into recession. There are some positive signs, however.

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The rock known as 2012 DA14 will fly past around 2:24 p.m. ET. It will be closer than many satellites and the size of an office building. And it will be nearer to the planet than anything else of its size that we know of.

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The proposed marriage of American Airlines and US Airways is likely the last in a series of industry mega-mergers. But history suggests combining two big carriers isn't easy. Meshing cultures and dealing with pilot seniority add to the complexity of combining airlines, analysts say.

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