People with tinnitus hear unpleasant sounds that aren't really there. Doctors can't do much for this chronic ringing in the ears, so it's no surprise that tinnitus patients are often eager to try alternative therapies in search of relief. One promising new approach involves just sitting quietly and listening to the noise.

Much of the eastern and central United States remains under an excessive heat warning Saturday morning. Triple-digit temperatures neared or exceeded record highs from Missouri to Massachusetts this week. In Philadelphia, the mercury topped out at a sultry 104 degrees on Friday. Public health workers mobilized to help the elderly and others affected by the heat.

Now that the one-on-one debt ceiling talks between President Obama and Speaker John Boehner have broken down, there are obviously more questions than answers about what exactly happened and where matters go from here.

Let's go through just a few of them.

The meta question is obviously will the nation's leaders be able to achieve a deal to raise the debt ceiling before Aug. 2, the date beyond which, the U.S. Treasury says, it won't be able to fend off a default?

A gunman who opened fire on an island teeming with young people kept shooting for 90 minutes before surrendering to a SWAT team, police said Saturday.

Survivors of the shooting spree have described hiding and fleeing into the water to escape the gunman, but a police briefing Saturday detailed for the first time how long the terror lasted — and how long victims waited for help.

When the SWAT team arrived, the gunman, who had two firearms, surrendered, said Police Chief Sveinung Sponheim.

Michele Norris talks to Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, about the breakdown of the debt talks.

Update, July 26: This story from Planet Money's Alex Blumberg and NPR's Laura Sydell aired this weekend on This American Life. (Check out TAL's "Ways to Listen" page to find how you can hear the story.) A shorter version of the piece is also airing today on All Things Considered. Here's the story.

Michele Norris speaks with our regular political commentators, E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post and Brookings Institution, and David Brooks of the New York Times.

Michele Norris talks to NPR's Scott Horsley and David Welna about President Obama's announcement that Republican House Speaker John Boehner withdrew from the debt talks.

Michele Norris talks to NPR's David Welna and Ron Elving.

Michele Norris talks to NPR's Ron Elving about President Obama's announcement.