Four years ago, the U.S. economy was beginning to take a dive, bad weather made it difficult for farmers to feed their horses, and domestic horse slaughter came to a halt. Essie Rogers of the Kentucky Horse Council says not much has changed in the number of unwanted and neglected horses. 

In 2010, grassroots activists in Kentucky launched a movement to halt the construction of a new coal-burning power plant in Clark County - and won. Now, as part of the agreement, a collaborative made up of energy providers and environmental groups is looking for cleaner alternatives to help power the 500,000 homes, farms, and business that rely on the East Kentucky Power Cooperative. David Mitchell, Collaborative chair, says meeting the challenge will take effort from power companies and power users.

One of the reasons why Americans are still getting fat is that we eat too much. And it doesn't help that the nation's restaurant chains promote their oversized and fattening food items, while at the same time touting their new healthier menu options for kids.

As Mark reported earlier, President Obama threw his weight behind a budget plan that a bi-partisan group of senators knows as the "Gang of Six" crafted and presented today.

In an interview with NPR's Robert Siegel, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), a member of the gang, said the plan could find support among Republican members of the House of Representatives, who have been adamant about supporting any kind of tax increase.

She was married to a baron, flew airplanes and fought for the French Resistance in North Africa. She smoked cigarettes from a holder, drove a Rolls Royce and sipped Chivas from a silver flask. And, for the last three decades of her life, she dedicated herself to helping jazz musicians.

Known as "The Jazz Baroness," she was a patron to the likes of Thelonious Monk and Art Blakey. Charlie Parker died in her hotel room. Now, a new biography called Nica's Dream tells the story of Kathleen Annie Pannonica de Koenigswarter.

America's nuclear reactors need new safeguards to ensure that the kind of accident that destroyed reactors in Japan last March doesn't happen here. That's the conclusion from a 90-day study of the accident undertaken by experts at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The Fukushima accident in Japan damaged or destroyed four reactors and spread radiation for miles around the plant and it shook confidence in nuclear power around the world. Shortly afterwards, a task force of engineers at the NRC got their marching orders: figure out how to keep this from happening in the U.S.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange ended trading in pork-belly futures last Friday.

When I heard the news, I dialed up the Merc's meat pit, and Brian Muno answered the phone. He's worked in the trading pit since 1975. And his father had been working there when the pork belly futures contract was invented, in the early sixties.

Muno had no sentimentality for the end of the pork-belly contract. A pragmatist by trade, he explained that the contract had far outlived its due.

Time now for movie critic Bob Mondello to suggest something for viewing at home, rather than the multiplex. This week, the 20^th anniversary release of a film that jump-started a lot of careers: Boyz N The Hood.

South Central L.A. On the map, so close to Hollywood. But in 1991, it might as well have been on the moon as far as movie studios were concerned.

At a recent press conference, Iraq's minister of planning, Ali Youssef al-Shukri, stepped to the podium, gave a brief and somber blessing, and announced the issue of the day: a new mechanism for quality control of imports to Iraq.

It appears to be all over for the Borders bookselling chain. The company will be liquidated – meaning sold off in pieces – and almost 11,000 employees will lose their jobs. The chain's 400 remaining stores will close their doors by the end of September.

The retailer's first bookstore opened in Ann Arbor, Michigan 40 years ago. Along with competitor Barnes and Noble, Borders pioneered the book megastore business. But Borders made some critical missteps over the years that cost it the business.