Nancy Goldstein's work has appeared in venues including the Guardian, NPR, Politico, Salon, Slate, the American...

Hurrah! New York has, at long last, decided to join the twenty-first century and recognize the right of same-sex couples to civil marriage.

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration has released new Internet tools to help miners better understand their rights and responsibilities. According to the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, miners can’t be discriminated against for raising concerns about workplace safety or requesting MSHA inspections.

NPR's All Things Considered launches a series of stories that will run through the summer about pregnancy and childbirth. The series is called "Beginnings," and it starts with a visit to the sub-Saharan African country of Mozambique.

Four years ago, the World Health Organization determined medical circumcision reduces a man's likelihood of contracting HIV by 60 percent. Since then, large-scale circumcision programs have been growing slowly in sub-Saharan Africa. Two-thirds of the world's HIV positive people live there.

Syria's government has finally allowed a small group of western journalists into the country. They were allowed to travel to Jisr al Shughour, where Syrian officials say armed gangs staged a massacre. More than 300 soldiers and security personnel were killed.

After weeks of leaving deficit-reduction talks to Vice President Biden, President Obama will meet personally with Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate. They're trying to work out a plan to stem the tide of red ink. But no matter what happens, the government will need to keep borrowing money. And that means lawmakers will need to raise the federal debt ceiling within the next five weeks.

On Thursday, Robert Gates will step down as defense secretary — a position he held for more than four years, overseeing two wars. He's the only person to hold the job under two presidents from different parties.

For the past two years, he's attained a kind of "wise man" status within the Obama administration. While he makes weekly visits to the White House, he has also spent a great deal of time in khakis and a baseball cap out in the field with men and women in uniform.

Steve Inskeep has the Last Word in business.

Drug companies aren't the only ones making money inventing new medicines for the market. A man in Massachusetts has brought three drugs to market almost on his own. His process is the same as the big drug makers, but he farms out each aspect of the process to independent labs and specialists. When the drug starts to succeed in trials, he sells it to one of the big companies. Curt Nickisch of member station WBUR reports.

Steve Inskeep has business news.