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Colin Meloy, best known as the Decemberists' front man, is also a novelist. His newest book is the second in a series for young readers, called Wildwood Chronicles. The book catches up with its precocious protagonist, Prue, who leaves the seventh grade to return to the magical world of Wildwood.

The latest poll by NPR and its bipartisan polling team shows President Obama with a 7-point lead among likely voters nationally and a 6-point lead in the dozen battleground states where both campaigns are spending most of their time and money. But battleground voters were also more downbeat about the direction of the country.

The latest poll by NPR and its bipartisan polling team shows President Obama with a 7-point lead among likely voters nationally and a 6-point lead in the dozen battleground states where both campaigns are spending most of their time and money. But battleground voters were also more downbeat about the direction of the country.

Steve Martin went from performing in an empty San Francisco coffee house to hosting the Oscars. In between, he spent 18 years as a stand-up comic — four of them, by his account, successful years. His early standup routines, TV specials and other TV appearances have been released in a new DVD box set.

With voters in the swing state of Iowa today joining those in two-dozen other states who can already cast their vote for president, experts say the surge in early voting is necessitating a change in campaign strategy.

Colombia's government has announced peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a Marxist insurgency that has been fighting a brutal conflict for nearly five decades. But memories of previous, unsuccessful attempts at peace are still fresh for civilians in the rebels' mountainous heartland.

GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney insisted his campaign doesn't need a turnaround, despite serious missteps recently. President Obama defended his handling of the economy and the nation's worst recession in decades.

If you need help in ultramodern Berlin, the low-tech tradition of posting a note on a lamppost may yield the best results. Just ask Maira Becke, who has turned to the city's many avid lamppost readers for help recovering a beloved stiletto shoe.

This week brought news of the arrest of Colombia's "last great drug kingpin." Renee Montagne talks to to former U.S. Ambassador to Colombia Myles Frechette about the capture of drug lord Daniel "El Loco" Barrera in neighboring Venezuela.

The government says that the poverty rate for 2011 was 15 percent, essentially unchanged from the year before. That still means that more than 46 million people lived below the poverty line last year. According to one economist, "the bad news isn't as bad as it has been."