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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."

Trenton, N.J., Mayor Tony Mack has been arrested on corruption charges after a two year FBI sting operation. Prosecutors say the mayor, his brother and a top political supporter conspired to obstruct justice in connection with a parking garage project in the New Jersey state capital.

Women have fought tirelessly to establish equal footing for themselves in relationships, politics and the workplace — and according to writer Hanna Rosin, they've finally arrived. "We have to redefine what we mean by 'head of the household,'" she says.

Some of the cost variations from a UnitedHealthcare database are startling. For treating a basic asthma episode, cases in the 10th percentile of distribution cost $98 each while those in the 90th percentile the cost was $1,535 per case.

Thor Hanson's new book looks at the evolutionary significance of feathers in birds. Hanson tells Fresh Air that he's amazed by birds' magnitude of feathers, how feathers grow and how they're the "most efficient insulation known."

Author Robert Sullivan retraces the steps of George Washington and his troops in his new book, My American Revolution: Crossing the Delaware and I-78. It recounts the 30-mile trek north from the Delaware River.

Ben Mattlin was born with a condition called spinal muscular atrophy. Many infants with the disease don't live past age 2, but Mattlin went on to attend Harvard, get married and have kids. "I had this dumb idea from childhood that I could do anything anybody else could do," he says.

Attorney Gen. Eric Holder said it could not bring criminal charges, because of insufficient "admissible evidence."

How much do the people who've made it owe to the people who've been left behind? That question is at the heart of Zadie Smith's new novel NW, a nuanced and disturbing look at class issues in a working-class northwest London neighborhood.

Read an exclusive excerpt from Zadie Smith's new novel, NW, a nuanced look at class issues in working-class north London. At the heart of the novel: what do those who've done well owe to those they've left behind?