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For the first time in five years, the poverty rate in the United States did not increase, according to new numbers released by the Census Bureau. The national poverty level remained steady at 12.6 percent. That's about 37 million people living in poverty, the U.S. Census Bureau says.

The world's astronomers finally voted today on the highly controversial issue of how to define a planet. The official definition means Pluto is no longer a planet. NPR's David Kestenbaum reports on the pandemonium in the convention halls of Prague, where the astronomers are meeting.

At a truck stop between Dallas and Waco, Texas, a little energy revolution has begun. Truckers at Carl's Corner fill up on BioWillie, biodiesel named after singer Willie Nelson. The fuel is made from farm crops and recycled restaurant grease.

Tom Ricks, a reporter for the Washington Post and author of the book Fiasco, says he's seen a persistent disconnect between U.S. strategy and U.S. tactics in Iraq. Ricks tells Steve Inskeep that the current U.S. strategy is being undermined by questionable tactics.

A Russian named Grigory Perelman, is credited with helping solve a famous 100-year-old math problem. Both the problem and the man who solved it are a bit of a puzzle.

In Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami spins whimsical and daring short stories about a talking monkey, man-eating cats on a Greek island and the girl from Ipanema. The writer himself appears in a few of them.

Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski and other top officials tour the Prudhoe Bay oil pipelines, which have been crippled by corrosion discovered on Sunday. Lost production at Prudhoe Bay, America's largest oilfield, has sent oil prices to record levels.

Over the past two years, millions of Americans have flocked to exhibitions of actual human corpses, displays that are part science and part showmanship. The exhibits have been wildly successful -- and profitable for the science museums and other venues that have hosted them. Warning: Some may find the subject matter disturbing.

Heat author Bill Buford finds "his McGee" indispensable — that is, Harold McGee's essential tome On Food and Cooking. "McGee is the most important person alive writing about food," Buford says.

A small Canadian firm takes on two of the largest drug companies in the world with its surprise launch of a generic copy of the best-selling blood thinner Plavis. Apotex began shipping its generic version to U.S. stores today. The makers of Plavix sold $6 billion of the popular heart drug last year.