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The American Red Cross unveils a series of corporate-governance changes, responding to stinging criticism about how the agency dealt with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The changes include cutting the size of the board by more than half and explicitly delegating responsibility for day-to-day operations to the Red Cross' full-time professional management.

The battle for control of the Senate has come down to four states: Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia and New Jersey. With 11 days before the election, it's still not clear who will control Congress.

Forty years ago tonight, the Peanuts gang made Halloween history with the first broadcast of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!. The show's producer, and the actor who played Charlie, look back.

The first president is often seen as old, stiff and boring. These words are daggers to the hearts of those who run Washington's historic mansion. So a new center seeks to recreate the vibrancy and adventure of Washington's revolutionary life.

What's a "blurker"? Or a "pavement princess"? Or a "plokta"? What does "peeps" mean? Writer Paul Dickson knows. A confessed addict to collecting and identifying slang words, Dickson has written a new and updated dictionary of American slang.

The non-profit College Board reports that the average annual cost of a four-year private college is now above $30,000. Sending a student off to a year at a public school now costs, on average, nearly $12,800.

The double-digit tuition hikes of recent years have slowed, though tuition is still rising faster than the inflation rate in some places, according to the College Board. The group has released its new report on tuition increases at U.S. public and private universities.

Investigators are looking into the weekend death of Brian Schubert, a pioneer of the extreme sport of B.A.S.E. jumping. The 66-year-old died when his parachute didn't fully open during his 876-foot jump from West Virginia's New River Gorge Bridge. Melissa Block talks with NPR's Noah Adams, who witnessed the jump.

The premise for each story in Robert Olen Butler's new book is disturbing. Severance recalls the last thoughts of those who have been decapitated. St. George, Marie-Antoinette, Medusa, Anne Boyeln Sir Walter Raleigh, the Lady of the Lake ... In Butler's imagining, their last words are poetic and brief, and reveal what is most precious about being alive.

Two months after hundreds of tons of toxic waste were dumped in and around the West African city of Abidjan, in Ivory Coast, the putrid stench and poisonous fumes have faded. But the international scandal has not.