According to the United States Census, there are more single fathers than ever before. Why the cultural shift?

One Takeaway from Monday night's Republican presidential debate was a religious one. Businessman Herman Cain was pressed on earlier statements he made saying he would not appoint a Muslim to his administration, unless they passed a loyalty test. Cain, who continues to rise in polls, clarified that he said he would not be comfortable having a Muslim in his administration – not that he wouldn’t appoint one.

Are Muslim Americans the next voting bloc to be courted?

Libraries around the country are falling victim to the weak economy. Suffering from budget cuts, many are in danger of closing. But in Louisville, Kentucky, the public library system is growing. 

Pakistan arrested a number of the country's CIA operatives, who had helped the U.S. find and kill Osama bin Laden. After bin Laden's death, Pakistan's military has been mired in a crisis of confidence, and has distanced itself from working with U.S. intelligence in order to combat militant groups in Pakistan. The effect that this fallout with Pakistan may have on the drone program has many U.S. officials worried.

In China, factory workers and their families are speaking out about a growing public health scandal for the Chinese government. Mass lead poisonings are showing up in factory towns across the country. Lead is showing up in high levels in homes situated near factories, as well as in the blood of factory workers and their families.

Father’s Day is this weekend, and in honor of the big day, we’re looking at a kind of father that doesn’t always get a lot of attention: single dads. One recent calculation using 2010 Census data found the number of single father families nationwide jumped 27 percent in the past decade and nearly doubled since 1990.

An investigative report in the Washington Post has revealed problems with a program designed to build criminal cases against Mexican gun traffickers. Essentially, Mexican drug gangs were not stopped from getting guns. The idea was that enough intelligence would be gained to take down a drug cartel, however, the guns were used in many crimes.

The United States may be behind the drug-related violence in Mexico, more than we think. According to a new Congressional report released yesterday, more than 70 percent of the guns detained in Mexico the past two years, originated in the U.S. On top of this, the ATF is under fire for reportedly supplying more than a 1,000 illegal firearms to gun traffickers in Mexico, in an operation called "Fast and Furious." They hoped selling the guns to "straw purchasers," would lead them to the crime organizations. Unfortunately, many of these guns were lost track of, and some were even tied to the shooting of an American border patrol officer. 

The banking industry, like basically all commercial industry, is always looking for ways to innovate their products and services. Take ATMs or the kind of innovation that allows customers to view the image of their check right on their banking receipt - those cost money to develop. And the banking industry has been lobbying to change the patent laws tied to these sorts of business innovations.

Facebook may have lost six million American users over the course of May according to a group that tracks the site. While this is just a small percent of the social network's 700 million users world wide, we asked listeners why they may have left the site. Have you "unfriended" Facebook?

Tamara from Baltimore says: I have been using Facebook less because I decided to cut back on the services I get to my mobile phone, so I no longer have access on my smart phone. I did that to save some money and I don't mind, I'm in contact with the people I need to be in contact with.

As Republicans reacted to Monday's GOP debate, another candidate entered the fray. Jon Huntsman, former Utah governor and ambassador to China under President Obama, said that he will announce his candidacy for president. Huntsman only recently left his post as ambassador.

American students are worse at U.S. history than any other subject. This is not a new fact, but continues to be troubling, particularly for Kenneth Davis, author of "Don't Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know About American History but Never Learned." The New York Times reports that only 12 percent of high school seniors demonstrated "proficiency" in U.S. history and 55 percent scored "below basic" in nationwide testing. In other words: we don't know our own history and haven't improved for the past two decades. Davis takes a closer look at the reasons behind this continued lack of historical knowledge.

All summer long we’re celebrating the season of relaxing and reading with our book club here at The Takeaway. Some of the novels we'll talk about this summer are escapist in a fantastical way. They’re easy to read and enjoy. Other books are escapist because they are deeply engrossing. They draw us in to a difficult story, making it impossible to look away from the problems the book brings to the surface. Today's book club pick does just that. It’s called "Oil On Water" by Helon Habila. "Oil On Water" tells the story of two journalists who are in pursuit of a scoop in the oil-rich, poverty-stricken Niger Delta.

We're thinking of Dad ahead of Father's Day at a time when the number single father families nationwide has nearly doubled since 1990. Angelo Marinosci is a listener in Warren, Rhode Island, who hears us on WGBH. He's 64 with a 5-year-old son. And Bob Murgo, Takeaway listener in Newport, Rhode Island is a 59-year-old and a former single dad. His daughters are now 37 and 38. They talk about what makes a good single father.

There are reports that five alleged CIA informants, who helped lead the CIA to Osama bin Laden have been arrested in Pakistan. The BBC's Aleem Maqbool is in Abbottabad, Pakistan and reports on the story. He says that according to Western officials briefed on the arrests, one of the five was at least one Pakistani army major. The Pakistani army has acknowledged the arrests, but deny that they have detained any army personnel. There has been much criticism of the leaders of the Pakistani military and intelligence agencies since Osama bin Laden's capture and killing and those leaders will be looking to prevent any similar incident happening again.