Every Friday, The Takeaway convenes a panel to look back at the week's big stories. Among the headlines, after Mitt Romney squeezed out Rick Santorum by just eight votes in the Iowa caucuses, his hometown newspaper, The Boston Globe, endorsed rival Jon Huntsman. Meanwhile, Michele Bachmann dropped out of the race after placing last in Tuesday's caucuses. President Obama and Congressional Republicans are doing battle again, this time over his recess appointment of Richard Cordray as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Every Friday, The Takeaway convenes a panel to look back at the week's big stories. This week North Korea held a funeral for deceased dictator Kim Jong-il, Arab League monitors arrived in Syria, Sears announced they were closing more than 100 stores after poor holiday sales figures, Republican presidential candidates campaigned heavily in Iowa, and Americans around the country crafted new year's resolutions.

This week North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il died, a Pentagon investigation into airstrikes that killed 26 Pakistani soldiers heightened tensions between the U.S. and Pakistan, Countrywide was ordered to pay $355 million for discriminating against black and Latino borrowers, and a terrorism scandal in Iraq's second-highest office broke. 

This week brought the end of the Iraq War and a Russia in turmoil after recent disputed elections. Also, the final GOP debate before the Iowa caucus was last night on Fox News. Joining The Takeaway for a look at this week's big stories are Jeff Yang, writer of the Tao Jones column for The Wall Street Journal and bloger for WNYC's It's a Free Country, and Farai Chideya, journalist and blogger at Farai.com.

This week, the euro zone nations agreed to a pact to deal with the ongoing debt crisis, but the U.K. will not be taking part. Newt Gingrich's comments about child labor continued to dominate the headlines. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accused U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of instigating protests over alleged voter fraud there. And Donald Trump once again became the focus of the Republican primary field as candidates slowly dropped out of a Newmax-sponsored debate he was to moderate.

This week, we've seen Newt Gingrich continue to climb in the Republican polls as Herman Cain has continued to falter. Also out of Washington, Rep. Barney Frank announced his intention to not seek re-election after his fiery 32-year career. And, a new study rejuvenates the perennial debate about legalizing marijuana.

On Thanksgiving week, the big stories were the consumer's holiday shopping start-up — Black Friday, of course. The turkey was barely cold this year before family members were out the door to hit the box stores for the biggest deals of the season. In Washington, the debt committee was the most expected failure all year. And pepper spray went from a crime deterrent to an Internet meme.

Continued gaffes from the Cain campaign, diminishing returns for the GOP from their presidential candidates, Occupy Wall Street moves out of the park, and pizza is now technically a vegetable — for better or worse — these are stories that dominated the headlines for the last week. The Takeaway has assembled a panel of analysts to rundown, dissect, and wrap-up all the major stories of the week.

Rick Perry's slow motion political gaffe, the continuing debt crisis in Europe, and the scandal that rocked Penn State University were — for better or worse — the stories that dominated the headlines for the last week. The Takeaway has assembled a panel of analysts to rundown, dissect, and wrap-up all the major stories of the week.

Accusations are mounting against Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain. In a press conference on Monday, a woman from Chicago, Sharon Bialek, openly accused Cain of groping her inappropriately when she was seeking a job over a decade ago. She is the first to publicly accuse Mr. Cain. Bialek was accompanied by superstar lawyer Gloria Allred. The Cain campaign issued a statement moments after the news conference started saying, "Activist celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred is bringing forth more false accusations against the character of Republican front-runner Herman Cain."

Herman Cain's sexual harassment woes. Greece's unstable government buckling under pressure from its debt crisis. The renewed focus on the striking disparity between rich and poor in America. And, well, Kim Kardashian's divorce. These were, for better or worse, the stories that dominated the headlines for the last week. The Takeaway has assembled a panel of analysts to rundown, dissect, and wrap-up all the major stories of the week.

Is America ready for the first black Republican president? That's a question being asked following the surge in popularity of GOP candidate Herman Cain. A new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll has Cain beating Mitt Romney with 27 percent to Romney's 21 in the Republican primary. Cain refuses to believe he is the latest GOP "flavor of the week" and has not shied away from talking about race during the campaign.

Over the weekend, a front-page article in The Washington Post criticized Texas governor and Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry, whose family's hunting lodge was formerly known by a racially charged epithet. Other GOP candidates have already been vocal in criticizing Perry. Herman Cain told Fox News on Sunday, "I think it shows a lack of sensitivity."

President Obama's approval ratings are at an all-time low. August's Gallup poll numbers showed that 41 percent of American adults approve of the way Obama is currently handling his job. Some of the largest declines in approval come from African-American voters — a group that formerly voted for Obama.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif), is pulling no punches in her campaign against former HP CEO Carly Fiorina in California, and she's raising a now-familiar bogeyman: China. One of her recent ads tied Fiorina to her decision to outsource thousands of American jobs to China.  Boxer is not the only candidate doing this. Many politicians across the country are using China as a political scapegoat in their bid to win.

Our political coverage of the midterms turns to Florida. The Sunshine State has been in the international limelight for weeks, following Pastor Terry Jones’ threats to publicly burn Korans. With the bonfire cancelled and the 9/11 anniversary past, we talk this morning about a state full of voters whose opinions range the gamut on the Koran burning issue and the three-way race for U.S. Senate that’s been heating up for months. 

Across the country, there are only nine political primaries left this season, and the race for November’s midterm elections is coming into full swing. 

When you see a favorite local retailer close down, you often wonder what might have happened if you'd stepped in to help drive business. A group of retailers in Harlem are trying a new way to stay afloat in the face of the bad economy. In the latest episode of "The Value," Farai Chideya reports on an initiative called The Power of One.

For our series, "The Value," Takeaway correspondent Farai Chideya traveled to the Bay Area for a lesson on how to live on the  cheap in one of the country's most costly neighborhoods. A family in Saulsalito, California manages to cut costs by living on their boat. By avoiding expenses like the cost of a car and gas, the family is able to sail around the world and return home with adventurous stories to tell.

In our regular series The Value, Takeaway correspondent Farai Chideya brings us the story of a woman in Miami who found the value of home in an unlikely place.