The Supreme Court fight over the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is just the latest struggle in a battle over civil rights that stretches back more than a century in this country. It's a struggle marked with many victories, big and small — and many failures along the way, too.

Federal stimulus programs have poured more than $7 billion into reaching rural areas, but at least 19 million Americans still lack high-speed internet access. One of those communities still trying to get reliable broadband access is Silverton, Colorado.

In the West, music can offer the chance to escape and liberate oneself from the present troubles of life. But in Mali, Islamic extremists have been cracking down on music and the country's rich traditions and history associated with musical freedoms.

3D printing is a dynamic new technology that promises to revolutionize how we manufacture and create things. Still in its early stages of development, it’s already being used to make chocolate, guns, and even body parts. How does it work and where does it go from here? Lawrence Bonasser is a professor of biomedical engineering at Cornell. Max Lobovsky is the founder of FormLabs, a start-up company that is creating a more affordable professional 3D printer.

In South Africa,  the drama surrounding Oscar Pistorius — the first runner with prosthetic legs to compete alongside able-bodied sprinters in the Olympics — continues. Here's why his case could provide the impetus to finally reform the country's relationship with domestic violence.

As part of our ongoing series on the value of letter-writing, we asked you to tell us about letters that have brought bad news — and whether those letters changed your life.

It was 1954 and Dr. Fredric Wertham was testifying before Congress. "Are there any bad effects of comic books?  I may say here on this subject there is practically no controversy," he said. "Anybody who has studied them and seen them knows that some of them have bad effects."

Anything can happen. That's the essential spark that makes life — surprising. We've been asking you for your stories about your near death experiences. Cindy in Portland shared the story about a close call on the way to work. Kyle in Brooklyn encountered a bear while camping. And Aaron fell asleep behind the wheel while working several jobs. Those are just a few of the close calls you shared with us.

Listeners have been calling, emailing and texting us with stories about their most cherished letters -- missives from parents, grandparents, lovers and friends that have changed your lives. Letters don't just detail personal lives; they chronicle history too.  Nowhere is that more evident than in the thousand-some letters exchanged between John Adams and his wife Abigail. Margaret Hogan, Managing Editor of the Adams Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society and Coeditor of "My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams" shares some of the highlights of their exchange on this President's Day.

Will an increase in the minimum wage, as President Obama is proposing, help or hurt workers and the economy? A small business owner says it'll make it harder for him to hire, but an economist says that raising the minimum wage won't increase unemployment.

Next week marks the 100th anniversary of the 1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art. Better known as the Armory Show, it was the first large exhibition of modern art in America. It was also the first time many New Yorkers found themselves face-to-face with the work of artists like Duchamp, Seurat, and Picasso.

More than a third of American workers regularly eat lunch at their desks, and more than half plan on doing work while they're on vacation. But Tony Schwartz, author of "Be Excellent at Anything" says we're doing it all wrong — and that the trick to getting more out of work is to do less.

Listener Rees Shad from Carmel, New York ("Distinct possibility this is a dream") explains why he keeps waiting to wake up.

How can a national hero be left with so few options to reintegrate into civilian life? Howard Wasdin, former Navy SEAL sniper, explains that the issues facing elite Navy SEALs aren't all that different from those facing ordinary veterans.

The manhunt continues for Christopher Dorner, the former Los Angeles police officer accused of killing three people in California. The Los Angeles Police Department has promised a $1 million reward for leads on Dorner's whereabouts, but conducting a wide-scale manhunt for a potentially dangerous fugitive has its complications.

As Valentine’s Day nears, we’re asking you for your biggest stories of love and loss. But there’s a catch: We want you to tell your story in just six words.

This semester, the know-it-all supercomputer Watson is heading to school. Watson made a name for itself after it trounced all its human competitors on Jeopardy! last year. The supercomputer is "enrolling" at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where Dr. Shirley Jackson is president.

Advertised as the first full-service window washing robot, the Winbot 7 is a kind of Roomba for windows. But can a robot really replace a real, live window washer? Patrick J. Shields, who has been washing windows for 25 years, says no way.

A group of ad executives in Kentucky decided it was time to give their state a branding makeover. The state's official slogan is "Unbridled Spirit."  But the "Kentucky for Kentucky" campaign decided it was time for something a little more provocative — like "Kentucky Kicks Ass." One of the executives, Griffin VanMeter, explains how the state has responded.

A new bill in Congress would allow up to 40,000 immigrants in same-sex marriages a pathway to legal residency, but Republicans like Senator John McCain have said that adding "social issues" to the immigration reforms currently being considered is "the best way to derail it."