Some might joke that his vocal chords are indeed much older, but celebrated folk legend Bob Dylan turned 70-years-old last year. Recently audio has surfaced from 1966, in which the singer speaks to a good friend during a flight from Nebraska to Colorado about struggling with addiction and contemplating suicide. It's the latest in a long narrative about a truly singular singer whose mysteries are still being revealed. We take a listen to some of the audio in question, and music that made Dylan a force of musical nature.

The titans are clashing in the world of poetry. Over Thanksgiving, literary critic Helen Vendler published a savage review of a new anthology, "The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth-Century American Poetry." The book was edited by Rita Dove, a former Poet Laureate. Dove responded to Vendler's scathing review with an equally vitriolic reply. Vendler is white, and Dove is black, which is either tangential to, or central to, the issue — depending on whom you talk to. The incident has many in the poetry world talking about issues of race, aesthetics, and who belongs in the poetry books, and who does not. 

Takeaway Washington correspondent Todd Zwillich looks at two major stories playing out inside the halls of Congress this week. The White House is attempting to push recalcitrant Senate Republicans to confirm former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Forty-five Senate Republicans signed a letter in May vowing to block any nominee unless Congress was given more oversight of the bureau. Zwillich also spent time on Capitol hill talking to lawmakers about GOP frontrunner Newt Gingrich. 

Heath and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius rejected a decision by the Food and Drug Administration to make the "morning after" birth control pill widely available over the counter on Wednesday. The emergency contraceptive, called Plan B One-Step, was available to women over 17, but would have been available to women 16 and under had the decision not been overruled. The initial decision by the FDA was sure become a political football during the campaign season.

Almost 1,000 delegates from Afghanistan, NATO, and neighboring countries met in Bonn, Germany to discuss the future of Afghanistan. The talks happened in the context of the planned withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan by 2014. The meeting had a sense of deja vu; 10 years ago, in this same city, in the same hotel, Afghan leaders met to discuss the future of Afghanistan. Back then, it was just months after the 9/11 attacks, the American-led invasion of Afghanistan, and the fall of the Taliban. 

With less than a month until the Iowa Caucus, social conservatives still do not have a clear choice for in the GOP primary. Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich have been leading in polls, but both candidates have come under fire for their lack of conservative bona-fides. And as for Bachmann, Santorum, and Perry it's an open question whether they can gather enough conservative voters to pull a win. To make matters worse the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition has declined to endorse any candidate. What is a social conservative to do?

It's mid-November which means that most Americans are thinking about the home stretch towards Thanksgiving: packing bags, confirming reservations, looking up recipes. But in Washington, there's a whole different kind of scramble. This Wednesday, November 23, the bipartisan congressional "super committee" must come to a deal on a strategy to reduce the deficit or face serious penalties.

Most economists agree that the recession ended in the summer of 2009. But, because of persistently high unemployment, many Americans are still feeling the economic pain. Across the country, there are almost five percent fewer jobs than there were when the recession began. And, according to a recent Gallup poll, Americans are now more pessimistic about the job market than at any time in the past 10 years. About 90 percent of Americans currently say that it is a "bad time" to find a quality job. 

When the TV cameras are gone, what is it like to spend the night at Occupy Wall Street? It's been a month since protesters first began to occupy Zuccotti Park, near Wall Street in New York City. Since then, temperatures have been dropping as the number of protesters in New York and across the globe grows. This leaves many wondering how many protesters will be left when winter hits. Well, we aimed to find out — and to understand better just who was spending the night there and why.

Commissioner David Stern cancelled the first two weeks of the new NBA season on Monday night, after the league and the players failed to reach a deal to end a four-month-long lockout. At dispute is how to divide billions of dollars of league revenues, as well as league rules over how players are paid. The NBA will lose between $700-$800 million for each month of play lost.

On Wednesday, Senate Democratic leaders proposed a five percent surtax on Americans with incomes of $1 million or more per year. Senate majority leader Harry Reid said the surtax would raise nearly half of $1 trillion over the next decade, which is the amount necessary to cover President Obama's jobs bill. A recent CBS news poll showed that 64 percent of Americans think that those who earn more than $1 million per year should pay more in taxes, which means the public may be on board for the new tax. Now, Democrats will need to gain Republican support for the measure.

For almost a decade, scientists have been trying to determine the structure of an AIDS-like virus found in rhesus monkeys. If they could determine the structure of the virus, they speculated they could design a drug to stop it. But the problem proved very difficult, even for the most advanced supercomputers. Then came Fold.it, an online game that harnesses the power of crowd sourcing and human putzing to solve the mysteries of protein structure. Researchers turned the problem over to the gamers — and they solved it in just ten days.

In the coming months, the domain ".xxx" will become available to pornographic websites — and PETA wants in. Many companies are planning to buy the domain in order to stop X-rated sites from using their brand name with the new .xxx domain. But People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, no stranger to provocative methods of gaining attention, is going to do so with the full intent of making its .xxx domain name deliver nothing less than what those three letters imply — all in the name of animal rights, of course.

On Wednesday, President Obama made clear his opposition to the Palestinian National Authority's bid for statehood through the United Nations Security Council. "Ultimately it is the Israelis and the Palestinians, not us, who must reach agreement on issues that divide them," Obama said. Israel has criticized the Palestinian Authority's efforts as undermining the peace process, and the United States has been leading the pressure against the PA's application. Will Obama's remarks affect other countries' approaches to the bid? And what are the Palestinian Authority's chances at statehood anyway?

Natural disasters require an incredible effort on the part of medical professionals, police, fire departments, Good Samaritans — and the media. Reporting on storms, especially hurricanes, means much more to media outlets than simple public safety information. These storms can mean big ratings, major awards, and they can make or break a reporter's career — as with The Weather Channel's Mike Seidel. Unfortunately, media histrionics can also be counterproductive to public safety.

All over the country, 50 million public school students will head back to school this week.  And so today, we’re starting a week-long special look into the state of education in America in 2011. Today, we're talking about shrinking school budgets. State budgets have been feeling the squeeze since 2008, and with stimulus money running out, this is the year when schools are really having to tighten their belts. Later this week, we'll talk about the No Child Left Behind Act's looming deadlines, which require that by 2014, 100 percent of students will test at grade level in reading and math.

Hurricane Irene made landfall in New York Sunday morning, downgraded to a tropical storm after hitting the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Philadelphia, and New Jersey particularly hard over the weekend. Last night, the storm reached New England, triggering floods in Vermont. At least 16 deaths have been reported as a result of the storm. This morning, after being grounded through the weekend for Hurricane Irene, airlines at New York City's three major airports are readying their planes and crews for departures.

Apple announced last night that Steve Jobs, co-founder and chief executive of the company, would immediately resign from his position. Tim Cook, chief operating officer there, will replace him. In a public letter, Jobs said "I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come." Jobs will stay on at Apple as chairman of the board. Shortly after the news broke, Apple shares fell seven percent. 

Libyan rebel forces flooded into the capital of Tripoli last night, battling with loyalists to Col. Moammar Gadhafi. The rebels captured two of Gadhafi's sons, including Seif al-Islam, the assumed heir-apparent. Civilians were celebrating in the streets over what may be the end of Gadhafi's 42 years in power of Libya. In an official White House statment last night, President Obama said "The surest way for the bloodshed to end is simple: Moammar Gadhafi and his regime need to recognize that their rule has come to an end." 

Libyan rebel forces flooded into the capital of Tripoli last night, battling with loyalists to Col. Moammar Gadhafi. The rebels captured two of Gadhafi's sons, including Seif al-Islam, the assumed heir-apparent. Civilians were celebrating in the streets over what may be the end of Gadhafi's 42 years in power of Libya. What will the events in Libya mean for the rest of the Middle East?