NPR Topics: Story of the Day Podcast

Support for gay marriage is growing, and the Supreme Court is set to take on the issue this spring. But while some in the gay community say equal rights are in sight, issues like employment discrimination can still dominate on the ground.

Houses of worship are still trying to recover from the damage done by the superstorm last fall. The government has encouraged them to apply for aid, but it's not clear whether they'll qualify. For some, even disaster relief would break down the boundary between "church and state."

Puerto Rico's per capita murder rate is six times that of the U.S. as a whole. And with violence escalating, many residents are fleeing to the mainland. Still others hope to turn their home around.

Minnesota has a Democratic governor, two Democratic senators, and Democrats control both houses of its Legislature. President Obama went there to rally support for his proposals to reduce gun violence. But even in Minnesota, there's considerable resistance to placing further restrictions on guns.

The Xlerator high-speed hand dryer is made almost entirely of U.S.-made parts and manufactured by a small workforce in Massachusetts. But its motor, like almost all nonindustrial motors, is made in Asia — meaning it's very difficult for small manufactured goods to be entirely American made.

Bathroom hand dryers used to be a hated product because they took too long to work. But a decade ago, a family-owned business in Massachusetts came out with a new product that changed the way we dry our hands.

As he prepares to leave his job, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta reflects on his years of service. It's a career that has included 16 years in Congress, stints as White House chief of staff, and as the head of the CIA, where he oversaw the controversial drone program.

The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology has just finished digitizing its huge archive of wildlife sounds — more than 9,000 of them — and made it available online.

The fast food giant said this week that some of its burgers in Britain and Ireland were found to contain horsemeat. That's prompted a Twitter campaign and threats of a boycott.

Some attorneys have gotten nasty and others want it to stop. In New York, a group has decided to tackle the decrease in civility through song.

Low water upstream threatens cargo traffic, and saltwater has encroached on the mouth of the river. Now, officials up and down the river are talking about the need for a comprehensive water resources plan.

As the nation ponders how to stop the next mass shooting, the gun rights movement offers one controversial answer: armed civilians. In 2005, one such private citizen tried to stop a mass shooting at a mall in Washington state — and paid a heavy price.

Public health expert Derek Yach surprised nutrition advocates when he joined PepsiCo six years ago. He got the company to cut salt, sugar and fat from some popular products like chips and soda. But critics say he did more harm than good.

Call it "the rumble by the ruins." Each year, Turkey's toughest camels gather in Selcuk, near the Aegean Sea, for the Camel Wrestling Championship. It's a Turkic tradition dating back thousands of years. But it is a tradition under threat.

With gun control legislation facing obstacles in Congress, the president's political team is looking for support outside the Beltway. On Friday, Vice President Joe Biden held a round-table discussion in Richmond, Va., with people who worked on gun safety after the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting.