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In a growing number of states a single reading test determines which third-grade students advance to fourth grade. Proponents of the rule say that kids learn to read until third grade, and then read to learn. But critics argue that holding students back does more harm than good in the long run.

The federal government launched a database Wednesday that shows how much hospitals charge for the 100 most common procedures. The data reveals extreme variances in hospital billing. One hospital in Dallas, Texas charges $38,000 for treating pneumonia, while another charges over $14,000.

A developing political scandal in Florida has put Gov. Ron DeSantis on the defensive. Republican lawmakers are investigating how $10 million in state money was diverted for use in a campaign.

Kodak, an iconic American brand that helped build the town of Rochester, N.Y., recently filed for bankruptcy, due in part to competition from foreign manufacturers. The U.S. auto industry went through a similar upheaval a few years ago. But the Big Three are booming again, thanks to a federal bailout and restructuring. Can other American brands also be saved?

Slab City is a 600-acre chunk of California desert on an abandoned WWII artillery training range, home to long time residents, newcomers and transients. There is no running water, no sewers, and no other comforts of modern day civilization, and the folks of Slab City like that just fine.

Some players of online role-playing games are so determined that they will pay real money to get ahead. Steve Inskeep talks with Julian Dibbell, who wrote about the tax implications of this practice in a recent issue of Legal Affairs.

One woman living in Kabul describes how, despite food shortages and repression, her family is celebrating the Persian new year with what they have.

Inflation is higher than people under 40 have seen. But their parents lived through sharper price hikes in the 1970s and '80s. These experiences are helping shape the way both view today's economy.

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with attorney Lena Zezulin about organizing Russian-Americans and émigrés in the U.S. to speak out against the invasion of Ukraine.

Popular theory holds that after Mohammed Morsi's ouster, the power came back on and gas lines disappeared because Hosni Mubarak's entrenched "deep state" was deliberately undermining Morsi during his term. More likely, Egypt's large and immovable bureaucracy simply wasn't equipped to deal with the new leadership, which too quickly pushed its own agenda rather than a national one. Analysts say Egypt's experience is a lesson to countries around the region that even when you change the leadership, it's much harder to tackle the deep state that remains.