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Though only 148,000 more people were on employers' payrolls, the unemployment rate still dipped to 7.2 percent from 7.3 percent a month earlier. The report, which was delayed more than two weeks because of the partial government shutdown, is the latest look at how the economy is faring.

President Obama and Republicans feeling the heat, as bad news about the administration's health care rollout piles up, and the GOP continues to assess damage from its role in the government shutdown. Elsewhere, Detroit watches a bankruptcy trial.

In Atlanta, Birmingham and other places, people who got on the roads Tuesday afternoon still weren't home Wednesday. At many schools, students and teachers slept overnight on wrestling mats and classroom carpets. Forecasters got it wrong — the storm hit further north than they expected.

The sharp decline in payments coincides with increased scrutiny of drug marketing. Later this year, federal law will also require that drugmakers disclose the amount of money they give to doctors.

Nearly half the 8 million people who bought health insurance through the state and federal exchanges signed up in the last six weeks. Florida enrolled 39 percent of those eligible, despite opposition.

"Poetry holds the knowledge that we are alive and that we know we're going to die," Howe says.

In Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War, Robert Gates says the president was unsure the Afghan surge would work and was openly distrustful of military leaders. "I never doubted Obama's support for the troops, only his support for their mission," he writes. The book is scheduled for release Jan. 14.

Some experts are concerned that both in-school assignments and the books kids read for pleasure may not be challenging them enough.

The NBA's All-Star Game is just next weekend, and it's a surprise which teams are hottest going into the break. In Pennsylvania, the Paterno family is gearing up to address last summer's devastating Freeh Report. Civil War-era baseball also made headlines this week. NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman shares all this with Weekend Edition Saturday host Scott Simon.

What's for dinner? We asked, you answered. And now we share some of our readers' savvy, time-saving tips for making dinnertime less of a mad scramble and more of a meal to relish.