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Ride was a Ph.D. candidate at Stanford when she answered an ad to become a NASA astronaut. She became the first American woman in space when she blasted off in the space shuttle Challenger in 1983.

In the days since the movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colo., there's been little discussion of the laws that allowed the gunman to acquire his arsenal. National politicians in both parties are generally wary of offending the powerful gun lobby.

Much has been made about the rebel takeover of Syrian border towns in recent days. NPR's Kelly McEvers spent last week with anti-government rebels, in rural territory they hold near the Turkish border. The second part of her series on that trip begins in a town where fighting shows that while the rebels are gaining ground, the Syrian regime still has them outnumbered.

The world's top influenza researchers agreed to a voluntary moratorium on working with contagious, lab-altered forms of a particularly worrisome form of bird flu back in January. The hold was supposed to last just 60 days. It's now been more than six months, and scientists don't agree on what should happen next.

The first American woman to go into space died Monday. Sally Ride was 61 and had been battling pancreatic cancer. Her historic trip in 1983 aboard the space shuttle Challenger made her an instant folk hero.

The bear that strolled into Sears at the Pittsburgh Mills shopping mall had to be tranquilized and taken away. Now a second bear has appeared at the same mall, near the Olive Garden. It didn't stick around, but later returned, backing up traffic on a highway. State game officials say they now plan to set a bear trap.

Some residents of Kansas have the chance to send a Founding Father to Congress. Jack Talbert is the Libertarian candidate in the state's fourth district — or, to be precise, a man formerly named Jack Talbert. He legally changed his name to Thomas Jefferson, calling it a tribute.

Ichiro Suzuki was the face of the Seattle franchise since coming to the team from Japan in 2001. Monday, he was traded to the Yankees — who were in Seattle to play the Mariners. After a bow to the crowd, Ichiro stroked a hit for his new team.

British authorities have charged Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, former editors of Rupert Murdoch's now-defunct News of the World tabloid, with conspiring to intercept the communications of more than 600 people. It's the latest development in the News Corp. phone-hacking scandal.

Nearly 1 in 5 South Africans is infected with HIV. But many of them don't know it. The lack of information hinders treatment and also enables the spread of HIV. To close the gap, some groups are taking HIV testing door to door.