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Around the country, budget cuts are bringing some federal public defenders to the breaking point. "We can't not pay the rent, and ... everything else is personnel. We can't send a computer to court," says Washington, D.C., public defender A.J. Kramer.

Almost 1 million people are employed in construction in Texas, but many have a hard time making a living safely. The state's construction industry has the highest fatality rate in the nation, while large numbers of undocumented workers have suppressed wages and made it easy for contractors to exploit laborers.

How should boomers plan to pay for school when, on average, students graduate from college in the U.S. with $25,000 in debt? Ron Lieber, who writes about personal finance for The New York Times, tells Morning Edition's David Greene about planning strategies and pitfalls to avoid.

Morning Edition is in Venezuela ahead of Sunday's vote to elect a successor to the late President Hugo Chavez. Interim President Nicolas Maduro is running as Chavez's heir apparent. The opposition candidate is Henrique Capriles.

South Korean officials say the North has made preparations and looks ready to make its next provocative move. The mood in Seoul remains calm, however.

When French President Francois Hollande came for a visit, Mali's government gave him a camel. Unable to transport the camel home, Hollande left it with a local family who then ate it. Embarrassed officials have promised Hollande a new camel.

Also: David Axelrod is writing a memoir; a Kindle creator has choice words for Amazon; Matthew Specktor on the purpose of literature.

The Lady Huskies beat Louisville 93-60. Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma has now won eight women's championships. He's tied with former Tennessee coach Pat Summit for the most titles in the history of Division I women's basketball.

Every year the federal government gives needy college students $34.5 billion that they don't have to pay back. More than 9 million students rely on Pell Grants. A new study says in addition to many of the students being older, much of that money is going to people who never graduate.

The White House is gearing up for another round of difficult budget negotiations. Republicans are opposed to tax increases in the president's plan, while Democrats don't like its new math on entitlement benefits.