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With Republicans blocking the nominations of one African-American and two female judges to a key appeals court, Senate Democrats are again pondering a rules change to curtail the minority's ability to filibuster judicial appointments. But even Democrats themselves are split on whether to proceed.

In communities grappling with high unemployment, grocery stores serve many customers who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to get by. Some stores are estimating that their sales might fall between 5 and 10 percent now that the government has reduced the benefits.

One of the nation's largest school systems has been pushed to the brink of insolvency. Not long ago, Philadelphia was touted as a "laboratory of innovation," a promising model for urban public education. But something went wrong. So who is responsible for the district's descent into academic and financial ruin?

A visibly shocked James McBride picked up the fiction prize for his novel The Good Lord Bird about a young slave who joins up with abolitionist John Brown. The nonfiction award was won by George Packer for The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America.

Nobel Prize winning biochemist Fred Sanger has died. He was 95. Sanger, who won two Nobel Prizes, pioneered research into the human genome. Steve Inskeep and Renee Montagne have this remembrance.

Fort Dodge, Iowa, is not exactly what you'd think of as a hotbed of health care innovation. But the small town in the western part of the state is part of a Medicare pilot project that economists say could be a pathway to the holy grail of health care: providing better care at a lower cost.

Boosters of Washington State want work on Boeing's new 777 airplane to stay in the state. Boeing is demanding tax breaks and union concessions. The ad headline read: "The Future Of Washington," but the photo was of an Airbus plane.

Afghan and U.S. officials have agreed on a draft security pact, but Afghan elders are debating whether to approve it. President Obama has told Afghan President Hamid Karzai that the U.S. would conduct raids on homes only under "extraordinary circumstances."

For Americans abroad, Thanksgiving is a time for fond memories, good meals and making-do.

The state's parole board approved Thursday a posthumous pardon in the 1931 rape involving the three black men who were not pardoned in the infamous case. Nine black men were falsely accused of raping two white women on a train. All but one got the death penalty. Five convictions were overturned, and a sixth accused was pardoned before his death in 1976.