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According to the latest Census figures, the wealthiest Americans saw huge jumps in their income, while the rest had their incomes go down. For a deeper understanding of the wealth gap, Steve Inskeep talks to Tyler Cowen, an economist at George Mason University, and Matthew Yglesias, who writes about economics for the website Slate.com.

Journalist and essayist Christopher Hitchens has died from complications of cancer of the esophagus. He was 62. The writer has been closely identified with leftist ideas but has traveled across the ideological spectrum with his support of some conservative causes, including the launch of the Iraq War.

The influential writer and cultural critic died Thursday at the age of 62 from complications of cancer of the esophagus. Hitchens confronted his disease in part by writing, bringing the same unsparing insight to his mortality that he had directed at so many other subjects.

John Zorn — the lion of the avant-garde — and Bob Dorough — the creator of Schoolhouse Rock's "Three is a Magic Number" — each tackle Christmas music in their own ways. What you get isn't necessarily what you might expect.

Before the Civil Rights movement, segregated American cities helped give birth to the Chitlin' Circuit, a touring revue that provided employment for hundreds of black musicians. Rock historian Ed Ward profiles two recent books which illuminate the conditions these musicians endured.

Mountain ballads have been a part of American mountain culture since the earliest English and Scottish settlers moved there more than 200 years ago. They were passed down through the oral tradition, as they were in reporter Laurin Penland's family --but that tradition is close to extinct in the U.S.

Later this month, an election will be held to select Hong Kong's next chief executive. The race has been tarnished with accusations of extramarital affairs and conflicts of interest. As the local press put it: Beijing has lost control of the puppet strings.

Newspapers have chased audiences and advertisers to the Web and other digital platforms, where they are finding strong growth. But that transition has been rocky. A new study from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism suggests there are ways to make the leap.

Last month, scientists around the world agreed to temporarily halt controversial scientific research with bird flu viruses. Some experts say too little is known about how infectious this virus could be to humans, but other experts think those risks have been blown a bit out of proportion.

The Food and Drug Administration will take a second look at a weight-loss drug it rejected in 2010. The decision to review Qnexa comes as the agency is rethinking how it judges weight-loss drugs. Though obesity is at epidemic levels, the FDA hasn't approved any new weight-loss medicines since 1999.