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Last year, the number of homeless U.S. veterans on a given night fell 12 percent from the year before. But tens of thousands were still on the streets, and more could soon join them as troops return home. President Obama has vowed to end veterans' homelessness by 2015.

The first of NASA's retired space shuttles will make its way to its new retirement home on April 17. The well-traveled orbiter will be flown low over the nation's capital before being placed on permanent display at the Smithsonian.

Last month, a Washington, D.C. subway station was plastered with posters of giant dollar bills. One of them said: "Tell Congress to stop wasting time trying to eliminate the dollar bill." The $70,000 ad blitz was part of a small lobbying war over the fate of the dollar bill.

A slew of new national polls show President Obama leading presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney — except when he isn't. With 200-plus days until the election, here's a guide to navigating the confounding world of poll watching.

Steve Inskeep talks to Eric Deggans, TV and media critic for the Tampa Bay Times, about how media outlets are emphasizing different aspects of the Trayvon Martin story to grab the attention of particular audiences. Martin is the Florida teen who was shot to death by a neighborhood watch volunteer in February.

When kids are infested with head lice, a certain amount of panic — even desperation — can spread through a household. Parasite expert Dale Clayton knows that nightmare all too well, but now he also has a solution — using hot air to dry lice out and kill them and their eggs.

In the unfolding LIBOR scandal, attention has shifted to why U.S. financial regulators, who knew about the rate rigging, didn't move to stop it more swiftly. Host Scott Simon talks with Robert Smith, a correspondent for NPR's Planet Money.

The unemployment rate has dropped to 7.8 percent — that's the lowest rate in President Obama's presidency. Numbers like these are calculated and released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and highly anticipated by not only politicians but money managers and traders around the world. In the run up to the release, the government office does everything possible to keep these numbers locked up. (This piece initially aired Aug. 3, 2012 on Morning Edition.)

The nature of war has changed, and so has the president's purview. The country increasingly relies on elite special forces, rather than armies, and drone technology to target its enemies. How those operations are authorized has also shifted — it's more covert and less defined.

With dense forests and rugged beauty, Grindstone Island is a favorite summer getaway for visitors — and some of them never want to leave. The island near the Canadian border has one official cemetery, but locals say that hundreds of people are buried there, in unofficial gravesites.