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The parent companies of publishers Random House and Penguin have announced they are merging the two publishing companies. The joint venture will create a large and well-resourced company with the goal of remaining profitable as e-books threaten publishers' traditional business model.

Microsoft has been trying to break into the smartphone market for years, but it hasn't had much luck. When the iPhone was introduced in 2007, Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer derided it as overpriced and poorly designed. Since then Apple has become the most valuable company in the world, and Microsoft has struggled to capture just 4 percent of global smartphone sales. But the company and Ballmer haven't given up.

The current tax policy is evaluated on fairness, sufficiency and efficiency in this Intelligence Squared U.S. debate. Among the questions the panelists tackle are: Is the system fair? Does it create enough revenue? And will it promote economic growth?

In California, John Sach grew a pumpkin weighing just under 1,000 pounds. He calls it "Sally," and it won Orange County's annual Pumpkinmania contest. Sach's pumpkin outgrew the runner-up, "Gourdita," which was downright skinny at 795 pounds.

The arrival of Hurricane Sandy was unprecedented, but not quite as unprecedented as it seemed on the Internet. Countless doctored images spread more swiftly than the storm.

Sandy has created havoc up and down the East Coast, but it's now causing blizzards inland as well. Steve Inskeep speaks with NPR's Jon Hamilton to explain that and the science behind the storm; and to NPR's Dan Charles in West Virginia, where snow has blanketed part of the state.

Superstorm Sandy has become the main focus of both candidates, but what politicking does remain has Toledo, Ohio, and its Jeep plant at its center. The campaigns are fighting over Mitt Romney's claim that all Jeep jobs are heading to China. Chrysler and the Obama campaign say that's not true.

Stopping the Affordable Care Act may be harder than the law's opponents realize. For one thing, if he's elected, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney can't just grant waivers letting states ignore the law on his first day as president.

For an update on superstorm Sandy's impact on the East Coast of the U.S., Renee Montagne and Steve Inskeep speak with NPR reporters Joel Rose, Elizabeth Shogren, Jim Zarroli, and Zoe Chace.

As the East Coast struggles in the wake of superstorm Sandy, Tell Me More focuses on the psychological damage that natural disasters can cause. Host Michel Martin speaks with psychiatrist Dr. Carl Bell about who is most at risk, and how people can help each other survive the emotional trauma of disasters.