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Ten of Wall Street's top brokerage firms agree to pay fines of about $1.5 billion to settle conflict-of-interest allegations. The firms were accused of misleading investors with bad research, and have agreed to changes in their research divisions. Hear NPR's Jim Zarroli, NPR's Michele Norris and Columbia University law professor John Coffee.

President Barack Obama's choice to lead the National Intelligence Council has withdrawn his agreement to serve in that position. Chas Freeman, a veteran diplomat, has accused those who opposed his selection for the job of attacking him with lies.

Congressional Republicans hope to pass a sweeping tax overhaul before Christmas, but first they'll have to resolve some major policy differences that could derail the bill.

Commentator Bill Langworthy helps to get his nephew, Thomas, into a highly competitive Manhattan pre-school.

NPR Music's pop critic, Ann Powers, says each of her favorite albums of 2014 gave her new tools to cope with and learn from the world around her, even as that world crashed in from outside.

New York State regulators accuse Standard Chartered of handling 60,000 secret transactions for Iranian institutions. The bank's stock has plunged on the news. It denies any wrongdoing.

Many federal judges receive free rooms and subsidized travel to luxury resorts for legal conferences. NPR found that dozens of judges did not fully disclose the perks they got.

Last year, private-equity firm Lone Star Funds bought up nearly $6.7 billion of Merrill Lynch's credit debt obligations at 22 cents on the dollar. Could that be the private model the Treasury Department wants others to duplicate? Simon Johnson, a professor at MIT and a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, offers his insight.

As Congress debates the future of No Child Left Behind, one state falls short of federal testing requirements.

Once tucked away in Google's "Labs" space for beta testing, the "Undo Send" option now gives users 5 to 30 seconds after sending an email to change their minds.