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The Mayan people in Latin America received a lot of attention when word spread their ancient calendar had predicted the world would end on Dec. 21. The tourists that came to visit Mayan sites have gone home, and the modern-day Mayas go on with their lives marked by high rates of poverty and a dependence on migration.

Also: U.N. envoy calls for transitional government in Syria; former President George H.W. Bush remains hospitalized; and talks to avoid an East Coast port strike resume.

Accused by Republicans of running an agency that issued "job-killing regulations," Jackson has faced stiff political opposition in her four years at the Environmental Protection Agency.

New York Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey is currently the only knuckleball pitcher in the major leagues. His memoir, Wherever I Wind Up, explains how his life — and career — have mimicked the unpredictable trajectory of the difficult pitch he throws game after game.

If you put together a list of the 100 "best lists," what might you mention? The New Yorker suggests they include Carlin's seven dirty words, Van Halen's famous "no brown M&M's" contract rider, and the lineup for baseball's greatest team. Is there a list to be made of the lists that were missed?

In the last election, the red states got redder and the blue ones bluer. That's true not only in presidential voting, but at the state level, where half the legislative chambers are now dominated by supermajorities of one party or the other. The result is that blue and red states are moving further apart on most major issues, including tax policy, abortion and guns.

The Senate-approved budget compromise that is meant to allow the U.S. government to avoid higher tax rates and austere budget cuts has tax rates as its central issue. We list some of the bill's effects, from tax credits to rising rates.

NPR's Audie Cornish speaks with Jon Kuhl, public affairs and media manager at the National Conference of State Legislatures, about new laws going into effect Jan. 1. The laws include three tech-related rules in California — one about texting, another about driverless cars and a third about social media passwords.

The California congressman lost his seat this fall. Stark has been part of almost every piece of health legislation enacted while he was in office. The 113th Congress will be the first one in 40 years to convene without him as a member.

A Pakistani bill would allow intelligence and law enforcement agencies to tap phones, monitor Internet traffic, and follow people they suspect are terrorists. Security agencies in Pakistan already do this, but the new bill will give them the legal cover to do so.