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It's a bit quieter than usual in the North Pole this year.

A 9-year-old boy wounded in a bombing attack in Iraq a few years ago is now in Southern California, ending a years-long struggle by a Hollywood screenwriter and other Americans to get the boy and his mother out of the country. Mostafa's odyssey began four years ago, when his neighborhood was hit by a U.S. cruise missile that strayed off course. NPR's Mandalit del Barco reports -- see Mostafa's photo, and learn more about the Americans who helped him.

Commentator Yvette Doss talks about doing nothing -- and the book Doing Nothing: A History of Loafers, Loungers, Slackers, and Bums in America by Tom Lutz. Yvette Doss is managing editor at Ciudad magazine.

After an evacuation to Mississippi and Baton Rouge, commentator Chris Rose finally found his way back to New Orleans this week. He describes a bittersweet homecoming to a city that will forever be altered.

Commentator Jeremy Rifkin thinks it's time to get the hydrogen economy into high gear. He says that in order for the United States to rid itself of its fossil fuel dependence, it needs to launch a program similar to President Kennedy's space race, where science, commercial interest and the federal government combine their efforts to accomplish a grand vision.

Rom Lipscius of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science explains what the discovery of Jerry Springer the crab -- which marine biologists call a "bilateral gynandromorph" -- means for the study of blue crab genetics.

Real ID is a law that requires states to meet new standards for issuing driver's licenses. President Bush signed it on Wednesday. Yesterday we heard an argument in favor of the new law. Today, Cheye Calvo argues against real ID. He thinks enforcing the law will be a burden on states. He's the transportation director of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Medicare recipients can now sign up to get prescription drug insurance through Medicare. But a confusing array of programs and lack of easily found details are keeping some seniors from figuring out the new system, the biggest change in Medicare since it started 40 years ago.

The federal government is expected to pay $24 billion in farm subsidies this year. Critics, including quite a few farmers, say taxpayers shouldn't pay for corn or cotton surpluses. Instead, they say the funds should go toward things that benefit the public, such as cleaner water and a healthier environment.

All across the Gulf Coast, people are complaining about the Red Cross. They cite long lines at relief centers, unanswered emergency phone lines and little or late help for victims. The Red Cross acknowledges problems, but says it is doing its best in the face of the nation's biggest disaster response ever.