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Andrew Cuomo is expected to propose some of the nation's toughest gun laws in his State of the State address on Wednesday, including a stronger ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. But getting those bills through the state's Republican-controlled Senate will be another matter.

In November, voters will decide whether new state laws on issues such as labor policy, immigration and gay marriage can remain in effect. They're using a process called "popular referendum." Different from a ballot initiative, it amounts to a public veto of elected officials. And its use is growing.

Two weeks after the attacks that killed the U.S. Ambassador to Libya and three other Americans, there is still confusion about what exactly happened and whether the United States might have prevented the tragedy. Critics of the Obama administration accuse the White House of dissembling about the attack. NPR's Dina Temple-Raston talks to Melissa Block.

Since the 1961 publication of the Third International Dictionary, people have debated the merits of dictionaries that describe language as it is and those that explain how it should be. Today the debate continues, but it doesn't hold the same cultural significance as before, writes Geoff Nunberg.

In the closely watched Senate race in Virginia, Democrat and former Governor Tim Kaine holds an edge over Republican and former Governor George Allen. Kaine is a former Democratic National Committee chairman and Allen is a former senator who wants his seat back.

Given North Dakota's Republican leanings, it was assumed that GOP Rep. Rick Berg would be virtually certain to win the state's open seat in the U.S. Senate. But the most recent poll shows a tossup between Berg and Democrat Heidi Heitkamp.

President Obama is expected focus on middle-class job growth and the economy in his State of the Union address Tuesday night. And while the president has fought to make the tax code more progressive, broader efforts to address income inequality could be an uphill battle at a time when the government seems bent on tightening its belt.

You know how some actors seem to be in every movie? Some literally are. Try to name a movie that doesn't star Michael Caine, Anthony Hopkins, or Donald Sutherland. You cannot! In this game led by host Ophira Eisenberg, we give you a list of films, and you must determine which silver fox starred in what.

Drop a cat from a bed, a chair or a tree, and it will do its wriggly thing and land on all four feet. Cats are famous for this. But we've discovered an animal that does it better. Meet the new champ.

The measure would cut $40 billion from the federal SNAP program over 10 years. Republicans who back the cuts say they attack fraud. In reality, the vast majority of SNAP recipients either work or are children, disabled or elderly. The House is poised to take up the bill Thursday.