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More than 1 million people lost their unemployment benefits as 2014 began. Whether or not those benefits get extended, economists say there are ways to change the program that will make it work better. One suggestion is work sharing, which has helped reduce Germany's unemployment.

HealthCare.gov's troubled rollout highlights a systemic problem — the way governments purchase and plan for tech projects. Even President Obama is now calling for procurement reform. But a handful of places are finding ways to solve the problem.

One reason the rollout of the Affordable Care Act has been so rocky is the difficult landscape the health care overhaul is trying to cover. The system was a complicated contraption to begin with, and the hybrid replacement is just as hard to negotiate.

In The Empire of Necessity, historian Greg Grandin tells the story of a slave revolt at sea. The 1805 event inspired Herman Melville's Benito Cereno, and Grandin's account of the human horror is a work of power and precision.

Lanny and Tracy Barnes competed on the U.S. Olympic team in 2006, and Lanny competed in 2010. This year, Tracy gave her spot on the team to Lanny, who was ill during the selection races and just missed qualifying. "The Olympics are about more than just competing," Tracy says.

One change that privacy advocates have been pushing for is that the NSA no longer store the records from millions of phone calls — including those of Americans. Officials are telling Reuters and NPR that the president will endorse the idea of having a third party, not the NSA, hold that data.

A potentially landmark lawsuit goes to trial Monday in California. At issue: whether job protections for public school teachers undermine a student's constitutional right to an adequate education. The students and parents who filed the lawsuit see it as a potential model for challenging teacher protection laws in other states. Unions and state officials say the lawsuit demonizes teachers and has no merit.

President Obama is in Costa Rica to discuss regional cooperation and security with regional leaders. This follows talks he had in Mexico with President Enrique Pena Nieto. During his two-day visit, Obama tried to steer the focus away from contentious issues like immigration and drug violence.

Guest host Celeste Headlee and editor Ammad Omar crack open the listener inbox for feedback. This week, violin lovers say a conversation about aggressive parenting hit the wrong notes.

Our closest relatives, chimpanzees and gorillas, breast-feed their offspring for several years. Some baby orangutans nurse until they are 7 years old. Researchers found a way to test ancient teeth for clues about when humans cut nursing short.