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The revelations about U.S. intercepts of terrorist communications might have been intended to reassure the public about the government's vigilance. But they also might have been about providing political cover.

It's rivalry week in college football. And this weekend, there's some extra spice as games from Alabama to Florida to Michigan could have an impact on which two teams end up playing for the national championship.

"When we pull back the curtain now, the mess is disturbing," says House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., of the latest revelations. These documents call into question whether contractors can fix the website as promised by the end of November.

Agents at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have spent months testing new plastic weapons, and report that the guns can be lethal and hard to detect. The findings come just as a federal law that requires guns to be composed of at least some metal to help people in schools and airports detect them is set to expire.

Previous estimates of the climate-warming gas were based on the rough number of methane-emitting sources on the ground — such as factories, refineries, stoves, swamps, landfills and cattle herds. But by directly measuring levels of methane in the air instead, a new study puts the total much higher.

President Obama leaves Wednesday morning for a week-long tour through three African countries. It's his first extended visit to the continent as president. He'll be making stops in Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania.

Want to top your pancakes with something other than maple? The alternatives vary, depending on the types of trees in a region. There's Kahiltna birch syrup made in Alaska, blue spruce pine syrup from Utah and Georgian black walnut syrup.

A protest in the Russian Arctic has dramatized growing problems with oil drilling there. Every country has a stake in the enormously lucrative search for oil and gas in the Arctic, says professor Lawton Brigham. But pollution from reckless attempts at development are evident on an island near the Polar circle.

Nationwide, many cash-strapped cities have raided funds intended for retirees or have chronically underfunded their pension systems. But despite a budget crunch, Milwaukee's fund has consistently ranked among the nation's top pension programs. Even so, some changes lie ahead for city workers.

Urban farmers are eyeing rooftops that are already green as potential sites to grow food. But there are big obstacles to rooftop farming — from permitting to transporting water and soil to the top of a building.