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Lawmakers in Jefferson County, Ala., voted Wednesday to file for bankruptcy. It will be the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. For more, Guy Raz talks with Tanya Ott of member station WBHM in Birmingham.

Huntsville is the shining star in Alabama's economy. Scientists there designed the rockets that put man on the moon. In the past 50 years, it's become a magnet for high-tech space and defense jobs. But with NASA downsizing and the specter of defense cuts looming, Huntsville finds itself in limbo.

President Obama will have to persuade a global audience that the U.S. remains a pre-eminent world leader, even though he is presiding over a politically gridlocked government that is so far unable to hoist the U.S. economy out of its own economic slump.

In the early 1900s, Gertrude Stein and her brothers filled their Paris apartments with avant-garde art. The Steins bought paintings right out of the studios of young, scandalous artists — Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and others — who met and mingled at the Steins' salons.

Major League Soccer games brought in a record number of fans this season. Sporting News reports average per-game attendance surpassed that of professional basketball and hockey games — putting soccer right behind baseball and football.

House Republicans have released emails related to solar panel maker Solyndra which got $535 million in government loan guarantees and then went bankrupt. Republicans say the emails show an Obama campaign bundler used his influence at the White House to make the loan happen.

Penn State students flooded downtown State College, Pa., after the school's trustees fired football coach Joe Paterno and university President Graham Spanier amid a growing furor over their handling of sex-abuse allegations against a former assistant football coach. Police in riot gear used pepper spray to try to break up the crowd.

The Obama administration put off a plan to collect a fee on Christmas trees. An industry group asked for the fee, 15 cents per tree. Conservatives denounced what they labeled a tax on Christmas trees. The White House defended the fee, saying it's not a tax at all. All the same, the administration says it will delay collecting the money.

Lucas Papademos was named prime minister of the new Greek interim government Thursday. His main task will be to implement the multibillion-dollar bailout that Eurozone leaders agreed to last month. But can he convince Greeks to swallow the austerity measures they hate? Steve Inskeep talks to reporter Joanna Kakissis, who is in Athens.

Lapses by federal prosecutors in sharing evidence that could help defendants fight charges against them has been a nagging theme in recent years.