Drivers who are distracted while behind the wheel could be charged with a misdemeanor — even if they haven't broken any other laws — under legislation endorsed by a Missouri Senate committee.

The Republican race for Missouri's attorney general's office has gained a second candidate.

West Virginia's Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training has issued what is now the fourth investigative report on the April, 2010, Upper Big Branch mine explosion. It largely agrees with the earlier reviews, but in language that's tepid in comparison.

The Army private accused of leaking a huge cache of classified information to the website WikiLeaks deferred his plea, today.

In an arraignment before a military judge at Fort Meade in Maryland, Bradley Manning also put off a decision on whether to be tried by military jury or military judge.

The AP reports:

The South Carolina State Election Commission has just released its initial review of allegations from the state's Department of Motor Vehicles that more than 950 deceased voters appeared to have ballots cast in their names after they died. And no surprise, the commission found that of the 207 cases reviewed, there was no evidence in 197 of them that fraudulent votes had been cast. The commission said that records in the other 10 cases were "insufficient to make a determination."

Director Wim Wenders created the 3-D documentary "Pina," in tribute to German choreographer Pina Bausch. When the two met over 20 years ago, they started planning a film that would capture her unique style of modern dance. Bausch died of lunch cancer just days before filming started.

Whether undocumented immigrants are granted driver's licenses has been one of those mainstay questions in the country.

Yesterday, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck jumped firmly into the debate, arguing that immigrants in the country illegally should be given some kind driver's permit.

Beck argued that it was a matter of public safety.

The AP reports:

Formed by four Peruvian high-school friends in 2001, Novalima has been making traditional music sound sultry and modern ever since. In the past decade, the group has grown to a nine-piece band that's helping change the way the world thinks about world music.

President Obama's plan to overhaul the nation's corporate tax system would sharply cut the taxes that U.S. companies pay. But it would also eliminate many of the loopholes that help them pare down what they owe.

White House spokesman Jay Carney says the proposal unveiled Wednesday should appeal to both Democrats and Republicans, by doing what both sides "say is important to do ... which is lower the rate, broaden the base [and] eliminate the underbrush of unnecessary subsidies and loopholes and special provisions that complicate the tax code."

In January 2011, six unemployed people in St. Louis, Mo. began recording audio diaries for the year-long series "The Road Back To Work." NPR's Tamara Keith chronicled their triumphs and struggles. Casaundra Bronner found a job in March 2011 after a year unemployed.