NPR News

Suzanne Opton is the author of Soldier/Many Wars.

When the war in Iraq began, I worried there would be a draft. What if my son was called? How would he ever recover from going to war?

I decided that I wanted to meet the young men and women who voluntarily sign up. I began at Fort Drum in upstate New York where I photographed soldiers between tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. There was little conversation as I asked each soldier to adopt a vulnerable, intimate position, and lay his or her head on a table. I did not give these images captions.

Florida Tea Party activists helped push presidential candidate Herman Cain to the head of the GOP pack at the state Republican straw poll in September. Since then, a series of women have come forward with sexual harassment allegations against him. Cain's campaign has raised $90 million since Oct. 1 — more than double the amount raised in the previous 9 months.

A law passed after the Exxon Valdez oil spill requires the government to assess the biological damage from big spills so fines can be fixed and damage paid for. The National Academy of Sciences has a report describing the methods and metrics of determining the "ecosystem services" that have been lost due to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

On this Veterans Day, Steve Inskeep talks with General Eric Shinseki, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, about veterans returning from war and trying to find employment in a tough economy.

The rating agency Standard and Poor's sent out an alert downgrading France's debt on Thursday. It turned out to be a false alarm, but it took nearly two hours for S&P to clarify that. S&P says it's investigating the mistake.

The American Farm Bureau Federation has released its 26th annual price survey on the cost of the classic Thanksgiving dinner. That includes the turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberries and pumpkin pie. This year, the average cost for a feast for 10 people is $49.20. That's up almost $6 from last year.

Michigan is expected to be a battleground in next year's presidential election. The state has a double-digit jobless rate but also has an auto industry that's being revived after getting federal help in 2009. President Obama points to that as a success story. But Republican candidates maintain the bailout was a bad idea. Among them, former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney — a Michigan native whose father once ran a car company.

This year's Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Clybourne Park" takes place on Chicago's Northwest Side on two distinct afternoons: one in 1959, the other in 2009. Inspired by the Groundbreaking drama, "A Raisin in the Sun," "Clybourne Park" highlights the politics of race and gentrification.

The new movie J. Edgar is directed by Clint Eastwood and stars Leonardo DiCaprio as J. Edgar Hoover who headed the FBI for 48 years. Hoover championed scientific crime fighting in general and the use of fingerprints in particular.