NPR News

Three years ago, a report from the National Academy of Sciences exposed serious problems in the nation's forensic science community. It found not only a lack of peer-reviewed science in the field, but also insufficient oversight in crime laboratories.

Little has changed since that report came out, but concerns are growing as scandals keep surfacing at crime labs across the country.

Critical Errors

The 2012 general election may be slipping into the past, but elements of President Obama's successful campaign aren't likely to go away anytime soon.

Just as it did after the president's 2008 election, the Obama campaign appears very likely to keep alive parts of the grass-roots effort that contributed to victory. And, just like four years ago, the idea would be to use the corps of Obama organizers and volunteers to push for the president's second-term agenda.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned again that driving off the fiscal cliff could be detrimental to the U.S. economy. However, if a grand bargain is reached by politicians in Washington, Bernanke said during a speech a the Economic Club of New York, it could be a good new year for the U.S.

It's hard to write a biography of an artist with as many career and relationship arcs as Leonard Cohen has experienced in his 78 years on Earth. But that's exactly what celebrated music journalist Sylvie Simmons has done with I'm Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen.

Two weeks after Election Day, it appears the partisan makeup of the new House of Representatives will be 234 Republicans and 201 Democrats, although the outcome is not yet official in two states.

One result that did become clear on Tuesday: Republican Rep. Allen West, a Tea Party favorite, conceded to Democrat Patrick Murphy in Florida.

Unresolved races remain in Louisiana and North Carolina.

A new district map forced two Republican incumbents to run against each other in Louisiana. They will meet in a runoff on Dec. 8.