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Jerry West is literally the symbol of the National Basketball Association; his silhouette is the NBA's logo. Host Scott Simon talks to the former player about his life both on and off the court, documented in his new memoir, West by West: My Charmed, Tormented Life.

In the unfolding LIBOR scandal, attention has shifted to why U.S. financial regulators, who knew about the rate rigging, didn't move to stop it more swiftly. Host Scott Simon talks with Robert Smith, a correspondent for NPR's Planet Money.

With dense forests and rugged beauty, Grindstone Island is a favorite summer getaway for visitors — and some of them never want to leave. The island near the Canadian border has one official cemetery, but locals say that hundreds of people are buried there, in unofficial gravesites.

Rep. Paul Ryan demonstrated in his convention speech that he's a true believer, much like two previous politicians he has sought to emulate: Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp. Kemp's economic ideas were controversial decades ago, but they've gained new life in the vice presidential nominee's budget plan.

Mitt Romney will formally accept the GOP nomination for president tonight. The trick for his acceptance speech will be finding applause lines that fire up the base, without turning off moderate and independent voters.

It's been many years since political conventions offered any real drama or suspense. Still, they're a nonpareil opportunity for partisans to unite and try to win over voters who are largely uninterested in the parties.

Graphic novelist Chris Ware's latest, Building Stories, is a collection in many formats, following the (mostly) sad and lonely lives of the inhabitants of a Chicago brownstone. But reviewer Glen Weldon says the work is colorful, intricate and ultimately beautiful.

Economic historian Gregory Clark's study of social mobility traced surnames and found that a person's success in life may be largely determined by the status of ancestors hundreds of years ago. That means improving opportunities across generations might be a lot harder than anyone imagined.

The unemployment rate has dropped to 7.8 percent — that's the lowest rate in President Obama's presidency. Numbers like these are calculated and released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and highly anticipated by not only politicians but money managers and traders around the world. In the run up to the release, the government office does everything possible to keep these numbers locked up. (This piece initially aired Aug. 3, 2012 on Morning Edition.)

For more than half a century, former King Norodom Sihanouk dominated his country's politics, from French colonial rule to independence. He is also known for his unsuccessful efforts to keep Cambodia out of the Vietnam War and his alliance with the Khmer Rouge. "The King Father," who thought of himself more as an artist than as a politician, died Monday at age 89.