NPR News

Jackson "Jax" Teller, the antihero at the heart of FX's blockbuster biker gang series Sons of Anarchy, is pretty easy to distinguish from a traditional hero. Just this season, Jax blew away a rival gang with an RPG missile, shot a Russian gangster in the head and got into some serious trouble while selling guns to the scariest gangsters on the planet.

After nearly nine years, 4,500 American dead, 32,000 wounded and more than $800 billion, U.S. officials prepared Thursday to formally shut down the war in Iraq. It's a conflict that U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said was worth the price in blood and money, as it set Iraq on a path to democracy.

China has announced that it will increase duties on some U.S.-made vehicles. The Ministry of Commerce in Beijing says it will levy "anti-dumping" duties on all U.S. imports with engines larger than 2.5 liters. It's just the latest volley in an ongoing tariff war with China.

The only Frank Lloyd Wright house designed to be fully accessible by someone in a wheelchair goes up for auction Thursday in Rockford, Illinois. The house is expected to fetch up to $700,000.

In 2008, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee was running for the GOP presidential nomination, and won the Iowa caucuses. Wednesday night in Des Moines, he hosted four current GOP contenders at a premiere for an anti-abortion film in which he appears. There was no endorsement from Huckabee. But there was a lot of talk about the need for abortion and other social issues to play a role in selecting a nominee.

A congressional committee is expected to vote Thursday on a bill that's revived a long-running fight between Hollywood and Silicon Valley. The movie industry says the "Stop Online Piracy Act" would create stronger protections for intellectual property. But critics in the high tech industry say the bill could have unintended consequences for the Internet.

President Obama visited Fort Bragg Wednesday as the military continues to pull troops out of Iraq. More than 200 of the troops killed in Iraq came from this Army post.

Hewlett Packard has been under fire for the golden parachutes it awards outgoing CEOs. A chief let go earlier this year received nearly $10 million in severance and bonuses for what was less than a year's work. And the CEO fired before that received nearly $35 million when he left.

From Andy Warhol to David Hockney, artists of the 1960s flocked to Los Angeles and helped create a new, contemporary art scene that was an alternative to New York. Renee Montagne, talks to Hunter Drohojowska-Philp about her book, "Rebels in Paradise: The Los Angeles Art Scene and the 1960s," about art in post-war Los Angeles.

In Alabama, a teacher who takes a Christmas ham as a gift from a student could get jail time. That's because of a new ethics law the governor wants changed. The new law severely restricts gifts to teachers.