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Renee Montagne talks to writer Josh Dean about Banana Joe, named best in show at the Westminster Kennel Club. Dean is author of the book Show Dog.

When Dennis Edwards was tapped to fill the flashy suit of a well-known lead singer in one of the hottest male soul groups in music history, he hesitated...

NPR Film Critic Bob Mondello presents his annual list of top ten films of the year. He says he really could only justify putting nine on the list this year.

The Progressive Insurance spokeswoman joins Miss Chiquita and others. But what about Little Debbie, Elsie the cow and Mrs. Butterworth? They didn't make the list. Whom would you add and delete?

Lucky holders of 20-euro tickets with the number 88008 are celebrating. They have each won 400,000 euros ($440,000), in the top prize of Spain's huge Christmas lottery.

Tom Terrell has a review of Soul on Top, a re-release of a James Brown recording from 1970. On it, Brown sings jazz tunes such as "September Song" and "What kind of Fool am I?"

Coin tosses, a squeaker of a win and, perhaps even more surprising, humility. That's what characterized Monday night's Iowa caucuses, the first votes cast in the 2016 presidential election.

Last November, the High Turnout Wide Margins team held a live event looking ahead to 2024’s election cycle.Hosts Brianna Lennon and Eric Fey spoke - for the first time – with Secretary of State-level election administrators: Gabriel Sterling in Georgia and Trey Grayson in Kentucky. They spoke about some of the things they’ve learned during their time working in elections.

Updated at 6:30 p.m. to add information on mercury pollution. A new report released today puts both Missouri and Illinois among the top 20 states with the most toxic air pollution from power plants. The Natural Resources Defense Council report ranked Missouri 15th and Illinois 16th nationwide, based on 2010 data from the Environmental Protection Agency, the most recent data available. Although their relative rankings changed little from the year before, the NRDC's clean air director John Walke says both states actually reduced their emissions. "That reflects a 20 percent drop in power plants' toxic pollution in Missouri, and a 16 percent reduction from that sector in Illinois," Walke said. "So those are impressive reductions." About a million pounds less air pollution in each state. Walke says that’s also good news for our region’s water and fish, which are contaminated with mercury – a power plant pollutant. “It builds up in water bodies through a process called bioaccumulation, but once you reduce it, you can actually see a pretty substantial recovery.” Exposure to mercury can cause developmental problems - pregnant women and children are most at risk. The U.S. EPA set limits on mercury emissions from power plants late last year, but they won’t go into effect until at least 2015. Walke says that nationally, air pollution from the electric sector has dropped as plants have installed pollution controls or switched from coal to natural gas. Missouri still gets more than 80 percent of its electricity from coal; Illinois gets close to half of its energy from nuclear power. Follow Véronique LaCapra on Twitter: @KWMUScience

NPR's senior education correspondent offers his predictions for the big stories in K-12 and higher education.