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Um Abbas has spent decades performing the Muslim ritual of washing the bodies of the dead to prepare them for burial. The war years in Iraq were terrible, she says, but in some ways, confronting death every day helped her cope with the country's trauma.

The writer, actor and producer has a starring role in the new movie Admission. She speaks with Linda Wertheimer about comedy, being in control and — now that her long-running sitcom, 30 Rock, has ended — why she really means it when she says she's taking a pause to spend more time with her family.

In 2007, NPR told the story of two sisters who had lost their parents. The older sister wore conservative clothes and recited poetry. The younger sister, just 13 at the time, appeared on the verge of becoming a prostitute. Now, 10 years after the U.S. invaded Iraq, we hear what happened to them.

The town board in Riverhead, New York, made news by banning people from booing at their meetings. Apparently this met with criticism, since Newsday reports they have revised the rule.You may boo at meetings, but there's still a prohibition against disruptive behavior.

The Chicago public school district says closing underutilized facilities would free up resources as it faces a $1 billion shortfall. But parents and the teachers union say the plan will endanger children, and they plan to fight to keep the schools open.

His seminal work played a critical role in establishing post-colonial African literature. Achebe also taught Africana Studies at Brown University.

Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe, who played a critical role in establishing post-colonial African literature, has died. The author of Things Fall Apart was 82.

There's some evidence that carbon dioxide we pump into the atmosphere has slowed the development of coral reefs. So researchers are adding antacid to the water in a tiny part of the Great Barrier Reef, to see whether the corals will grow faster if their water supply is less acidic.

As the Supreme Court considers the constitutional case for gay marriage, we look back at the role Vermont played just 13 years ago in the historic metamorphosis of the issue. The state's governor, who wore a bulletproof vest that year, called it "the least civil public debate in the state in over a century."

Over ten years before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the major leagues, a little-known baseball team went to bat with players both black and white. Journalist Tom Dunkel writes about the team from Bismarck, N.D., in his new book Color Blind.