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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.

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.

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."

The persistence of grain bin entrapments and a horrific 2010 incident expose weaknesses in worker safety laws and enforcement. An NPR and Center for Public Integrity analysis has found that among 179 deaths since 1984, fines were reduced 60 percent of the time.

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court hears a pair of cases on the issue of gay marriage. On Tuesday, the justices will review California's Proposition 8; on Wednesday, they take up the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

As part of our continuing series on the rapid rise in the number of people receiving federal disability payments, we visit Hale County, Ala., where nearly one in four working-age people are on disability.

The justices on Tuesday hear a case that stems from a constitutional challenge to the California ban on same-sex marriage that was enacted by voter initiative in 2008. And on Wednesday, the court hears a challenge to the federal law that bars the U.S. government from recognizing gay marriages.

How the Supreme Court decides the Defense of Marriage Act could mean changes for how same-sex couples file taxes. But experts say checking off the "married" box on tax forms will be a mixed bag for some gay couples.

In some countries, taxpayers can sign up to receive a tax bill. There was an effort to bring return-free filing to the U.S. but it came up against stiff opposition. David Greene talks to ProPublica's Liz Day about her report on return-free filing. ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.

The justices began two days of high-profile oral arguments with many questions about whether they should even consider ruling on the merits of California's Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in that state.