NPR's Morning Edition

The Obama administration is announcing plans to lease nearly 38 million acres in the central Gulf of Mexico for offshore oil and gas drilling. It's part of the push to boost domestic energy supplies that the president outlined in his State of the Union address. President Obama is also promoting American manufacturing and worker-training efforts this week, as he visits five states likely to be important in the November election.

Cuban-Americans are an important part of the Republican presidential electorate in Florida. Both Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich have reached out to these voters in Spanish-language TV and radio ads. Romney, in particular, has racked up many endorsements from prominent Cuban-American political figures.

Republican presidential candidates Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are scrambling to tie up votes in Florida, which holds its winner-take-all primary next Tuesday. Steve Inskeep talks to conservative writer David Frum about the state of the GOP race.

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

The federal government has come out with its new standards for school meals - less fat, less salt, less sugar and more fruits, grains and vegetables. Devin Katayama from member station WFPL reports on how the Louisville, Kentucky school district is trying to comply with the guidelines and satisfy student tastes.

DEVIN KATAYAMA, BYLINE: Meet fourth grade food critic Jackson Schleff.

The Indiana legislature looks certain to pass controversial "right-to work" legislation. Democrats in the state House have been trying to block the measure. The vote makes it all but certain that Indiana will become the first state to pass such legislation in a decade.

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

The Sundance Film Festival wraps up this weekend in Park City, Utah. Movies and more movies have been on offer at the gathering, famously backed by Robert Redford. Our own Kenneth Turan is taking it all in and joined us from member station KPCW in Park City.

Good morning.

KENNETH TURAN, BYLINE: Morning, Renee.

MONTAGNE: Well, let us begin with the dramatic films. What stands out for you this year?

The unemployment rate dropped to 8.5 percent last month. But veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars still find it difficult to get hired. The unemployment rate for them is above 13 percent. For the past year, business leaders have held a series of job fairs across the country to try to help former service members land work.

The biggest solar storm in years has lit up the skies with the spectacular show known as the Northern Lights. The Aurora Borealis offers a spectacle of green and blue over Canada and Northern Europe. The big storm is treating stargazers as far south as England — and may well make up for the disruptions it could bring to the electrical grid and GPS signals.

In New York City, the street in front of a high school was painted with big white letters that were supposed to read "school." But the word painted read "shcool." The city says a contractor made the mistake after some street repairs.

British adventurer Felicity Aston this week became the first woman to ski solo across Antarctica, from one coast to another. It took her 59 days to cover more than 1,000 miles, dragging her supplies behind her on sleds. She talked to Steve Inskeep from the Union Glacier base camp in Antarctica while waiting to go home.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney earned more than $42 million over the past two years — the bulk of it from an array of stocks and investment funds. And he paid about 15 percent of what he made in taxes. The release of some 500 pages of tax returns give a much fuller picture of how he made his money and what he did with it.

In an article in The New Yorker, author Ryan Lizza describes President Obama as someone who spoke of a post-partisan world but also made calculated political moves. The article is called "The Obama Memos." Steve Inskeep talks to Lizza about the president's State of the Union address.

U.S. military forces helicoptered into Somalia in a raid Wednesday and freed two hostages. An American and a Dane had been kidnapped two months ago.

It was year ago Wednesday that Egyptians first rose against then President Hosni Mubarak in a tour de force that drove him from power. A lot has changed for Egyptians this past year. They elected their first free parliament in six decades. And Islamists, long banned by Mubarak, are now the country's main political force.