NPR's Morning Edition

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.

The Japanese government has announced that the country's trade balance has gone negative. It's the first time since 1980 that Japan's export-based economy has recorded a trade deficit. Economists say the strength of the yen and weak global demand have hit Japanese exports hard.

The company earned $13.1 billion in the quarter ended Dec. 31, a record. Sales of iPads were also up — soaring 111 percent from the same quarter a year earlier.

The Federal Reserve will announce on Wednesday what officials expect to do with the rates it controls for next couple of years. The Fed will join central banks in Sweden, Norway and New Zealand in relaying information about expectations for short-term interest rates. Renee Montagne talks to David Wessel of The Wall Street Journal about why the Fed is doing this, and the impact it will have.

President Obama gave his State of the Union address Tuesday night. The speech was one part blueprint for economic cooperation, and one part political warning shot — as Obama prepares for a tough re-election campaign.

Vancouver, Canada, is laying claim to the most expensive hot dog in the world. Chef Dougie Luv of DougieDog Hot Dogs starts serving his $100 Dragon Dog Wednesday. The hot dog features a foot-long bratwurst which is infused with 100-year-old Louis XIII cognac. That cognac costs more than $2,000 a bottle.

President Obama has delivered what could be his last State of the Union address as he fights for re-election. How did speech go over with the 535 members of Congress? Among those commenting, California Republican Dana Rohrbacher said Obama tried to take both sides on a lot of issues.