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Solano County, Calif., between San Francisco and Sacramento, has a great climate, diversity and until recently, stable neighborhoods. But now it has the second-highest foreclosure rate in the country. Residents here long for different economic times, like when they were growing up.

Ever since allegations against GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain surfaced, speculation has raged about whether opposition research was involved. Political veterans talk about the art of digging up information on candidates — and whether it may have had a role in the Cain story.

The Republican presidential candidate is facing allegations of sexual harassment and has made gaffes on the campaign trail. But what has political professionals scratching their heads is the way Herman Cain is running his campaign — not spending much time in critical early voting states like Iowa.

A distinctive voice — and character — in television news has died. Andy Rooney, who was 92, was a signature essayist for CBS News for decades. Rooney was one of the most famous curmudgeons in American public life.

The National Archives has released President Nixon's long-secret grand jury testimony in the Watergate scandal from 1975. In it, the former president is manipulative, self-pitying and as unrevealing as possible.

Silvio Berlusconi's resignation as prime minister marks the end of a political career that tainted Italy's international image and helped bring its economy to the brink of bankruptcy. A fraction of the scandals he endured would destroy political careers elsewhere, but Berlusconi held unprecedented control through a media empire.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney spent millions of dollars in Iowa in 2007 and 2008. He won the Ames Straw Poll but finished a distant second in the Iowa caucuses. This time, he's running a very different, and much smaller, campaign.

It's a politics-filled Saturday as Republicans hold a presidential candidate forum and the Democrats have their Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in Des Moines, Iowa. This year's dinner features Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel as the keynote speaker; four years ago the dinner launched then-Sen. Barack Obama's presidential candidacy into high gear. Guest host Linda Wertheimer talks with NPR's Don Gonyea about the events.

No one can guarantee that the rice crisis of 2008 won't happen again. A lot of damage remains from the disaster that sent rice prices soaring even while there was plenty of rice. And there's still some of the fear that produced the crisis in the first place.

Machines used to take over work that was physically hard or dangerous or just monotonous. But one expert says that now the things that are easiest to automate are not the lowest-skill activities. Instead, higher-skill, better-paying jobs are being lost.