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Alan Cheuse reviews a new book from Ann Beattie. Mrs. Nixon tells the story of an author as she tackles the challenge of writing a biography of former first lady Pat Nixon. Cheuse teaches writing at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.

Defensive coordinator Tom Bradley held his first press conference Thursday as interim coach of Penn State's football team. Bradley was appointed after the board of trustees abruptly fired coach Joe Paterno on Wednesday night amid a child sex abuse scandal involving one of his former assistant coaches.

The State Department is delaying a decision for at least a year on whether to approve the Keystone pipeline. The $7 billion pipeline would carry oil from the tar sands of Alberta, Canada, through the U.S. to Gulf of Mexico refineries. Nebraska's state government and environmental groups have put intense pressure on the State Department and White House to reject the pipeline's proposed route. NPR's Richard Harris talks with Robert Siegel about the project.

"No ship ever sunk for having too many life boats, and at the moment, the euro has no life boats at all."

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, who has vowed to fight the new federal health care law, sent back a $31.5 million federal grant to start modernizing computer systems. Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger says the governor is betting that the new health law will be repealed — and she worries it's not sound policy.

Many of Spencer's novels feature a turning point — a dreadful, unplanned act committed by one of the characters. In his latest book, Man in the Woods, a carpenter accidentally kills a man, which leads him to question himself and his relationship with God.

Polls show that New Yorkers favor extending the so-called millionaires tax on the state's top wage earners beyond the end of the year. But Gov. Andrew Cuomo is digging in his heels, saying it encourages some of the state's most affluent citizens to leave.

Sorting out California's budget mess has been Gov. Jerry Brown's No. 1 problem since the day he took office. On Thursday, Brown unveiled a plan that would cut pension benefits and lower the amount taxpayers have to pay. Almost every state is wrestling with the pension problem, but in California, it's especially complex. John Myers of member station KQED reports.

Hundreds of counties in dozens of states have less money to pay for schools, roads, health clinics and other basic services because of the loss of timber payments. In the 1990s, battles over the spotted owl slowed logging in the Pacific Northwest to a trickle. For the next two decades, once timber-dependent counties in Oregon and elsewhere came to rely on payments from the federal government to make up for lost revenues. Now, the law authorizing those payments has expired. Oregon Public Broadcasting's David Nogueras reports.

Republican presidential contender Rick Perry backed a flat tax plan Tuesday. It's an idea that has been around for some time. But it now appears to be gaining traction within the GOP.