The mitts are off, so to speak, in the Republican presidential primary. Mitt Romney, the former front-runner, and his current and most serious rival, Newt Gingrich, are now engaged in an all-out war.

With only a few short weeks until voters in Iowa go to the caucuses, Romney is doing everything he can to stop Gingrich's sudden and surprising rise.

In the past three years, the ability and willingness of Americans to move across town or to another state have fallen to their lowest level in more than half a century.

An NPR/Kaiser Family Foundation survey examined mobility among the long-term unemployed and underemployed. Of those two groups combined, 40 percent said they would be willing to move to another state to find a job.

Lego doesn't call itself a toy company for boys. But look at the company's website, and its products are clearly geared towards boys' love of combat and action. There's Lego Star Wars, Lego Indiana Jones, Alien Conquest, Racers and Superheroes. One lonely set, called Belleville, is clearly for girls. It's pink-themed and features a horse.

Death sentences dropped dramatically this year, marking the first time in more than three decades that judges and juries sent fewer than 100 people to death row, according to a new report from the Death Penalty Information Center.

Just 78 offenders were handed capital sentences, and only 43 inmates were executed — almost half as many as 10 years ago.

American Reaction

The increasing need for food assistance is one piece of a bigger problem in California: increasing poverty. Nearly six million Californians are part of families living below the federal poverty level – that’s an average of no more than 22,000 dollars a year for a family of four.

The state of California produces more than half of the nation’s fruits, vegetables and nuts. Still, U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics from the last few years show that more than 14 percent of Californians are food insecure. Food security is a term that describes a person or family’s access to adequate and nutritious food.

An all-volunteer-run food pantry in Potrero Hill; a conversatoin with Cedric Brown, chair of Bay Area Blacks in Philanthropy; and local musician Tommy Guerrero.

Education has .edu, .gov belongs to the government, and now, adult entertainment has .xxx.

Starting last week, anyone can go online and buy a domain name ending in .xxx, but it's not all adult entertainment companies that are rushing to purchase the new addresses.

Colleges and other institutions have purchased .xxx domains preemptively to prevent others from doing so and associating their names with adult content. And many big names in the adult entertainment industry are opposed to the possibility of censorship by places that could block the entire .xxx domain.

Going somewhere?  If it’s through San Francisco Airport on a Wednesday or Friday, between now and December 23, you can hear some live local music while you’re there. The annual “Hear It Now” concerts take place between 11am and 2pm on those dates.