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The streets of Paris are marred by messes from dogs whose owners haven't cleaned up after them. There's a fine, but the culprits have to be caught in the act (or lack thereof). In this personal essay, NPR's Eleanor Beardsley goes after one thing about the city that she finds very, very wrong.

Steven Chu says even in hindsight, he sees no way his department could have known the solar energy company would go bankrupt.

The results of India's once-in-a-decade census reveal a country of 1.2 billion people where millions have access to the latest technology, but millions more lack sanitation and drinking water.

David Mitchell's new novel, The Bone Clocks, mixes fantasy and literary fiction in a decades-spanning saga of ordinary people who get caught up in a war between two factions of ancient near-immortals.

In his new tribute album, pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi finds common ground between two odd bedfellows — composer Francis Poulenc and singer Edith Piaf. Their connection, he says, is the powerful way they expressed emotions through the beautiful melodies in their songs.

Israel's current mission in Gaza has two goals, says Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev: to win the release of an Israeli soldier held hostage in Southern Gaza, and to stop rocket attacks from northern Gaza. A prisoner exchange is not an option, the spokesman said -- but "creative solutions" are still possible. NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Regev.

The Treasury Department has proposed restrictions on debt collectors, required under the 2010 federal health law, to protect patients at nonprofit hospitals. A Supreme Court ruling that strikes down the entire law would scotch the new rules.

The recession hit Puerto Rico's already struggling economy hard. So the island, a U.S. territory that can make its own tax laws, is pitching an attractive offer to the wealthy: Move to this warm, tropical isle and live virtually tax-free.

Native American tribes in Eastern Oregon recently marked kimtee inmewit, a ceremony that welcomes the sacred new foods of the new year. The tribes see these foods not just as nourishment, but as a connection to ancestors.

The U.S. Treasury Department last week released proposed rules to protect patients from abusive debt collection practices at nonprofit hospitals. The rules are required by the Affordable Care Act of 2010. If the Supreme Court votes to strike down the health care law, the new debt collection rules would go away.

The New York Times calls Stephen Sondheim the "greatest and perhaps best-known artist in American musical theater." Sondheim composed the music and lyrics for, among others, Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods and Company. In 2010 he joined Fresh Air to discuss his career in musical theater.

The head of the General Services Administration has resigned after spending more than $800,000 at a conference outside of Las Vegas. Martha Johnson was President Obama's political appointee.