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Mark Zandi of Moody's Analytics predicts a last-minute deal on the "fiscal cliff" might be an early drag on next year's economy, but by year's end, the economy will be gaining momentum. If there's no deal? "I don't even want to think about it," he says.

Early sales numbers suggest it was a lackluster season for retailers, and slow holiday sales mean fewer opportunities for retail workers hoping to make holiday temp jobs permanent.

Two bakeries in Claxton, Ga., make more than 4 million pounds of the holiday treat each year. The bakeries are finding a new market in young hikers and bikers seeking food that won't go bad on the trail.

The population explosion in Williston, N.D., has been a blessing and a curse for many local businesses. Stores and restaurants are struggling to find workers because they can't compete with what most oil jobs pay. Plus, there's now a day care shortage, and housing costs have skyrocketed.

Republicans are insisting on more austere entitlement programs as leaders negotiate a deal to keep the nation from going over the "fiscal cliff" in the new year. But many Democrats are wary of including any far-reaching and long-lasting entitlement reforms in a hastily thrown-together deal.

The way Texans speak, from using words like "y'all" to that old Texas twang, is iconic in American culture. But linguists say the twang is fading — and that, in a few decades, "talking Texan" may sound quite different than it does today.

The "spaghetti maps" that forecast hurricane tracks, such as those being used to predict the track of Hurricane Sandy, have become increasingly accurate and sophisticated. That's in part because of the work performed by some of the world's most powerful supercomputers.

While the Syrian government still has the upper hand in the country's largest cities, the rebels hold large swaths of territory in rural areas. NPR's Kelly McEvers recently returned from a week with the rebels inside Syria. Her first stop: a rebel way-station not far from the border with Turkey.

Lawyer and Winter Olympic hopeful Seun Adebiyi made his battle with leukemia a quest for more donors and better registries in African countries.

With college costs rising and student debt mounting, some high school graduates in Charlotte, N.C., are opting for an alternative route: European-style apprenticeships. One straight-A student has shifted her sights from an international relations degree to becoming an engineer.