NPR News

Thousands of homes and farms in Mississippi remain underwater, and residents are bracing for the river's crest later in the week.

Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace checks the depth meter on his small boat motoring through a flooded neighborhood in Vicksburg. The reading: 71/2 feet.

Pace and his deputies patrol this and other inundated parts of town, making sure looters stay out. He points to the top of street signs that stick out of the water: Mary's Alley and Williams Street.

British author Robert Penn has ridden a bicycle almost every day for the past 36 years. He owns six bikes — for summer riding, winter riding, everyday commuting and everything in between. But not one was exactly right. Penn needed the perfect bike.

The arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund, for alleged criminal sexual behavior against a hotel maid in New York City has shocked France where he was widely expected to be the presidential candidate of the Socialist Party a year from now.

"Crossroads GPS is responsible for the content of this advertising." That line, tacked on to the end of political ads airing in New York's 26^th District right now, is easy enough to miss. It signals an ad is one of many paid for by the conservative political action committee.

The group, founded by Karl Rove, has been pouring big money into television ads for the Republican candidate in the special election — about $350,000 for a week of airtime. It's a tactic that worked to the advantage of Republicans in 2010. Now Democrats want to get in on the action.

California officials are locked in a bitter stalemate over how to close the $15.4 billion budget deficit. One idea pushed by Gov. Jerry Brown is to do away with an economic development program that's been around since the 1950s and has helped transform blighted cities across California.