NPR News

Using an eclectic blend of styles from Slavic to American punk, the Denver-based quartet DeVotchKa entered the public consciousness when it scored the Grammy-nominated soundtrack to Little Miss Sunshine. The group's orchestral melodies and energetic pop has been called souped-up polka rock, but its members have found room to explore and mature over the past decade.

President Obama, under increasing pressure to address the nation's burgeoning debt, on Wednesday laid out a sweeping vision to cut government deficits by more than $4 trillion in 12 years through tax increases and spending cuts phased in over time.

As the critical votes near in the House and Senate on the spending bill to fund the government for the rest of the year, both Republicans and Democrats are still frantically trying to cast the compromise reached last Friday in a favorable light.

President Obama laid out his vision for next year's budget on Wednesday: a plan to cut the deficit by more than $4 trillion over 12 years. Meanwhile, House lawmakers are just getting to the business of wrapping up this year's spending plan.

The Gulf of Mexico is known for its bounty — blue crab, shrimp, grouper, tuna, oysters — but ever since oil tainted a portion of the Gulf's fishing grounds, the seafood has been a tough sell.

Even though much of the oil that spilled from last April's Deepwater Horizon rig explosion has been cleaned up, the future is still murky for people who make a living plying Gulf waters.

Mike Voisin is a seventh-generation Louisiana oysterman.