National

For years, many police departments have dealt with child prostitutes by putting them in juvenile detention centers. But federal agencies say that minors are often sex trafficking victims in need of help — and who can, in turn, help put their pimps in jail.

A year after the storm, some families in New York City's hardest-hit neighborhoods have managed to rebuild their homes and their lives. Some are waiting to find out more about new building codes and flood insurance rates. And others are ready to sell their flood-damaged properties and move on.

Banks use credit scores and similar metrics to assess creditworthiness. A company called Kabbage that lends working capital to small businesses does some of that but also relies on unconventional measures, using real-time data from things like UPS shipments, eBay, Facebook and Twitter.

The question this time is not whether race can be a factor in college admissions, but rather whether state voters can ban affirmative action altogether by referendum. In 2006, Michigan voters did just that with a ballot initiative amending the state's constitution.

Amid skyrocketing real estate and rental prices, low-income families are fighting to stay put in order to access world-class public schools. One group of families battling the closure of Palo Alto's last mobile home park is getting help from a local PTA that values diversity.

Homebuilders are finding there's a post-recession demand for bigger houses, and it's partly thanks to boomerang kids who can't find jobs and aging parents who can't afford to live alone anymore.

There's a lot of uncertainly in the air as harvest season gets into full swing across the Midwest. But this is a time of year when farm families come together to focus on the big task at hand.

States are turning to new drugs for executions because of a supply shortage that's been years in the making. Now legal battles are springing up, questioning whether the new alternatives violate inmates' rights.

Shon Hopwood was in prison for more than a decade. There, the bank robber became a jailhouse lawyer who got a fellow prisoner's case heard before the Supreme Court. Now a law student, he'll be a clerk at one of the nation's most prestigious courts. The judge who put him in prison is stunned.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz called for support during a keynote speech at the Iowa Republican Party's annual Reagan Dinner on Friday. That may be a tall order from the man whom many Republicans criticize for his starring role in this month's government shutdown.