Around the Nation

Bacardi, Jack Daniels and Johnnie Walker have some new competition these days. There's been a surge in the number of craft distilleries in the U.S. over the past few years, as more mom and pop entrepreneurs are making liquor for local customers.

The Olympic sport is like gymnastics in the air, but in the final few rounds, aerialists can't use the same trick twice. Come go time, they have to figure out which trick to do, based on what their competitors have just done.

An arctic air mass is blanketing the eastern half of the nation today, bringing with it high winds and heavy snow accumulations in some areas. Thousands of flights have been cancelled, schools are closed and federal government offices are closed. Those who don't have to drive or be somewhere also have an opinion on the weather.

As many as 15 percent of babies have colic, which can cause bouts of inconsolable crying. Researchers are testing probiotics to see if these good bacteria can help. But they don't know how the supplements work, or how they may affect children's health long term.

A poll by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health finds that nearly 1 in 5 Latinos say diabetes is the major health concern for themselves and their family. In East Los Angeles, where obesity and diabetes are common, community activists are committed to turning the problem around.

An Illinois case examines whether states may recognize a union for workers who care for disabled adults in their homes instead of state institutions, and whether non-union members must pay for a contract they benefit from.

It's a cliché and an understatement to say Latino-Americans aren't a monolithic group. But our survey of nearly 1,500 Latinos underscores the variety of different experiences collapsed into the term "Latino."

As the East Coast sweats its way through another heat wave, not everyone has the luxury of air conditioning. In the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan, the mostly Dominican population has moved their lives outside, where the city has kept the parks open and turned on water sprinklers.

Over the past decade, thousands of mentally ill people have been funneling in and out of the nation's jails, landing in places that are ill-equipped to treat them. Illinois' Cook County Jail has some of the most innovative programs in the country, but staff say it's a far cry from actual treatment.

Michigan is one of only a handful of Republican-led states that is expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. It did it by forging a plan that worked for Republicans, Democrats and business interests, as well as doctors and hospitals.