U.S.

Bernard Holyfield was 5 years old when he learned that skin color made a big difference. He recalls an incident in the early 1960s in Alabama in which a drunken white man approached him and his brother while they were playing on their front lawn.

Morning Edition wraps up its weeklong look at the growing number of people who say they do not identify with a religion. In the final conversation, two religious leaders describe what they do to attract young people to the church.

In anticipation of Inauguration Day, NPR photographer Becky Lettenberger and producer Justine Kenin visited 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. to ask Americans: "What do you want President Obama to remember in his second term?"

Many young illegal immigrants can now drive without the fear of being pulled over. Under President Obama's deferred action program, many have begun receiving their driver's licenses. But not every state is on board with allowing these young people behind the wheel.

Land that isn't in good enough condition to grow crops could be used to produce substantial amounts of liquid biofuels, a new study claims. But there are many concerns about the study, and about the future of advanced biofuels in the U.S. and abroad.

In 1986, Congress passed a ban on buying and selling machine guns made from then on — with the blessing of none other than the National Rifle Association. Gun law experts say the law was more significant than it seemed at the time.

There were more than 500 homicides in the city last year. Officials and residents are counting on President Obama's gun control package to bring that number down. "We didn't want other parents to be like us," says one Chicago mom, whose son was shot to death on a city bus.

Parents will be reassured to hear there's no evidence linking the current timeline for vaccinations to health problems. A review of all available scientific data looked at a wide range of medical conditions — including diabetes, autism and epilepsy — before declaring that there's no reason to worry.

More than 2 million construction jobs disappeared during the economic downturn. But now that there are indications the sector is rebounding, the industry is actually experiencing a labor shortage in many parts of the country.

The Colorado multiplex where 12 people were killed in July will reopen Thursday night. The private event, for victims' families and first responders, precedes a public reopening Friday. Some victims' families call the reopening insensitive, while others say the community needs to move forward.