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AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Audie Cornish.

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

And I'm Robert Siegel.

Among the things President Obama proposed last night in his State of the Union Address, an increase in the minimum wage.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Tonight, let's declare that in the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full time should have to live in poverty...

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: ...and raise the minimum wage to $9 an hour.

(APPLAUSE)

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For convicted felons, it can be hard to land a job regardless of how much it pays. But there's an employment agency in Maine that's focused on putting felons into the workforce. Get an ex-con a job, the idea goes, and it might keep them from going back to prison.

Tom Porter introduces us to the founder of Maine Works.

TOM PORTER, BYLINE: For Margo Walsh, a typical day starts well before dawn.

Good morning, Margo.

MARGO WALSH: How are you?

PORTER: OK.

Throughout his career, English musician Bryan Ferry has been one of popular music's most forward-looking performers. His band Roxy Music remodeled rock into an artsy, cosmopolitan sound in the early '70s and spearheaded the New Romantic style of the '80s.

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ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

And I'm Audie Cornish.

Pope Benedict XVI made his first public appearance today since announcing his resignation. He will be the first pope to step down in 600 years. Today, Benedict told thousands of faithful that he's confident his decision will not harm the church.

NPR's Sylvia Poggioli has our story.

A group of anarchic young men and women in Egypt roam through protests, faces covered, and refuse to speak to media. They bill themselves as armed resistance and have flooded YouTube with videos of themselves making Molotov cocktails and threatening Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. The country's prosecutor general designated them a home-grown terrorist group on Tuesday. Seasoned activists who blame the government for the root of the violence over the past five days say the group is counter-productive and their methods hurt the cause.

When there's a big snowstorm or a plane has mechanical problems, airports often turn into uncomfortable holding pens, with people scrunched in chairs, lying on floors, filling up restaurants and otherwise trying to find something to do.

That's actually good news for one company. Minute Suites is building tiny airport retreats across the country. The suites are already operating in Atlanta and Philadelphia. Next up are Dallas-Fort Worth and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.