NPR News

Facing criticism over appointing an all male slate of chairmen to lead major House committees, Speaker John Boehner on Friday announced that Rep. Candice Miller of Michigan will head the House Administration Committee.

As of now, Miller is the only Republican woman expected to head a House committee when the 113th Congress convenes Jan. 3.

As negotiations continue in Washington over a plan to avoid the fiscal cliff — that combination of tax hikes and spending cuts scheduled for Jan. 1 — one big sticking point is whether to raise tax rates for high-income Americans.

Congress and the White House constructed the cliff last year, thinking it would force them to focus on solving the deficit problem. But they're still battling over what approach makes the most sense.

This weekend, 20 people from around the country will meet in a nondescript hotel room in Arlington, Va., and take a vote. A passing stranger who stumbled on this group wouldn't see much of anything, just a bunch of graying academic types sitting around a table.

But millions of people will be touched by that vote because the graying academic types are voting to approve the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual — the bible of psychiatry.

Robert Siegel talks to Tom Hamburger of The Washington Post, and Melanie Mason of The Los Angeles Times about how much money campaign consultants made from the presidential election this year.

The World Health Organization says a new coronavirus has killed two people in Jordan — the third country where the novel microbe has been traced.

That brings lab-confirmed cases to nine, with five fatalities.

Robert Siegel talks to Sports Illustrated senior writer Michael Rosenberg about a controversial decision by the basketball coach of the San Antonio Spurs. The team's coach, Greg Popovich, sent four of his top players home before the team played the Miami Heat in Florida. The Spurs were concluding a difficult road trip and Popovich wanted to rest his best players. National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern said this decision was unacceptable and has fined the team $250,000.

U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice has come under attack from all sides in her bid to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. We take look at Rice's record and why her critics seem to be growing in numbers.

The descendant of the ancient Aztec language is one of many endangered indigenous languages. Although there may still be a million speakers of Nahuatl, it is not being transmitted to a new generation. But there is an attempt to revive Nahuatl in New York City, and students eager to connect to their heritage are taking classes.