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Hugo Chavez won't be on the ballot in Sunday's presidential election, but in many ways he's still the dominant figure. Chavez's hand-picked successor is favored over the opposition candidate, leading by double digits in some polls.

Shane Reams owes his freedom from prison in no small part to his mother's 17-year campaign to change California's tough three strikes sentencing law. Sue Reams' work is not done, she says, not when people are still in prison "for stupid things" like stealing baby food.

Cities are finding beneficial and lucrative ways to dispose of solid waste, while also helping farmers. But a lot of sewage still ends up in landfills or being processed at big, industrial incinerators.

The first lady gave a personal and emotional speech in her hometown, two months after attending the funeral of a Chicago teen who was shot and killed earlier this year. Michelle Obama is encouraging business leaders to donate millions of dollars for programs to help at-risk youth.

The relatively scarce "sweet wormwood" plant has long been the only source of the herbal drug artemisinin. A new trick for making artemisinin in the lab should help even out supplies around the world, scientists say, and cut the cost of malaria treatment.

During his presidency, Hugo Chavez gave Venezuelan consumers cheap gasoline. He propped up the Cuban regime, and he offered oil on preferential terms to 18 regional countries. But Chavez died before he had to confront the economic and political problems certain to plague his successor.

With a large labor force willing to work for low wages, construction may appear to be a lucrative field for contractors in Texas. But prices have been driven so low that many say they can't compete if they play by the rules. Instead, some misclassify their workers or turn a blind eye to undocumented laborers.

The biopic Renoir plots the final years of the impressionist master Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and creating the film's sumptuous imagery took a special eye for detail. NPR's Susan Stamberg explores the inspirations behind the film.

Workers at the Louvre in Paris say the pickpockets who operate inside the galleries have become increasingly aggressive. More than 100 employees stopped working Wednesday in protest.

Golf's first major tournament of the season that begins Thursday in Augusta, Georgia. If Tiger Woods wins, he would receive his fifth green jacket.