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It's official: 2012 was the hottest year on record for the contiguous United States. In fact, it shattered the record set in 1998. The National Climatic Data Center says last year was also extraordinarily dry — and drought conditions are persisting into 2013.

Ada Louise Huxtable, the award-winning architecture critic for the New York Times, died at the age of 91. She was a pioneer of modern architecture criticism and was known for her clever and sometimes biting words. Paul Goldberger, contributing editor and architecture critic for Vanity Fair, speaks with Melissa Block about Huxtable's legacy.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is the primary enforcer of the nation's gun laws, but advocates and former ATF officials say agents face legal restrictions that limit their effectiveness. In addition, the agency has been without a permanent director for years.

Payments to farmers survived in the latest extension of the farm bill. But not all of the groups that argued for the end of the subsidies see this as a loss. They've just been given nine more months to make their case to Congress.

The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments Wednesday in a case testing whether police must get a warrant before forcing a driver to have his blood drawn. Missouri, backed by the Obama administration, argues that time is of the essence when alcohol is dissipating in a person's bloodstream.

Top schools often offer scholarships that not only include free tuition, but also free room and board for top students from poor families. Each year, however, colleges are confronted with a paradox: No matter how many incentives they provide, enrollment of highly talented, low-income student barely seems to budge.

Encinitas, Calif., is celebrated by many as the yoga mecca of America. But when the spiritual discipline was recently incorporated in a local school, a group of parents quickly likened it to religious indoctrination. They worry the new model will be exported to schools across the country.

Blanco, a first-generation Cuban-American, says he identifies with the theme of the inauguration: Our People, Our Future. He is the fifth poet to take part in a U.S. presidential inauguration, and also the youngest. He says being selected was a "great honor."

Along the de facto border in contested Kashmir, a Pakistani soldier was killed Sunday. On Tuesday, two Indian soldiers were killed and there are reports that one was beheaded.

For a little less than $10 each, two tourists paid for a ride down a Russian mountain in an inflatable ball. It went off course, into a ravine and ended up on a frozen lake. One of the men died after his neck was broken. The inventors of the sport want safety rules to be enforced.