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The Salt
6:29 pm
Wed January 16, 2013

As Syrian Rebels Reopen Bakeries, Bread Crisis Starts To Ease

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Credit Narciso Contreras / Associated Press
A man makes bread as residents, background, stand in line in front of a bakery during heavy fighting between Free Syrian Army fighters and government forces in Aleppo, Syria, on Dec. 4, 2012.
Credit Philippe Desmazes / AFP/Getty Images
A Syrian boy carries a pile of bread as people crowd outside a bakery in the Salaheddin district of Aleppo, on Oct. 25, 2012.
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Originally published on Fri January 18, 2013 7:16 am

In Syria, the staple of most meals is a thin, round, flat bread that we would probably call pita.

Back in November, as fierce fighting raged across Syria, people started to run out of this bread. Government forces were attacking bakeries in rebel-held areas and cutting off electricity so mills couldn't grind flour. By late last year, Syrians were desperate.

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It's All Politics
5:39 pm
Wed January 16, 2013

The Decades-Old Gun Ban That's Still On The Books

Credit Chris Carlson / AP
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department officer Jay Phillippi looks over a fully automatic Thompson machine gun that was turned in during a "Gifts for Guns" program in Compton, Calif., in 2005.
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Originally published on Fri January 18, 2013 7:16 am

When President Obama laid out his proposals Wednesday to reduce gun violence, he included a call for Congress to ban "military-style assault weapons."

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Politics
5:38 pm
Wed January 16, 2013

Interior Secretary's Legacy Defined By Issues Of Oil

Credit Susan Montoya Bryan / AP
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar speaks at the dedication for the Southwest's first urban wildlife refuge on the southern edge of Albuquerque, N.M., on Sept. 27, 2012. Salazar has announced that he'll leave his post in late March and return to Colorado.
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Originally published on Fri January 18, 2013 7:16 am

The Department of the Interior is huge — more than 70,000 employees manage a half-billion acres of public land, mostly in the West. The department does everything from operate national parks to administer Native American social programs and manage wild horses.

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U.S.
5:11 pm
Wed January 16, 2013

Some States Put Brakes On Driver's Licenses For Illegal Immigrants

Credit Craig LeMoult for NPR
Lucas Codognolla, 22, receives his license after qualifying for it under President Obama's federal immigration policy, which allows some young immigrants who are in the country illegally to stay in the U.S. for at least two years.
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Originally published on Fri January 18, 2013 7:16 am

Lucas Codognolla's hands shake as he waits in line at the Bridgeport, Conn., DMV for his turn to take the road test.

"I don't know if it's nerves or the excitement, you know?" he says.

The 22-year-old's family emigrated from Brazil when was just 9. When he turned 16 and wanted to get his driver's license, his parents sat him down and told him the truth: He was in the country illegally.

Initially, he lied to his friends about why he couldn't drive, he says. But then, as he got older, driving simply became necessary.

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Environment
5:11 pm
Wed January 16, 2013

Could Some Midwest Land Support New Biofuel Refineries?

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Credit J.E.Doll / Michigan State University
Vegetation like the kind growing here at Michigan State University's Kellogg Biological Station could one day be used to feed small biofuel refineries spread throughout the Midwest.
Credit Nature
This map shows the potential biomass collection within 10 states. Each circle represents an area of about 7,800 square miles, which could produce about 23 million gallons of ethanol per year. A gigagram, or Gg, is about 1,100 tons.
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Originally published on Fri January 18, 2013 7:16 am

Millions of acres of marginal farmland in the Midwest — land that isn't in good enough condition to grow crops — could be used to produce liquid fuels made from plant material, according to a study in Nature. And those biofuels could, in theory, provide about 25 percent of the advanced biofuels required by a 2007 federal law.

But there are many ifs and buts about this study — and, in fact, about the future of advanced biofuels.

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