Mitt Romney, then the governor-elect of Massachusetts, walks into the House chambers during inaugural ceremonies at the Statehouse in Boston, on Jan. 2, 2003.
Credit Charles Krupa / AP
Romney shares a light moment with Senate President Robert E. Travaglini (center) and House Speaker Thomas Finneran before his State of the State address in 2004.
Credit Josh Reynolds / AP
Romney walks down the central staircase inside the Statehouse during a ceremony marking the end of his term as governor on Jan. 3, 2007.
It's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, from NPR News. I'm Audie Cornish.
MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:
And I'm Melissa Block. There's news today that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, or USADA, has brought formal doping charges against seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. USADA is the body that fights performance-enhancing drug use in Olympic sports.
French President Francois Hollande's companion, Valerie Trierweiler (left), has sparked a political uproar in France, with a tweet in support of a candidate running against Segolene Royal (right), Hollande's former partner and the mother of his four children.
Credit Bertrand Langlois / AFP/Getty Images
French President Francois Hollande (right) with his companion, Valerie Trierweiler, in Tulle, southwestern France, on June 9. Hollande campaigned as a down-to-earth politician, the opposite of his scandal-prone predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy.
Europe may be in major financial and political turmoil, but in France, it's a tweet that has the country in an uproar.
The political storm erupted Tuesday when first lady Valerie Trierweiler tweeted her support for a candidate running in Sunday's parliamentary elections.
That may sound harmless, but the candidate she encouraged is running to unseat prominent politician Segolene Royal, the former partner of President Francois Hollande and the mother of his four children.
Emily M. Danforth teaches creative writing and literature courses at Rhode Island College in Providence and is an editor for The Cupboard, a quarterly prose chapbook.
Emily Danforth is the author of The Miseducation of Cameron Post.
I was at a garage sale with my grandmother when I found a paperback copy of Rita Mae Brown's Rubyfruit Jungle.
I was, without much enthusiasm, rummaging through a pile of books. And then I turned over a small paperback. There, on the back, was a reviewer praising this "account of what it's like growing up lesbian ..." I flinched — such a private word to place in such prominence on a book cover.
Scientists Wednesday unveiled the first catalog of the bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms that populate every nook and cranny of the human body.
Researchers hope the advance marks an important step towards understanding how microbes help make humans human.
The human body contains about 100 trillion cells, but only maybe one in 10 of those cells is actually — human. The rest are from bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms.
The big story of this year's election campaign is big money. Since the Supreme Court, through its Citizens United ruling, has made it easier for corporations, unions and rich individuals to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money, Republicans have seized the advantage.
Right now, an analysis by NPR finds that Republican allied groups are outspending their Democratic counterparts by 8 to 1.
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez arrives atop a truck at the elections office in Caracas on Monday. Chavez addressed thousands of supporters as he formalized his re-election bid. Chavez's younger daughter Rosines is by his side, and on his right is his brother Adan.
Credit Juan Barreto / AFP/Getty Images
Thousands of Chavez followers took to the streets of Caracas for Monday's rally.
The crowds came out by the thousands in Venezuela on Monday, flooding the streets of Caracas in red T-shirts just as the nation's populist government had promised.
Hugo Chavez — the country's 57-year-old, bigger-than-life leader — then took the stage. He had arrived in an open truck, minutes after registering as a candidate for the Oct. 7 election.
Democrats knew that they would be disadvantaged under the new campaign finance rules created by the Supreme Court. But the disparity between the amount of money Republicans can raise in unlimited anonymous donations and what the Democrats have been able to raise is huge.
Members of the U.N. observers mission in Syria visit wounded soldiers and policemen at Tishreen Military Hospital in Damascus on May 23. Casualties among Syrian government forces are rising sharply.
Credit Deborah Amos / NPR
Col. Abdul Kareem Mustapha, 51, is being treated at Barzeh military hospital in Damascus. He was wounded in the Syrian capital Tuesday during an ambush by armed men in taxis that killed one of his fellow passengers.
Syrian activists have posted thousands of videos of civilians killed and wounded in the 15-month-old conflict. But there have been many casualties on the government side as well, and they are on display at a military hospital in the capital, Damascus.
For Abdul Kareem Mustapha, a 51-year-old colonel in the Syrian army, the war came for him at 8:15 a.m. on his way to his military post.
