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The mortgage interest tax deduction lets homeowners deduct the interest they pay on home loans. Some economists say it should be eliminated, but many homeowners fear a change would wreak their budgets. Host Michel Martin talks about the issue with NPR's Senior Business Editor Marilyn Geewax.

Melissa Block talks with Thomas Jordan, director of the Southern California Earthquake Center. He was tapped by the Italian government to investigate the events surrounding the tragic 2009 earthquake in the city of L'Aquila, which left more than 300 people dead. The Italian government convicted seven prominent earthquake experts of manslaughter on Monday for not adequately warning the public about the quake ahead of time. The head of Italy's disaster body has resigned in protest against the prison sentences.

President Obama has begun a multi-state blitz in the last two weeks before the election.

Early on in American history, before radio and television, charisma wasn't particularly useful, one scholar says, since most decisions were made behind closed doors. Not so today. But how much difference do personality characteristics and charisma make?

A former CIA agent who was charged with leaking classified information to reporters has pleaded guilty. The deal with John Kiriakou came after the judge dealt the defense a big blow by saying prosecutors did not have to prove Kiriakou intended to harm the United States when he revealed the name of a covert operative.

There were 67.2 million viewers for the candidates' Oct. 3 faceoff and 65.6 for the debate on Oct. 16. One reason for the decline on Monday: Major League Baseball and the National Football League were also on the air Monday night.

Three one-act plays recently performed in Beirut are based on the actual words of Syrians. The show was performed in a bunkerlike space to replicate the conditions artists making such work endure. The actress could not be named. A TV series also takes on Syrian politics — Top Goon is an ensemble of finger puppets who lampoon President Bashar Assad. The filmmakers are also anonymous. To be caught with one of these puppets might be worse than being caught with a stinger missile.

A new report says that while girls still lag far behind boys in the juvenile courts, the justice system is failing to take into account their physical and emotional needs. Most girls are locked up for crimes such as running away, school absences or even violating curfew — things that aren't even offenses for adults.

Public health officials are trying to strike a balance between alerting, diagnosing and treating patients who might be at risk of fungal infections — and not overdiagnosing and overtreating those who aren't at risk. The caution is warranted. This type of infection can smolder for weeks before exploding into meningitis or causing massive strokes.

Witnesses say a man detonated a suicide vest outside a mosque, killing many civilians and police officers. It happened in part of the country normally thought to be safe, but where another attack this week left five police officers dead.