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John McCain tried to scramble back into contention Saturday in Iowa, a swing state that went Republican in 2004. Polls show that McCain is farther behind Barack Obama in Iowa than he is in Michigan, a state McCain has already ceded to his opponent.

A Weekend Edition investigation shows that some unscrupulous auto repair shops and used-car dealers have victimized consumers by stealing or not replacing air bags. Get tips for spotting air bag fraud and see what one victim found inside her car.

After North Korea agreed to nuclear inspection demands, the U.S. took it off a terrorism blacklist.

Members of the G-7 have been meeting in Washington this weekend, trying to come up with solutions to the financial crisis. On Friday, they issued a five-point action plan, but it's unlikely to have an immediate effect on the turmoil in the financial markets. They met with President Bush on Saturday morning at the White House.

Tensions were palpable in Saturday's great pumpkin weigh-off in Warren, R.I. Steve Connolly has spent the summer feeding his pumpkin liquid fish and manure. Connolly's orange beast weighs nearly 1,800 pounds and he's hoping that's enough to edge out last year's champion grower.

Watching John McCain campaign Friday was like watching the stock market. The Republican presidential nominee alternated attacking Barack Obama and defending him.

On Oct. 6, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a young gay college student, was brutally murdered in Laramie, Wyo. Residents there are still dealing with the legacy of the crime.

Finance ministers from around the world tried to show they are working in a coordinated way to tackle a global financial crisis that has proved to be far more serious than anyone anticipated.

President Bush was short of specifics in his brief statement after Saturday morning's meeting. Will the meeting itself be enough to calm the worldwide markets after the weekend, or will the finance ministers have to offer a concrete plan to stabilize the world's financial systems?

The report says Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her husband used their influence to try to settle a grudge against the governor's ex-brother-in-law.

How can G-7 leaders or the five-point plan solve the financial crisis? Scott Simon discusses this week's economic news with NPR's John Ydstie.

A ballot initiative could make gay marriage in California illegal again. Proposition 8 asks voters to amend the state constitution so that marriage is defined solely as a union between one man and one woman. After trailing in the polls, the measure is now surging, partly due to national support.

An investigator working for the Alaska Legislature concludes that Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power when she fired the state's public safety commissioner. The probe centered on whether the firing was linked to Palin's feud with her ex-brother-in-law, a state trooper.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has said the government will go ahead with a plan to buy stocks in financial institutions. Meanwhile, The Group of Seven industrialized nations agreed to work together to fix the global economy.

Markets have fallen despite President Bush saying the U.S. is using a "wide range of tools" to address the chaos in the financial markets. Many finance-watchers blame tight credit markets for the trouble. Banks are not lending to on another.

President Bush has said the U.S. is using a "wide range of tools" to address the chaos in the financial markets. The stock market, however, has continued its downward slide. Many finance-watchers say the credit markets are to blame. Banks are simply not lending money to one another.

For the first time ever, the Dow Jones industrial index traded in a 1,000-point range on Friday. The Dow ended its day of wild swings down 128 points, to close at 8,451.19.

Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit of General Motors and Ford Motor Co. and their financing arms this week. Many fear the automakers lack enough cash to sustain their business during this downturn, and that if they falter, it could have widespread repercussions on the U.S. economy.

The campaigns of Barack Obama and John McCain are hurling negative adjectives at each other. David Brooks of The New York Times says they are not focusing enough on the big issue at hand: the economic crisis. E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post says the campaign has swung Obama's way because of the crisis, and he hopes it will bring a more serious discussion of how the government can help people.

Teachers and professors across the nation are using the financial crisis as a lesson for their students. A class on global economics in the MBA program at Thunderbird School of Global Management in Phoenix examines the downturn.

At Lake Oswego High School outside of Portland, Ore., Gerrit Koepping brings current events into the classroom every day. High school students at Koeppings' U.S. government classes are learning from the current economic crisis.

The stock prices for Ford and General Motors have taken a beating this week and there are new concerns that the companies might not survive the economic downturn. The companies have spent three years undergoing massive restructuring and cost cuts.

With fear and panic gripping the world's markets, investors' actions are being scrutinized. Professor Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions, says the events are good for those who believe in human irrationality because the fundamentals of the market don't seem to correspond to reality.

In these days of grim and anxious economic news, how can parents effectively talk with their children about finances? Janet Bodnar, deputy editor of Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine and author of Raising Money Smart Kids says it's important to be honest about the situation but not overload children with information.

The city of Rio Rancho, N.M., is the hub of a swing county in the middle of a swing state. Both campaigns are working their ground game hard. Democrats are hopeful that Barack Obama's lead in the polls will hold, but Republicans have a long history of turning out big on Election Day.

Snowy egrets are generally regarded as among the more benign water fowl in the country. They can be spotted in the most urban settings, but they are creating a stinky, noisy mess in the town of Willow, Calif., which is cleaning up the bird droppings.

Many McCain supporters are expressing concern and anger at rallies, as polls in some key states tilt toward Obama. Increasingly, the rallies are taking on a defiant tone, and supporters are urging McCain to attack Obama's character.

As the credit crunch threatens businesses, some consumers are being hit directly in the wallet. In addition to canceled cards, consumer advocates say people are seeing their limits reduced and their interest rates jump.

The $700 billion bailout bill had a number of sweeteners added to win over reluctant members of Congress. One of the provisions was tax relief for Alaskan plaintiffs in the recently settled Exxon Valdez lawsuit. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski visited Valdez this week to talk to ex-plaintiffs about the tax relief.

News Analyst Juan Williams discusses the increasingly negative tone of the political campaign — including racist comments from attendees at Sarah Palin rallies. He also inspects Sen. Barack Obama's climb.

It's turning out to be a bad year for pumpkins in the Northeast. Thanks to an unusually wet year, giant pumpkins are growing too fast and are spontaneously bursting. Growers of smaller pumpkins also say the crop is the worst it's been in years.

In the final lap of the U.S. presidential race some believe Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) attacks against Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) character have gone too far and, for some, are even racist. McCain was sharply criticized after the debate for referring to Obama as "that one."

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama told a crowd in Cincinnati that he can take four more weeks of John McCain's attacks. But America, he said, can't take four more years of John McCain's policies — which are George Bush's policies. Obama added that "enough is enough."

Polls indicate that more Americans trust Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama than Republican John McCain when it comes to dealing with the economy. McCain has been unable to score many political points for his economic platform, so he's targeting Obama's character.

A top labor leader is making an unusually blunt pitch to working-class white voters in key battleground states. Richard Trumka, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, urges members to ignore race and vote for Barack Obama.

One crucial element in understanding and fixing the financial crisis is liquidity. The waterfall of cash that buoyed the global economy in recent years has gone dry. Getting capital flowing again is proving to be an enormous, and so far unsuccessful, challenge.

Many of the world's financial leaders are meeting in Washington, D.C., to discuss how to restore something that has turned out to be easy to lose and hard to get back: confidence in the financial markets. Britain's Alistair Darling says governments around the world will have to work together to end the crisis and stop it from happening again.

New Mexico's Hispanic voters helped put George Bush in the White House in 2004. Barack Obama's supporters are out in force to try to keep the state from going Republican again in 2008.

In North Carolina, there's been a rash of threats against Hispanic advocates and state legislators who are deemed supportive of immigrants. In recent months, those threats of violence have become so common that one Hispanic leader takes a bodyguard to some public appearances.