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Long gone, but never forgotten, Voyager 1 is about 12 billion miles from home and now sailing through interstellar space, scientists were thrilled to confirm in 2013. The spacecraft carries with it a generation's dreams.

For the first time, Medicare would have the authority to kick out doctors and other providers of health who engage in abusive prescribing. It could also take such action if providers' licenses have been suspended or revoked by state regulators or if they were restricted from prescribing painkillers and other controlled substances.

Health care costs grew at 3.7 percent in 2012, the fourth year of a trend of smaller annual increases. The Obama administration says that the Affordable Care Act is a factor. But the actuaries who wrote the report beg to differ, saying the recession is a more likely cause.

Should they or shouldn't they? That's the question Brazilians are asking themselves after Edward Snowden's "open letter" lauding Brazil's role in protecting privacy rights and alluding to his hand in uncovering spying against their president.

Weather-related traffic accidents have accounted for some of the deaths. Others have collapsed while shoveling snow. Several victims are said to have been homeless people who either didn't want to go to shelters or didn't get to one in time. Thankfully, more moderate weather is about to arrive.

Also: Former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates' new memoir is critical of the Obama White House; The Morning News' annual Tournament of Books announces its contestants; a new short story from Nicole Krauss.

The payroll processing firm ADP says in its latest report that December saw 238,000 jobs added, the strongest monthly gains of last year.

Fifty years ago today, President Lyndon Johnson declared an "unconditional war on poverty in America." It was something he knew well, says historian Robert Caro. As a boy, Johnson and his family often had little food and were "literally afraid every month that the bank might take away" their house.

More than 80 percent of the seafood consumed in the U.S. now comes from abroad. And fishermen in other parts of the world continue to kill not just dolphins but seals and even whales. So conservation groups are calling for tougher import rules to protect sea animals at risk from fishing.

Jennifer Granick, director of civil liberties at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, tells NPR that the former NSA contractor should be thanked for revealing questionable surveillance activities.