In Miami, a housing activist is taking action of his own- he's finding abandoned, foreclosed homes and helping homeless families move in.

250 laid-off factory workers in Chicago occupy the Republic Doors and Windows factory, where some had worked for more than three decades.

Don't even try to broker a big peace deal between Israelis and the Palestinians... that's the advice to Barack Obama from Aaron David Miller, who in his diplomatic career has worked with six U.S. Secretaries of State.

We air comments from listeners to some of our recent coverage.

Did you know that trade in spices such as pepper, nutmeg and cloves helped Lisbon, Venice and Amsterdam become major world powers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?