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There were 382,000 first-time claims for unemployment benefits last week, down by just 3,000 from the week before. The pace has changed little over the past year.

There's a growing bipartisan consensus that criminal justice policy needs to change, because of the costs and social consequences of keeping more than 2 million Americans behind bars. Host Michel Martin discusses the parties' platforms on criminal justice with the Sentencing Project's Marc Mauer and Marc Levin of the group Right On Crime.

The U.S. military's ban on gays and lesbians serving openly was repealed one year ago. Host Michel Martin checks in with Air Force Sergeant Jonathan Mills to see how the end of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" has affected his life and the lives of other LGBT service members. Mills is the publisher of OutServe magazine.

Polls suggest Hispanics favor President Obama over Mitt Romney by at least a 2-to-1 margin. And while the Hispanic share of the population is growing fast, the turnout rate remains low. So Obama and Romney both are working hard to get their Hispanic voters to the polls.

A California district attorney concludes there isn't enough evidence to charge former University of California Davis Lt. John Pike with using excessive force. He infamously sprayed some seated Occupy protesters. Video of it went viral.

Between May 1 and the middle of September, around 275,000 Facebook users posted their donor status on the site. Now the social network has rolled out the feature in Canada and Mexico to spur donations.

Business people, diplomats, NGO workers and others living overseas face unique challenges when their home country suddenly becomes the object of outrage. Dr. Thomas Burke, former Ambassador Prudence Bushnell, and business consultant Dave Richter talk about the trials of working under fire.

In his new book, The Fine Print: How Big Companies Use "Plain English" to Rob You Blind, author David Cay Johnston examines the fees that companies have added over the years that have made bills incrementally larger. He tells Fresh Air that companies are misusing language to "confuse people."

Recent anti-American protests in the Middle East have stoked debate over what the U.S. role in the region should be. The Obama administration says the U.S. will continue to engage with new political movements in the region. Some argue for more concrete goals.

The artificial cave could house hundreds of thousands of bats, helping them escape a devastating infection called white-nose syndrome. As bats continue to die off, scientists are seeking quick and effective ways to protect them from an invasive fungus that grows naturally in caves.