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The typical first-time mother takes 6 1/2 hours to give birth these days. Her counterpart 50 years ago labored for barely four hours. That's a finding with big implications for current rates of cesarean sections.

The Midwest is home to the largest collection of grottoes, or man-made caves, in the world. And the mother of them all — encrusted in $6 million worth of semiprecious stones — is in West Bend, Iowa, the life's work of a priest after he survived pneumonia. It turns 100 this weekend.

A troubling political art piece wrapped in a high-concept documentary, Herman's House follows the efforts of a provocative artist to build a model of a solitary confinement prisoner's dream home. Neither the home nor the prisoner is properly detailed, but the journey is unsettling.

Goldman Sachs has invested $9.6 million in a new initiative for juvenile offenders in the New York City prison system. While the Department of Corrections needs the money, some wonder if private investment has a place in government agencies.

Though former MI5 director Stella Rimington knows better than anyone that Ian Fleming's From Russia With Love is not a realistic portrayal of life in the intelligence services, she still loves this tale of sex and violence. Which is your favorite Bond book? Tell us in the comments.

Those opposed to taxes and big government are putting their money where their mouths are in the state. A food drive there was put together by libertarians and anarchists, and they say they privately funded, voluntary charity is superior to the welfare system.

German Catholics are facing a stark choice: Pay a church tax or forget about receiving the sacraments, including baptisms, weddings and funerals. Germany taxes registered Catholics, Protestants and Jews. In 2011, the tax raised $6.5 billion for the Catholic Church alone. Many progressives and conservatives are up in arms over the German bishops' decree.

Illinois' pension gap is estimated at $83 billion — and it costs $12.6 million more every day the state does nothing to address the crisis. The state can't readily come up with the money, and while politicians say they want to help, they're unlikely to act during an election year.

What happens if you slash the price of oil, save Europe and force Congress to make a grand bargain? Not as much as you might think.

The university's new stadium will be named after a private prison company. The GEO Group gave FAU a $6 million gift that "delighted" the administration but prompted protests from students. Friday, university President Mary Jane Saunders said the deal was a "closed book," despite allegations of abuse at the company's institutions.