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For only the second time ever, the Securities and Exchange Commission is charging a state with fraud, for allegedly misleading investors about the health of its pension funds. The SEC says the state of Illinois did not properly inform investors that its pension funds were significantly underfunded when selling bonds from 2005 to 2009. This is the latest fiscal black eye for a state with a pension shortfall approaching a whopping $100 billion. The state has agreed to settle the charges.

Journalist Susan Spencer-Wendel was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease in 2011. In her new memoir, Until I Say Good-Bye, she describes a year spent living with the disease but devoted to joy: traveling, visiting friends and family, and accepting her fate with grace.

Herbert Gronemeyer, the best-selling German recording artist of all time, has compiled English versions of his greatest hits for his first U.S. release, I Walk.

For their popular podcast, two longtime friends sit down at a kitchen table and share little-known anecdotes and historical facts about New York. Its bare-bones production hasn't hurt its popularity — it's been downloaded 5 million times in the past five years.

Steve Inskeep speaks with James Dobbins, a former U.S. envoy to Afghanistan, Bosnia and Kosovo, about U.S. military assistance to opposition movements in other countries. So far, the Obama administration is only providing Syrian rebels with medical and food supplies. Dobbins is the director of the RAND International Security and Defense Policy Center.

For Navy Lt. Mark Radlinski, coming home from Iraq was both the best and worst day. But his brother had no mixed emotions — it was all positive. When Felicia Banks deployed with the Army, her children were not as aware of what was going on. They knew they were thrilled to have her back, though.

A Seattle widow's one-stop estate planning advice blog was inspired by her own paperwork frustrations after her husband's death. Chanel Reynolds offers a checklist of documents to prepare, a will template and a list of details to write down, like passwords to online accounts.

Late President Hugo Chavez helped out ideological peers in Latin America, as well as key U.S. allies in the Caribbean. But with Venezuela's own financial challenges and an upcoming presidential election, many of those countries are worried their vital oil lifeline is about to be shut off.

Washington Post food editor Joe Yonan took a bit of a professional risk this week by publicly declaring his vegetarianism. He's not alone: Many Americans say they've cut back on meat in recent years, and like Yonan, they cite health as a primary concern.

With Chavez gone, his handpicked successor is in the spotlight. Nicolas Maduro has adopted Chavez's style and anti-imperialist rhetoric. That should help boost his appeal as he faces opposition leader Henrique Capriles in a special election April 14.