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Almost the entire country has signed onto the Common Core Standards Initiative. The standards incorporate more nonfiction texts across all subjects to improve reading scores. But some fear the push for nonfiction reading could lead students away from passionate engagement with literature.

By the time he is through with his inauguration on Monday, President Obama will have taken the presidential oath four times. In 2009, he had to do it twice after some stumbles between him and Chief Justice John Roberts. But as history shows us, his oath was not the first to suffer a few mishaps.

Generations of family members have worked at the Remington Arms factory in Ilion, but new state gun legislation has many worried they'll lose their livelihood. "Everybody around this area, if it wasn't for Remington Arms, would be in trouble," a local restaurant owner says.

Who pays for this quadrennial party? When does Beyoncé sing? If I'm going to the National Mall, how do I find a bathroom? And beyond the oath, what's the point of the whole thing, anyway?

After the four-day hostage crisis in Algeria, the death toll has risen to at least 81. Algerian forces that were searching the natural gas plant in the Sahara that was taken over by Islamist militants found at least 25 more bodies on Sunday.

The casualties are still being counted from last week's attack on an Algerian gas plant by Islamist militants. The four-day siege left dozens of people dead. The group warned of more such attacks against any country backing France's military intervention in neighboring Mali. For a perspective on Mali, Renee Montagne talks to Vickie Huddleston, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Mali from 2002 to 2005.

Israel holds elections Tuesday. Steve Inskeep talks to journalist David Remnick, who recently visited the country. Remnick found what he called a vibrant movement on the "radical right."

The widow of a slain Mississippi civil rights leader Medgar Evars will help open the inaugural ceremony Monday. President Obama has selected activist Myrlie Evers-Williams to deliver the invocation. She's the first woman and lay person to have the honor.

Islamist militants attacked a gas plant last Wednesday and took hostages. Algerian forces were able to regain control of the facility on Saturday. They've found bodies inside. It isn't clear how many of the dead were hostages. Three Americans are among the dead, U.S. officials say.

Last month's school shootings in Connecticut have prompted communities large and small to hold gun buybacks. On the surface, they seem to have been a success, with record numbers of firearms recovered in some cities. But experts say such programs have limited value in reducing gun violence.