NPR News And Stories From WUNC

The folks at the California Institute of Technology have built another Mars rover, but this one will never get to leave Earth. Not surprising, really, since it's made of gingerbread.

Fielding questions from reporters Friday in the first hours after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Connecticut State Police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance made one thing perfectly clear: The news media could consider him the one and only reliable source for information on the tragedy.

Despite a slowdown in U.S. consumption, coal is poised to replace oil as the world's top energy source — possibly in the next five years, according to the International Energy Agency. The rise will be driven almost entirely by new energy demands in China and India, the IEA says.

Investigators have been slowly releasing information about the Newtown, Conn. shooting that claimed the lives of 20 children, six adults and the gunman. As the investigation unfolds, a number of questions are being raised about how law enforcement decides what information should be made public.

Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) was known for his military service during World War II and his work to improve Hawaii's infrastructure. When he died on Dec. 17, 2012, he was the second-longest serving senator in U.S. history. Bill Dorman, news director at Hawaii Public Radio, reflects on what made him so influential in Hawaii.

NPR's Neal Conan reads from listener comments on previous show topics, including segments how children change when they learn about notorious parents and the growing conflict in Mali.

NPR is not identifying the author, a Syrian citizen, for security reasons.

President Obama has thrown his support behind a leading Democratic senator's effort to reinstate a ban on assault weapons — another sign that Friday's mass shooting at an elementary school in Connecticut has put gun control back on Washington's political agenda.