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President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act in 1963 in an effort to abolish wage discrimination based on gender. Half a century later, the Obama administration is pushing Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, designed to make wage differences more transparent.

When the bipartisan budget deal was announced in December, supporters heralded cuts that would balance spending increases — among them, a slight reduction to the pensions of working-age military retirees. But a bipartisan consensus emerged to undo it — calling into the question whether Congress has the political will necessary to make any cuts that reduce the long-term debt.

While the number of jobs did increase last month, the hiring pace was slower than in the spring, marking a setback for unemployed Americans. "The labor market begins the second half of 2013 with a fizzle," says economist Heidi Shierholz, with the Economic Policy Institute.

A strike has shut down the San Francisco area's rail system for a second day, stretching out commute times and confusing tourists and residents alike. Many people who rely on the system say they wish labor and management could just settle.

The mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle, or MRAP, will have teddy bears in it, school police officials say. The MRAP is a piece of military surplus equipment that's worth around $733,000.

Sierra Leoneans scramble for supplies as a three-day, countrywide lockdown approaches. International medical professionals doubt the move will do much to halt the spread of Ebola.

Impact from the furloughs has been neither extreme nor widespread, with busy airports in Chicago, Atlanta, and Los Angeles reporting no or few delays as of early Monday afternoon. New York's three big airports experienced delays, but the longest holdups were blamed on high winds and maintenance work.

Corn production was down last year thanks to drought. This year, conditions are too cold and wet for farmers to plant the crop. Without a break in the clouds pretty soon, there may be another shortage of the crop at harvest time.

Writer-director Richard Linklater says picking the film's star was vital because he had to guess what he'd be like at 18. "I just went with a kid who seemed kind of the most interesting."

In places where bullets fly regularly, there's a new kind of "duck and cover" lesson for kids. The impact of stray bullets isn't widely studied, but their indiscriminate nature is known all too well.