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This week Getty Images teamed up with LeanIn.org, the nonprofit foundation of Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg, to release a new collection of stock photos. There are about 2,500 new images of modern women and families.

Getty's director of visual trends, Pamela Grossman, says that with women as the primary users of social media, it was time for a different kind of representation in media and advertising.

"Virtually every conversation I've been having at least for the last three years has been our clients asking for these much more authentic images that don't feel posed or staged or contrived in any way, but that actually feel much more relatable," she tells NPR's Renee Montagne.

Grossman says the new stock photos update an otherwise stereotypical repository.

"I think there's been a lot of women in power suits with boxing gloves or women in stiletto heels stepping on men," she says, "and that's definitely the kind of work that we are aggressively shifting away from."

The new version of a woman multitasking, Grossman says, "would be somebody who maybe has her arms filled with certainly a tablet or some kind of creative plans and then she's also engaged in a conversation. Certainly she still looks busy, but it's a little bit more subtle of a visual read."

The Lean In Collection includes powerful female athletes and women in tech. It also features different representations of "Mom."

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House Democrats face a decidedly grim election season.

Their hopes of wresting control from the GOP look increasingly remote. Their legislative agenda is stymied. And some of their biggest liberal standard-bearers – Californians Henry Waxman and George Miller — are retiring.

So, as they hunker down on Maryland's Eastern Shore for their annual "issues conference" Thursday and Friday, why do they seem to be in such good spirits?

There was reportedly impromptu dancing to Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley's guitar playing Wednesday night. Leadership also engaged in some good-natured scolding of the press for using "Obamacare" as shorthand for the president's signature Affordable Care Act.

And members, who had high-tailed it out of Washington before the Wednesday night-and-beyond snowstorm shut down the capital, were filling their dance cards with pump-you-up sessions on the minimum wage, income inequality, and how to win over unmarried women. (Make that more unmarried women; it's a demographic already dominated by Democrats.)

Two reasons seem to explain why House Democrats seem so improbably upbeat: The Tea Party and cash.

"The Tea Party is probably what helps House Democrats get up in the morning," says Nathan Gonzales of the non-partisan Rothenberg Political Report, which analyzes congressional races.

"When they look at a number of other factors – from their president's job rating, to some of their own colleagues who are retiring, the news isn't great," he said. "They are fueled by the Tea Party and a Republican-led House that appears to be constantly going too far."

To that point: before the Democrats headed to Maryland, Republican House Speaker John Boehner, stymied by his fractious caucus and facing another crisis over the nation's borrowing power, had to turn to the minority party to get a "clean" debt ceiling bill passed.

House Democrats, for that brief legislative instance, mattered. So heady was that moment that it prompted Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York to suggest that perhaps a similar scenario could play out in the House on the issue of immigration. The Senate last year passed an immigration reform bill; the House has not acted.

"In this Senate ... we forged a coalition," Schumer said Thursday on MSNBC. "So in the House there's a lot of trouble because our Tea Party friends are very much against it, and while a lot of Republicans are the same as I believe they were on the debt, they want to vote no but hope yes, there's a real chance, I still think, to get this done."

Schumer was engaged in some mischief-making, considering that statistics show that the issue of immigration plays very differently in Republican House districts —the vast majority of which have 20 percent or fewer Hispanic constituents. And it would be a steep climb for House Democrats, currently outnumbered 232-200, to put together a majority on the issue.

California GOP Rep. David Valadao, who previously endorsed immigration reform, dismissed Schumer's proposal.

"Congressman Valadao does not believe there is sufficient support among House Republicans to support a discharge petition related to the Senate immigration bill, nor does he believe that is the best path forward," says Tal Eslick, his chief of staff. "He remains committed to working with Democrats and Republicans to provide a solution that addresses all aspects of immigration reform."

None of this chatter seems likely to translate into a fall victory for House Democrats. They need a net gain of 17 seats to win a majority; their best case scenario at this point looks to be a pick-up of a handful of seats.

While Obama and the Affordable Care Act remain the salient issues in most races, House Republican divisions that have led to majority party gridlock give the nothing-to-lose Democrats an opportunity to hit Boehner and crew for failing to move job, immigration and wage bills. Victimization has its perks.

Despite the cloudy November outlook, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has been busily filling its coffers.

Year-end reports show that the DCCC raised close to $76 million in 2013, and had a balance of $29 million going into the new year.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, by comparison, raised $60.5 million last year, and reported $21 million in the bank at the end of December.

The president is scheduled to give the keynote address at the conference Friday midday, to a group of legislators eager to hear some good news on the health care law front.

China's troubled Jade Rabbit rover has woken from its hibernation on the moon, sending a message back to its handlers. But its problems aren't over yet.

"Hi, anyone there?" was the post on Jade Rabbit's unofficial Weibo account on Thursday, which got thousands of responses from enthusiastic followers.

Xinhua quoted space program spokesman Pei Zhaoyu as saying that the rover had "come back to life" and was sending and receiving messages but that scientists were still investigating its mechanical difficulties.

The problem occurred shortly before the rover was set to go into a state of dormancy during the lunar nighttime, and mission control officials weren't even sure they'd be able to contact it again. Thursday's signal from the rover was a first step toward a possible fix.

NPR's Geoff Brumfiel reports that experts thought the six-wheeled rover's electronics wouldn't survive the frigid cold of the lunar night. Now, "it remains to be seen whether the little rabbit is healthy enough to continue its journey."

The Los Angeles Times writes:

"Chinese authorities have not offered specifics on the problems, though several overseas-based space-related websites have said a solar panel failed to fold and close, perhaps leaving the rover's instrumentation exposed to extremely low temperatures."

Afghan authorities on Thursday went ahead and released 65 prisoners from a high-security prison north of Kabul over the strong objections of U.S. military commanders, who say the men are dangerous terrorists who have attacked civilians and soldiers in the past.

As the Los Angeles Times writes:

"The U.S. military had expected the move and denounced it in a series of press releases in recent weeks. But the Afghan government maintained that there was insufficient evidence to try the prisoners or continue to hold them at the formerly U.S.-run detention facility at Bagram."

Italy's Prime Minister Enrico Letta will step down after his own party launched a no-confidence vote against him, paving the way for the young and popular mayor of Florence to assume the post.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

"Mr. Letta's resignation brings an end to a government that is barely 10 months old and has teetered on the brink of collapse virtually from its birth. It will clear the way for [President Giorgio] Napolitano to ask Matteo Renzi to try to form a new government."

An announced $45 billion merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable — the largest and second-largest cable companies in the U.S., respectively — is under scrutiny not just for its massive size but also for its potential impact on Internet use.

Just last month, a federal court struck down the Federal Communication Commission's ability to enforce net neutrality — a regulation that makes Internet providers treat all broadband traffic equally. In theory, now that net neutrality can't be enforced, an Internet provider could give priority to its own websites or charge certain websites extra to access users.

Net neutrality advocates say this could create "a system of haves and have-nots," NPR's Elise Hu reported. "The richest companies could get access to a wider swath of Internet users, for example, and that could prevent the next Google from getting off the ground."

Comcast agreed to maintain net neutrality in 2011, when it acquired NBC Universal — that meant Comcast couldn't give preference to the content it owned. The company said Thursday that this condition of "no blocking and non-discrimination rules" would be extended to millions of new customers under the merger.

If that's the case, the Wall Street Journal's Marketwatch reports, this merger may actually benefit net neutrality: It would give the FCC "a backdoor to enforce net neutrality on roughly a third of the nation's broadband subscribers."

But Josh Stearns at Free Press, an open-Internet advocacy organization, sees a strong downside: If Comcast's net neutrality condition expires — and it's currently set run out in 2018 — all of those customers would out of luck.

Nearly 80 percent of housing units have access to two Internet service providers, according to the Federal Communications Commission. But the FCC estimates that, once cable Internet is upgraded across the U.S., three-fourths of the population will have only one option for very fast Internet.

The lack of competition means Comcast-Time Warner won't lose customers even if they're not happy with its net neutrality policy, Stearns says. "I don't think there's any condition that will really mitigate any damage this merger will do," he says.

The deal is expected to be inspected by federal antitrust regulators and the FCC. If both companies kept all of their existing customers, the new Comcast would service 33 million customers, The Washington Post reports. But the companies don't overlap in any market — so in any given place, the number of cable providers will stay the same.

Between the net neutrality condition and the lack of overlap, federal regulators might be appeased enough to let the merger progress. Whether customers are happy is a whole different story.

Would-be air travelers sitting at home may be frustrated about their canceled plans. But most likely, they are happier than they would have been had they gotten trapped on an icy tarmac.

And that used to happen many hundreds of times a year before the Department of Transportation stepped in to reduce the frequency of passenger incarcerations.

DOT was responding to a fliers' revolt that kicked into high gear back on Valentine's Day 2007. That's when snow and ice led to JetBlue Airways' decision to strand hundreds of passengers on planes on the tarmac at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport for up to 10 1/2 hours.

The infamous incident — along with many similar ones involving passengers trapped amid overflowing toilets and screaming babies — led DOT to act. In December 2009, the deparment instituted a landmark rule, setting a three-hour limit on such tarmac delays. Violators would get hit with fines of up to $27,500 per passenger.

The number of stranded flights plummeted because the new rule made it an easier financial decision for airlines to cancel flights. In the first year it took effect, airlines reported 20 tarmac delays of more than three hours, compared with 693 tarmac delays in the previous year.

Daniel Baker, CEO of the air-travel tracking website FlightAware.com, said this week's massive snowstorm caused major airports from Atlanta to New York to close runways, and airlines had to cancel more than 6,500 flights just Thursday.

"Atlanta saw 70 percent of flights cancelled," he said. That had "a really huge impact, not just on folks who were traveling to and from Atlanta, but people traveling through Atlanta to go to other cities."

Still, Baker said it's easier on passengers to have flights canceled these days because smartphones and computers can make it so much easier to adjust and make new travel plans.

"The travelers can go online and re-accommodate themselves on the airline web site, which is a huge improvement for the consumer experience," Baker said.

NPR's Chris Arnold reported on the cancellations for All Things Considered. Listen to his report:

The Capitol Hill crackdown on sexual assaults in the U.S. military has been a rare mission on which Republicans and Democrats have found common ground over the past year.

The effort, spearheaded by Senate women — including an unprecedented seven on the Armed Services Committee — has already resulted in scores of tough new provisions designed to root out sexual predators, improve victims' services, and end commanders' ability to overturn jury convictions.

The reforms were wrapped into the National Defense Authorization Act signed by President Obama in December.

"The awareness of this issue has been raised to a height never imagined before," says Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat and member of the Armed Services Committee, which last spring held high-profile hearings on the military sexual assault crisis. "Most informed Americans are now aware of this very serious issue and are deeply interested in it."

But a simmering policy dispute between two Democratic senators — both women and both influential members of the Armed Services Committee — has been overshadowing gains that most characterize as nothing short of historic.

The point of contention? Legislation proposed by New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand that would take the unprecedented step of stripping U.S. military commanders of control over decisions about whether to pursue prosecution in cases involving sexual assault allegations.

Her fellow Democrat, Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, is aggressively opposing the effort, arguing that the change would not improve the climate or legal path for victims. She has legislation of her own that promotes additional, noncontroversial reforms to combat sexual assault but would leave prosecution decisions in the hands of the military chain of command.

Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., also opposes Gillibrand's measure, as have the White House and military leaders.

The argument had become increasingly contentious leading up to what was expected to be a Gillibrand-McCaskill legislative showdown this week in the Senate.

McCaskill suggested that Gillibrand would need the votes of 60 senators to advance her bill — a statement many read as tantamount to a filibuster threat. And Gillibrand, who argues that the status quo has not worked even in what's supposed to be a "zero tolerance" climate, this week peppered her Twitter feed with entries like this: "How many more rapes must we endure to wait & see what reforms are needed?"

But scheduling, horse-trading, and, perhaps, Gillibrand's very public pursuit of those 60 votes (her office this week confirmed it has 54 publicly confirmed supporters — including nine Republicans, among them Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas), have pushed the schedule back to later this month. At the earliest.

Gillibrand's Senate supporters, among them Blumenthal and Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, suggest that she is very close to getting to the 60-vote threshold. But that count would include some senators who would vote to take it to the floor for debate, but would not support it in the end.

McCaskill's people say they do not believe that Gillibrand has, or will get, the 60 votes needed.

What may have damaged for now the New York senator's pursuit of 60 votes is a recent report by a female-dominated panel of experts that overwhelmingly concluded military commanders should maintain their authority over the prosecution of sexual assault cases.

Former U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman said she came to the panel, established by Congress to study the prospect of moving sexual assault prosecutions out of the chain of command, believing that Gillibrand's proposal "sounded right."

"I changed my mind," Holtzman said when the panel presented its findings.

If removing the commander as the convening authority, she said, and putting the power in the hands of "prosecutorial bureaucracy" would make a difference, "I would be saying junk it. We can't have the present system.

"But we haven't seen any evidence of that," she said, a conclusion shared by eight of the nine panel members, which included two men.

Last fall, a civilian advisory committee on women's issues for the Defense Department came to a different conclusion: it voted to support legislation that would remove from the chain of command "the prosecution of serious crimes, including sexual assault..."

The battle is expected to be rejoined when senators return from their Presidents Day holiday break later this month.

"Whether the McCaskill bill or the Gillibrand bill," Blumenthal says, "one of them will pass, and will make a difference."

The answer to the question "can Paula Deen recover?" from the uproar over her past use of the "N-word" is apparently yes.

"A recently formed new company, Paula Deen Ventures, said it has received an investment of between $75 million and $100 million from Najafi Cos., a private-equity company led by Jahm Najafi, who owns BMG Music Service and the Book-of-the-Month Club," The Wall Street Journal writes.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reminds readers that:

"Deen's celebrity status took a hit last year after she acknowledged in a deposition that she had used racial slurs in the past. The admission, revealed during a lawsuit filed by a former employee, led to Deen's Food Network show being canceled and the loss of dozens of product endorsements, including Smithfield Foods.

"Deen, whose supporters were just as vocal as her critics, has apologized repeatedly, calling the language 'totally, totally unacceptable.' "

The commission President Obama appointed last year to figure out how to fix long lines at the polls and other election problems has sought to steer clear of the many partisan land mines surrounding how Americans vote.

The two co-chairmen of the panel continued to that navigation Wednesday as they presented their unanimous recommendations to the Senate Rules Committee.

When asked by Democrat Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota whether some states were doing things intentionally to disenfranchise voters — like limiting early-voting days — commission co-chairman and Democratic election lawyer Bob Bauer responded diplomatically.

First, he said the commission was struck by how much it had heard from both Democrats and Republicans, "once the lights were off and the doors were closed," about their desire to improve the way elections are run.

And then he told senators that any partisan plots to disenfranchise voters would be far less likely to succeed if states adopted some of the changes proposed by the bipartisan panel, like improving the accuracy of voter registration lists.

"There's more vulnerability of the system to those sorts of shenanigans if the system itself is weak," Bauer said. "If it's strong, it's less likely that it will break down under political pressure or by political design."

His co-chairman, Republican attorney Ben Ginsberg, also said the panel found a lot of common ground when it came to elections, including agreement that no voter should have to wait more than 30 minutes to cast a ballot. Some voters had to wait six or more hours in 2012 to vote.

Ginsberg also said — in response to a question from Republican Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas — that the commission found no evidence in hearings around the country that long lines were the result of partisan plots, as some have suggested.

Instead, Ginsberg said, it was almost exclusively a management problem. Some election officials simply misjudged how much equipment and personnel they needed at certain precincts. The commission is providing online programs to help local election officials better manage resources.

But how much impact the panel's recommendations will have is an open question. For the most part, it's up to state and local governments to decide whether or not they want to make the changes. And those debates are often fraught with political debate over how easy or difficult voting should be.

One of the commission's biggest concerns involves voting technology — a nonpartisan issue that has nevertheless become highly politicized.

Bauer and Ginsberg warned that there's a huge crisis in voting technology right around the corner. They said all the new voting equipment purchased after the disputed 2000 presidential election will "no longer be functional" within the next 10 years. But the process now in place to upgrade the equipment is in disarray.

That's because the federal agency known as the Election Assistance Commission (or EAC) needs to certify all new voting technology. And there's one big problem: The EAC hasn't had any commissioners since 2011 because of a dispute between Republicans and Democrats over whether or not there should even be an EAC.

Republicans think the EAC has outlived it's usefulness and should be eliminated. Democrats think it should continue to oversee how elections are run.

Bauer and Ginsberg — again, diplomatically — suggested that an alternative way to certify voting equipment should be found in the event the EAC never gets up and running again.

In one more sign that elections and politics are difficult to separate, the Rules Committee had scheduled a vote on President Obama's two Democratic nominees to the EAC — Myrna Perez and Thomas Hicks — right after Bauer and Ginsberg testified. But at the last minute, the vote was postponed until after the Senate's Presidents Day recess, because the committee couldn't get a quorum.

(We put a new top on this story at 9:25 a.m. ET and added an update at 10:15 a.m. ET.)

As NPR's David Folkenflik pointed out earlier today, Comcast's proposed $45 billion purchase of fellow cable company Time Warner will receive some scrutiny from federal officials. Here's some more about that part of the story:

Politico writes that:

"The acquisition will be subject to government approval — and it is already raising concerns in the industry. The deal would combine two of the top four pay-TV companies in the marketplace.

"Free Press President and CEO Craig Aaron said the deal combining the two would mean higher prices. 'In an already uncompetitive market with high prices that keep going up and up, a merger of the two biggest cable companies should be unthinkable,' he said. 'This deal would be a disaster for consumers and must be stopped.'

"The Justice Department or the Federal Trade Commission will examine the deal for antitrust concerns, and the Federal Communications Commission will decide if the merger is in the public interest. ...

"Recent deals have been rejected by the federal government. The Justice Department and the FCC said no to AT&T's attempt to take over T-Mobile — a deal that would have combined the number two and number four wireless operators."

Parts of England have been underwater for more than six weeks now, since storms began pummeling the west of Great Britain around Christmas. While many of those areas are still submerged, the situation keeps getting worse.

Now the floodwaters are lapping near Windsor Castle, as the Thames overflows its banks. Thousands of people have fled their homes, with more evacuating every day.

You needn't travel far from central London to find the misery: A 20-minute train ride from the city brings you to West Byfleet. A short walk from the station, families and senior citizens are trying to pass the time at a community center in the town of New Haw. These people are all evacuees from nearby villages.

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We told you yesterday [Wednesday] about a Belgian proposal that would have made the country the first in the world to allow terminally ill children to choose euthanasia. Today [Thursday], lawmakers in the country voted overwhelmingly to allow just that.

The vote in the House of Representatives was 86-44; there were 12 abstentions. The Senate voted last December to approve the measure. Belgian King Philippe is expected to sign the measure, which needs his assent to become law.

Here's more from The Associated Press:

"The law empowers children with terminal ailments who are in great pain to request to be put to death if their parents agree and a psychiatrist or psychologist find they are conscious of what their choice signifies. The law was opposed by some Belgian pediatricians and the country's leading Roman Catholic cleric."

The answer to the question "can Paula Deen recover?" from the uproar over her past use of the "N-word" is apparently yes.

"A recently formed new company, Paula Deen Ventures, said it has received an investment of between $75 million and $100 million from Najafi Cos., a private-equity company led by Jahm Najafi, who owns BMG Music Service and the Book-of-the-Month Club," The Wall Street Journal writes.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reminds readers that:

"Deen's celebrity status took a hit last year after she acknowledged in a deposition that she had used racial slurs in the past. The admission, revealed during a lawsuit filed by a former employee, led to Deen's Food Network show being canceled and the loss of dozens of product endorsements, including Smithfield Foods.

"Deen, whose supporters were just as vocal as her critics, has apologized repeatedly, calling the language 'totally, totally unacceptable.' "

The multitalented Sid Caesar took live and complex comedy skits on the air as a pioneer in 1950s TV. Caesar, who established a new comedic tradition in America before he was 30, died in Los Angeles on Wednesday at 91.

Caesar's biographer and close friend Eddy Friedfeld confirmed the comedian's death, saying he had spoken with Caesar's daughter, Karen. The news of Caesar's death was first reported by Larry King on Twitter.

It was the NBC program Your Show of Shows that put Caesar on the map when it debuted in 1950. Here's how NPR's Susan Stamberg describes it:

"Sid Caesar was 27 when he launched Your Show of Shows — TV's first and greatest live comedy. His writers became comedy royalty: Carl Reiner, Neil Simon, his brother Danny, Woody Allen, Larry Gelbart, and Mel Brooks."

We'll have a full remembrance of the comedian's career from Susan later today. It includes this quote from Carl Reiner:

"Sid was the flame. Every writer was a moth who wanted to hang around that flame. There wasn't a writer in television who didn't want to be flicking around that flame."

After years of decreases, military spending is expected to rise globally in 2014 for the first time in five years.

And the rising defense budgets of China and Russia are a key reason why.

The IHS Jane's Annual Defense Budgets Review predicted substantial increases in defense spending in Russia, China, India and Saudi Arabia, among other countries.

Total global defense spending is expected to go up 0.6 percent this year to $1.547 trillion, compared to $1.538 trillion last year.

While the United States remains the world's largest military player, China's planned defense spending in 2015 is expected to outstrip Britain, Germany and France's combined budgets.

Russia, meanwhile, is expected to spend 44 percent more on its military over the next three years — the largest increase of any country in the International Institute for Strategic Studies' latest report.

Here's a look at the 15 largest defense budgets around the world last year (2013), based on figures from the IISS report:

1. United States ($600.4 billion): The U.S. population, according to the 2012 census, was 313.9 million people. That means the country spends roughly $2,000 per person on defense.

2. China ($112.2 billion): With China's population at roughly 1.35 billion people in 2012, the communist nation spends just $83 per person on its defense budget.

3. Russia ($68.2 billion): Roughly 143 million people lived in Russia as of 2012, meaning it spends around $475 per person on its military.

4. Saudi Arabia ($59.6 billion): Saudi Arabia spends about $2,100 per person on its defense budget, according to figures that put the desert nation's 2012 population at 28.3 million people.

5. United Kingdom ($57 billion): With Great Britain's population at an estimated 63.2 million people in 2012, it spends roughly $900 per person on defense.

6. France ($52.4 billion): France spends about $797 per person on its military budget based off its 2012 population of 65.7 million people.

7. Japan ($51 billion): Based on its 2012 population of 127.6 million people, Japan spends just under $400 per person on its military.

8. Germany ($44.2 billion): Germany's population of roughly 82 million people in 2012 puts its defense spending at $540 per person.

9. India ($36.3 billion): India's skyrocketing population reached 1.23 billion people in 2012, putting its defense spending at just $29 per person.

10. Brazil ($34.7 billion): With a 2012 population of 198.7 million people, Brazil spends roughly $175 per person on its military budget.

Rounding out the world's Top 15 defense budgets in 2013 were: South Korea ($31.8 billion); Australia ($26 billion); Italy ($25.2 billion); Israel ($18.2 billion); and Iran ($17.7 billion).

When Woody Harrelson's character got hired as a bartender on Cheers, he was so excited, he insisted on working for no more than the minimum wage. "I'd work like a slave," he said, "and, of course, I'd wash your car."

Most bar and restaurant workers would prefer to bring home a little more cash. They may be in luck.

As part of his plan to raise the minimum wage, President Obama has called for substantially increasing the base wage paid to tipped workers for the first time in decades.

"It's easy to forget the overwhelming majority of tipped employees are low-income workers," says Amy Traub, senior policy analyst at Demos, a liberal research and advocacy group.

The Democratic bill endorsed by Obama in his State of the Union address last month would raise the overall minimum wage in stages, from the current $7.25 to $10.10 an hour. Tipped workers — a group that includes waiters, bartenders and busboys — would see their base wages rise to $7.07 an hour.

That bill, like all legislation in Congress these days, faces an uncertain future. And its fiercest opposition comes from the National Restaurant Association.

For starters, the NRA argues, most tipped workers make more than the federal minimum of $2.13 an hour. And it's true: Thirty-one states mandate higher minimum tipped wages than the feds — though those mandates vary widely. In Arkansas, for example, the minimum is $2.63, while in Washington and Oregon it's more than $9.

Even in states that haven't raised the tipped minimum, restaurants are required to make up any shortfall between $2.13 and the regular minimum wage that isn't covered by tips.

"Tipped employees at restaurants are among the highest-paid employees in the establishment, regularly earning $16 to $22 an hour," says Scott DeFife, executive vice president for policy and government affairs at the NRA. "Nobody is making $2.13 an hour," he adds.

But labor advocates take issue with the NRA's numbers. In 2012, the median income for food and beverage serving workers was $8.84 per hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The bulk of tipped workers are barely making ends meet, advocates say.

States Where Servers Have The Highest Base Wages

Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is a glittering affair that attracts tourists from all over the world. There is, however, a murky and sometimes violent underbelly to the celebrations that recently came under the spotlight after the murder of a top samba school official.

One evening last month, Marcello da Cunha Freire was leaving his office in Rio's Vila Isabel neighborhood when a car pulled up next to him.

"I was here just beside where it happened," says a witness who doesn't want to give her name for fear of reprisals. "I suddenly heard gunfire. I shut the door and hid and after a few minutes I heard at least six more shots. There was a lot of confusion, people shouting."

According to police, unknown assailants in a car opened fire on Freire, hitting him with three bullets. He was taken to hospital where he later died.

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Iran on Tuesday marked the 35th anniversary of its Islamic revolution, a day when the country's religious conservatives and military hard-liners take center stage, and calls of "Death to America" echo across the country.

In Tehran's Azadi Square, one man waving an orange "Down with the USA" flag condemned the U.S. and Israel, and then, perhaps not sure of the nationality of the reporter standing nearby, threw in England and France for good measure.

But Iranians say this year's rally had a different feel, especially when compared to those under the previous president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. On Tuesday, President Hassan Rouhani, who was elected last summer, paid tribute to the revolution that brought Iran "victory over dictatorship," toppling the U.S.-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1979.

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In Canada, even the ficus trees haven't been spared the budget cut hatchet.

The potted plants in Canada's House of Commons buildings, the CBC reports, will soon be rounded up and auctioned off as part of federal belt-tightening measures.

The department of Public Works And Government Services Canada (PWGSC) has long paid the cost of watering and maintaining potted plants kept in government buildings. But money doesn't grow on trees and the era of free watering is over.

As part of a 2012 update to a workplace modernization effort, the department has informed other federal departments that they have until April 2015 to decide their plants' fate: keep them and pay a fee to the Public Works department for their upkeep, take over any existing maintenance contracts from the department or get rid of the plants entirely.

The House of Commons — and, as the Ottawa Citizen has reported, the Department of National Defence — picked the third option, which means the plants are headed for the auction block (well, actually, the government's surplus goods website, GCSurplus. You can find photos of the available plants there, which run the gamut from small, leafy palms to the philadendrons that may have adorned your college dorm room).

A House of Commons internal memo explains that the "removal of the plants by PWGSC personnel, escorted by House of Commons employees, will begin following the successful sale of the plants." And, the memo continues, "Since the plants are Crown assets, employees are not permitted to keep them."

That didn't stop staff in the offices of the opposition New Democratic Party from trying. The CBC reports that employees ferreted away some refugee plants in an empty office. But no dice — the plants have bar codes that will aid in their identification and removal.

Employees need not worry about any of their own cacti and good luck bamboo that may be brightening their cubicles — personally owned plants are not part of the sweep.

The daily lowdown on books, publishing, and the occasional author behaving badly.

Gabrielle Giffords, the former Arizona congresswoman who was shot in the head in 2011, is writing a book about gun control. She plans to collaborate with her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, on Enough: Our Fight to Keep America Safe from Gun Violence, which is set to come out in June. In a statement released by publisher Scribner, Kelly wrote, "As Second Amendment supporters and gun owners ourselves, we hope our book rouses the long-overdue conversation our country needs to make responsible changes to our gun laws so that no more precious lives are lost." Giffords and Kelly collaborated with Jeffrey Zaslow on 2011's Gabby: A Story of Courage, Love and Resilience, which told of Giffords' recovery.

NASA is working with sci-fi publisher Tor to create "NASA-Inspired Works of Fiction." According to The Wall Street Journal, "The partnership pairs up novelists with NASA scientists and engineers, who help writers develop scientifically plausible story lines and spot-check manuscripts for technical errors." An unnamed NASA official told the Journal that in return, NASA gets "an innovative way to reach out to the public to raise awareness of what the agency is doing."

Penguin Books India has agreed to withdraw Wendy Doniger's The Hindus: An Alternative History from sale in India and pulp the unsold and recalled copies to settle a lawsuit by a Hindu group. The lawsuit filed by Dina Nath Batra, the head of the Hindu educational group Shiksha Bacho Andolan, stated that Doniger's book presents a skewed view of Hinduism. In a court filing, Bathra claimed that Doniger, who is a professor at the University of Chicago, wrote the book "with a Christian Missionary Zeal and hidden agenda to denigrate Hindus and show their religion in poor light." He also accused Doniger of eroticizing aspects of the Hindu faith, writing, "Your approach is that of a woman hungry of sex." Penguin Books India did not respond to a request for comment.

In a 1955 letter to his publisher, J.R.R. Tolkien writes that his friend the poet W.H. Auden disapproved of the romance between Aragon and Arwen in the Lord of the Rings series. Tolkien wrote that Auden "thinks Aragorn-Arwen unnecessary & perfunctory...I still find it poignant: an allegory of naked hope. I hope you do." The letter, which has never been published, will be auctioned by Bonhams in March.

The Omnivore's Hatchet Job of the Year award has gone to A.A. Gill's review of Morrissey's Autobiography. The award, which celebrates incisive criticism and aims to "raise the profile of professional critics and to promote integrity and wit in literary journalism," comes with a golden hatchet and a year's supply of potted shrimp, the buttery seafood dish beloved of James Bond. In his review, which is up on the Omnivore's website, Gill writes, "There is an absence of music, not just in its tone, but the content. There are emetic pools of limpid prose about the music business, the ingratitude of fellow musicians and band members and the lack of talent in other performers, but there is nothing about the making of music itself, the composing of lyrics, the process of singing or the emotion of creation." He adds, "It is a heavy tome, utterly devoid of insight, warmth, wisdom or likeability. It is a potential firelighter of vanity, self-pity and logorrhoeic dullness."

On a related note, The New York Times asks writers Zo Heller and Francine Prose "whether bad books should be written about or ignored." Heller writes, "Banning 'negativity' is not just bad for the culture; it is unfair to authors. A review, however aggressively unfavorable, is generally obliged to provide supporting evidence for its judgments. It is also published under a byline, signaling to all that it is the work of one fallible human being. This seems an altogether fairer and more accountable way of dealing with a book one deems 'bad' than banishing it, without explanation, from public notice."

The worlds that John Wells inhabits are the shadow, clandestine intelligence worlds. Now that you are a full time fiction writer, what is your process for research?

I'll talk to whoever will talk to me – former CIA case officers, soldiers, State Department and NGO types. When I've decided the broad outlines of what Wells will face in his next adventure, I'll read as everything I can and visit the countries where he's headed. Over the years, I've spent time in Saudi Arabia, the Bekaa Valley, Afghanistan, Jordan, and Kenya, among other vacation hotspots. I think it's time get Wells to Rome and Bali.

The Counterfeit Agent references NSA spying, Edward Snowden, the new Iranian President Rouhani, how do you keep up? When you look at the news every day, do you think "hold on, reality has overtaken what I could dream up as fiction?"

Sometimes. For example, I knew the NSA had grown very aggressive in the last decade – Wells regularly relies on their capabilities in earlier books – but even so I was surprised by the scope of Snowden's disclosures. As for The Counterfeit Agent, I'm going to be fascinated to see whether the United States and Iran can reach a permanent deal to stop Iran's nuclear weapons program. I have my doubts – nuclear weapons are such a powerful strategic advantage that I don't know why the Iranians would give up trying to get them.

What is it do you think you can say about the truths of the world of espionage and spying in fiction that you couldn't as a reporter for The New York Times?

That the victories are ephemeral. That the men and women on the front lines of both spying and soldiering pay a high, high price. And I'm not just talking about the ones who are hurt or killed.

Read an excerpt of The Counterfeit Agent

I have to admit, I melt at the creaminess of full-fat yogurt.

It's an indulgence that we're told to resist. And I try to abide. (Stealing a bite of my daughter's YoBaby doesn't count, does it?)

The reason we're told to limit dairy fat seems pretty straight forward. The extra calories packed into the fat is bad for our waistlines. That's the assumption.

But what if dairy fat isn't the dietary demon we've been led to believe? New research suggests we may want to look anew.

Consider the findings of two recent studies that conclude the consumption of whole fat dairy is linked to reduced body fat.

In one paper, published by Swedish researchers in the Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care, middle-aged men who consumed high-fat milk, butter and cream were significantly less likely to become obese over a period of 12 years compared to men who never or rarely ate high-fat dairy.

Yep, that's right. The butter and whole-milk eaters did better at keeping the pounds off.

"I would say it's counter-intuitive," says Greg Miller, executive vice president of the National Dairy Council.

The second study, published in the European Journal of Nutrition, is a meta-analysis of 16 observational studies. There has been a hypothesis that high-fat dairy foods contribute to obesity and heart disease risk, but the reviewers concluded that the evidence does not support this hypothesis. In fact, the reviewers found that in most of the studies, high-fat dairy was associated with a lower risk of obesity.

"We continue to see more and more data coming out [finding that] consumption of whole-milk dairy products is associated with reduced body fat," Miller says.

It's not clear what might explain this phenomenon. Lots of folks point to the satiety factor. The higher levels of fat in whole milk products may make us feel fuller, faster. And as a result, the thinking goes, we may end up eating less.

Or the explanation could be more complex. "There may be bio-active substances in the milk fat that may be altering our metabolism in a way that helps us utilize the fat and burn it for energy, rather than storing it in our bodies," Miller says.

Whatever the mechanism, this association between higher dairy fat and lower body weight appears to hold up in children, too.

The Salt

Whole Milk Or Skim? Study Links Fattier Milk To Slimmer Kids

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South Korea announced Tuesday it will hold its first high-level meeting in years with rival North Korea. If that development offered a glimmer of hope, another move was positively historic: Senior officials from China and Taiwan met Tuesday for the first time since the two rivals split more than six decades ago.

It's far too early to tell if all this talking will lead anywhere, but it's certainly unusual. Let's begin with China and Taiwan.

Tuesday's meeting between Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Minister Wang Yu-chi and China's Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun would have been unthinkable in years past, but the talks' location, the city of Nanjing, is steeped in symbolism.

Nanjing was the seat of Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government during the civil war with Mao Zedong's Communists. The Nationalists fled to Taiwan in 1949. The city is also home to the tomb of Sun Yat-Sen, the founder of modern China, who is revered by both sides.

"Our meeting had been something unimaginable before," Zhang said, "but if we really want to achieve breakthroughs we must apply a bit of creativity."

Wang echoed those comments.

"Being able to sit down and talk is a really valuable opportunity, considering that the two sides were once almost at war," he said.

The Associated Press has more on what the two sides discussed:

"Zhang said talks touched on Beijing's desire to see Taiwan ratify a trade services agreement that would allow the sides to open a wide range of businesses in each other's territory. Beijing approved the accord more than six months ago but it remains stuck in Taiwan's legislature, a reflection of the public's fear of being overwhelmed by their giant neighbor.

"Zhang said they also discussed exchanging permanent representative offices, but that multiple technical questions remain to be overcome."

In America, total student loan debt tops $1 trillion and a four-year college degree can cost as much as a house — leaving many families wondering if college is really worth the cost.

Yes, a new study of young people finds. The study, released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center, looks at income and unemployment among young adults. Paul Taylor, executive vice president of special projects at Pew, says it's pretty much case closed when it comes to the benefits of going to college.

"In a modern, knowledge-based economy, the only thing more expensive than going to college is not going to college," he says.

College-educated young adults make more

The United States is winding down more than 12 years of military involvement in Afghanistan, and for most Americans, the country is rapidly fading into the background.

At the same time, Afghans are entering uncharted territory. President Hamid Karzai, who has led Afghanistan since shortly after the Taliban were ousted in 2001, is barred from running for a third term.

So Afghanistan is poised to do what it's never done before: change leaders through a democratic election.

Eleven candidates are trying to replace Karzai in the April 5 election. Ten are Pashtuns, the dominant ethnic group. Candidates are already holding rallies, debating and wooing tribal leaders.

But with no reliable polling, it's hard to gauge support for the candidates, and there's no clear front-runner at this point.

There are many unanswered questions. Will the elections be fair (past votes here have been marred by fraud)? Will Karzai throw his political machinery behind a preferred successor — and if so, whom? Will the Taliban disrupt the voting as they have pledged to?

We'll be writing much more about the election as it approaches. For now, here are sketches of the top-tier candidates according to political analysts.

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Since every word that the head of the Federal Reserve utters is closely watched by those in the financial markets, it's worth noting that in her first appearance before Congress since being confirmed Fed Chair Janet Yellen plans to say Tuesday that:

"I expect a great deal of continuity in the FOMC's approach to monetary policy."

Her "as prepared for delivery" testimony before the House Committee on Financial Services is posted here. Should you wish to watch the historic first testimony from the central bank's first female chair, C-SPAN3 will be webcasting when the hearing begins at 10 a.m. ET.

Speaking about the Fed's plan to continue scaling back on the amount of stimulus it's giving the economy, Yellen says in her testimony that:

None of this is a surprise, by the way. Yellen has been the Fed's vice chairman, so she's been there for its policy-making meetings, and during her confirmation hearing she gave no sign that she would diverge from the path set by her predecessor, Ben Bernanke.

As for the current state of the economy, Yellen plans to tell Congress that:

— "The economic recovery gained greater traction in the second half of last year."

— She and other Fed policymakers "anticipate that economic activity and employment will expand at a moderate pace this year and next, the unemployment rate will continue to decline toward its longer-run sustainable level, and inflation will move back toward 2 percent over coming years."

If Yellen says anything today that rattles financial markets, she'll get a second chance to smooth things over on Thursday when she repeats her testimony before the Senate Banking Committee.

General Motors took the unusual step of releasing full details of their new CEO's pay package.

All told, Mary Barra could make $14.4 million this year, or about 60 percent more than her male predecessor.

As Bloomberg reports, last week the automaker was criticized for paying Barra too little. Her compensation, which news reports put at $4.4 million, was seen as living proof that corporate America pays women a lot less for doing the same job as a man.

Today, GM released the figures saying it wanted "to correct misperceptions created by comparisons that used only a portion of Barra's overall compensation."

USA Today reports:

"After becoming the first big car company to put a woman in the corner office, GM definitely didn't want to be seen as underpaying her, as some reports last week had said.

"Those failed to note her long-term compensation, because GM had not disclosed that at the time. CEOs get a large portion of their compensation in awards tied to stock performance, to ensure their interests and stockholders' are the same.

"Barra's package is $1.6 million in salary, $2.8 million in short-term incentives and long-term compensation of $14.4 million."

Whether the Subway Fritos Chicken Enchilada Sub was the result of creative inspiration or an enormous workplace Fritos spill, we'll never know. What matters is it happened, and it's only a matter of time until all foods everywhere will be available topped with Fritos.

Ian: I like that they're thinking in texture. And adding crunch with Fritos is way better than McDonald's creepy BBQ McTickle.

Miles: Yeah, but let's be honest, crunches are the last thing anyone is going to be doing after eating this sandwich.

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Here are three numbers that tell the story of Egypt's security crackdown, its political turmoil and the simmering insurgency.

16,687. It's estimated that at least this many political detainees have been imprisoned since the military ousted the Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, last July 3.

4,482. At least this many people have been killed in clashes since Morsi's ouster, many at the hands of security forces.

198. That's the number of people killed, mostly security force members, in armed attacks on the police and army between July and November 2013. Many more have died since.

These estimates by the Egyptian Center of Economic and Social Rights highlight the killings, insurgent attacks, mass arrests and point to the chronic tensions in what the government says is a war for survival against terrorists.

But analysts say oppressive practices by the military-backed government have encouraged more extreme actions by jihadists — and they predict that the attacks on the state will likely grow.

"The overthrow of Mohammed Morsi created a new narrative for Islamists, both nonviolent Islamists who opposed his overthrow and the more radical ones in Sinai," said Issandr El Amrani, director of the International Crisis Group for North Africa. "It was a green light for the more radical element to wage a much more widespread campaign of violence."

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Leading up to the Olympics in Sochi, a dominant storyline was Russia's anti-gay propaganda law and what it might mean for athletes and other visitors. Would athletes protest in any way? Would Russian LGBT activists try to demonstrate against the propaganda law at the Olympics?

The answers (so far, at least) are: barely, and not really.

On Friday, Dutch snowboarder Cheryl Maas, who is openly gay, held one of her mittens up to a television camera, displaying a rainbow and a unicorn.

But there have been no pronouncements in favor of gay rights at news conferences or on medal stands yet. And LGBT activists aren't entirely surprised.

"Do I want to make a statement at the end of my event or do I want to hold up a 6?" says Olympian David Pichler, referencing Principle 6 of the Olympic Charter, which calls for nondiscrimination. "Thinking about that distracts you from your focus, and they don't need to do that."

Pichler competed in diving in the 1996 and 2000 Games. He is gay and came to the Sochi Games to see for himself how gay athletes and visitors were being treated. So far, he and his colleagues from Human Rights First have felt safe as they've taken in women's ice hockey and a women's snowboard slopestyle competition.

"We're not here to cause some type of activity or ruckus," says Pichler. "We don't want to disturb the athletes, either."

The most prominent public mention of the anti-gay law came on the day competition began. In a news conference, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak predicted the games would be safe. Then he reaffirmed his support for the anti-gay law while seeming to conflate homosexuality and pedophilia.

"Nothing will happen," he said. "Any adult has his or her right to understand their sexual activity. Please do not touch kids. That's the only thing."

The Russian government set up a protest zone far from the Olympic Park, in a neighboring town at least 20 minutes away by train. And by all accounts it hasn't been getting much use. On the day of the opening ceremony, four Russian LGBT athletes were arrested as they tried to unfurl a banner displaying Principle 6. But they weren't in Sochi — they were more than 1,000 miles away in St. Petersburg.

The group visiting from Human Rights First met with one of the activists the day before the attempted protest and arrest. So, says Shawn Gaylord, advocacy counsel for the group, he isn't surprised not to see any LGBT activism around the Olympic Park.

"It's hard to even imagine as you look around the park, like, what could there be that would establish an LGBT presence other than a demonstration, which would get shut down as soon as it starts?" he says. "I think it's a smart move [for Russian activists] not to spend all of their time and money getting people down here for such a little payoff."

He still thinks it's possible that sometime in the next two weeks an athlete will make a public statement. But there was probably way more conversation about LGBT issues in Russia before the Olympics than there will be during — because now the sports have taken over.

Here are three numbers that tell the story of Egypt's simmering insurgency.

16,687. That's the estimated number of political detainees sent to Egypt's prisons since the military ousted the Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, last July 3.

4,482. That's the estimated number of people killed in clashes since Morsi's ouster, many at the hands of security forces.

198. That's the number of people killed, mostly security force members, in armed attacks on the police and army between July and November 2013. Many more have died since.

These estimates by the Egyptian Center of Economic and Social Rights highlight the killings, insurgent attacks, mass arrests and point to the chronic tensions in what the government says is a war for survival against terrorists.

But analysts say oppressive practices by the military-backed government have encouraged more extreme actions by jihadists — and they predict that the attacks on the state will likely grow.

"The overthrow of Mohammed Morsi created a new narrative for Islamists, both nonviolent Islamists who opposed his overthrow and the more radical ones in Sinai," said Issandr El Amrani, director of the International Crisis Group for North Africa. "It was a green light for the more radical element to wage a much more widespread campaign of violence."

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This is the second in a very occasional series of posts in which we interview inanimate objects during fever dreams. This particular interview is with a paper bag that actor Shia LaBeouf put over his head during the premiere of Lars Von Trier's Nymphomaniac: Volume I at the Berlin International Film Festival.

What's that written on you?

It says "I AM NOT FAMOUS ANYMORE."

Huh.

I didn't write it.

No, I know. I'm just ... I'm thinking about it. It's perplexing.

You're telling me. You get to get up and leave this interview and never think about me again. This is permanent marker. Permanent.

So the intent is not to attract attention?

You're asking about the intent? I'm a bag. Ask me a bag question.

Oh. Sure. So ... how long have you been a bag?

Are you serious? This is your question? Why am I even here?

No, no, no. Sorry. So what were you doing before the film festival?

I was folded up, Cronkite.

Oh. Right. Okay. Well, was it fun being part of the festival?

It was ... well, I don't want to get philosophical.

That's okay. That's okay. Everybody wants to know how you feel.

The thing is, it's not what I was made for, you know? A bag, you know, its true purpose is to hold things. And I'm sort of a special bag; I'm a little bigger than a lunch bag, or what we call a "peewee," and I'm smaller than a big grocery bag, which we call a "venti." I'm right there in the middle. I'm good for takeout, I'm good for, like, picking up a few groceries on the way home. What I am not made for is being part of some actor's publicity stunt.

Gee ... that's sort of sad.

And he cut holes. He cut holes in my side. He cut holes for his little eyes, and he wrote all over me — I can see it when I look in a mirror — and now I'm ruined for actually holding anything. I can no longer do bag work. I'm like some kind of monster.

Do you talk to your friends about it?

I don't have a lot of friends. I'm in a dumpster right now.

Oh my gosh, are you okay?

It smells.

Can I ... do you need me to contact your family and tell them where you are?

You don't want to talk to them.

Why not?

My mother's an old bag.

Er.

That was a joke.

Oh, oh, right. Sure.

See? I'm funny. I can do comedy. I'm wasted sitting here in this dumpster with writing all over me. That dude, I swear.

If you've ever doubted the enduring power of Beatlemania, look no further than the vintage lunchbox market.

The Beatles are not only considered the top of the heap when it comes to musical acts of the 20th century, they're also apparently the kings of the lunchbox.

After John, Paul, George and Ringo shook their little mop tops on The Ed Sullivan Show, 50 years ago this Sunday, American lunchbox manufacturers figured out, hey, the kids dig 'em. Let's put these boys on lunchboxes. Iin 1965, manufacturer Aladdin released the light-blue metal ode to The Beatles you see above, widely considered "one of the Holy Grails" of the lunchbox-collecting world, says Barbara Crews, the collectibles expert for About.com.

It came with a thermos and some serious street cred, says Beatles historian Bruce Spizer. Last year, a mint condition version of that lunchbox sold for $1,625. Yeah, you read that right.

"Anyone who is despondent they didn't keep theirs" from childhood, says Spizer, "they need to remember how cool it was to go to school carrying that lunchbox and be the envy of their friends."

If you did keep yours but, you know, actually used it, don't despair. Even a beat-up version of that lunchbox can sell for $200 or $300, Crews says.

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Controversy is nothing new to figure skating, so perhaps it's not surprising that team figure skating, new to this Olympics, has already come in for some unwanted attention. The Russian and U.S. figure skating teams are strongly denying reports that they are in collusion.

L'Equipe, the French sports website, is quoting an unnamed Russian coach as claiming that the American and Russian teams will help each win gold medals. The allegation goes like this: the Russian judges will help U.S. team captain Charlie White and his partner, Meryl Davis, win ice dance in exchange for the U.S. clearing the way for the Russians to win pairs and team dance.

At a news conference, U.S. pairs skater Simon Shnapir defended the team: "We're not aware of this. And our focus is just on our skating and our work and our performance and that's it," he said.

U.S. figure skating spokesperson Barbara Reichert also denied the allegations. "I'll use the word laughable," she said.

"You saw them last night and they were excellent," Reichert said, "They're always excellent."

Interestingly, team figure skating is so far the best chance for Russia to win gold after Julia Lipnitskaya blew away the competition in her short program.

The allegations come at a time when figure skating, an already popular sport, is getting even more time during this Olympic Games.

Team figure skating allows for more televised ice time, with some skaters doing double duty for both the team competition and the individual competition.

Even so, the U.S. is not as strong this year after a marquee name has been kept on the sidelines: 2010 gold medalist Evan Lysacek has been forced to sit out this Olympics due to a hip injury. That leaves the figure skating field open. The favorite is Canadian Patrick Chan.

"I always think that a scary competitor is a consistent competitor," says Lysacek, who believes Chan, 23, is just that. Lysacek, who's 28, points to Chan's experience with injuries, coaching changes, and in a previous Olympics. "The most consistent ones are the ones who made me not sleep at night," Lysacek says.

On the women's side, there's controversy, as Ashley Wagner prepares to skate in the individual. Her ascendancy to the Olympics was controversial after she faltered in the U.S. Nationals.

But criticism of Wagner may have subsided a bit after her strong showing in the team short program on the first day at Sochi. And about the stress and the criticism, the 22-year-old says with a laugh, "You just try not to think about it."