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As a Dec. 23 enrollment deadline for health insurance that starts Jan. 1 looms, New York state is staffing up its call center and smoothing out the rough spots on its application to meet growing demand. As time runs down, the state is trying to fix technical and design issues that came up when the site debuted in October.

A cookie in the oven almost looks like a monster coming alive. It bulges out, triples in size and then stiffens into a crisp biscuit. So how does an oven turn raw dough into a delight? A new animation explains the chemistry behind great baking so you, too, can unleash your inner mad scientist in the kitchen.

The shipwreck off the Italian coast has drawn attention to the thousands of asylum-seekers who try to enter Europe by boat each year. The case has led to calls for a Mediterranean-wide search and rescue mission to intercept boats carrying migrants.

Are House Republicans still seeking Democratic concessions on the Affordable Care Act? Or have they switched their sights to even bigger targets: federal spending on entitlements like Medicare and Social Security?

When an umbrella breaks, most people just throw it away and buy another one. That's sacrilege to Thierry Millet, who says fixing a much-loved parapluie is like giving a bit of youth back to its owner. France's government says the tiny shop run by the self-proclaimed "last umbrella repairman" is a "living heritage."

The New York City Opera, nicknamed the "people's opera" by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia when it was founded 70 years ago, has always been a low-cost alternative to the more upscale Metropolitan Opera. The company may have to cancel its upcoming season if fundraising falls short.

Just as e-books have begun working their way into libraries, librarians are grappling with how to embrace digital music. At the Iowa City Public Library, an unusual licensing arrangement with local artists is having some success.

After roaring into the Northeast and New England, where it has dumped 2 feet of snow in some places, the system is heading for the Canadian Maritimes and out to sea. As it blasted parts of the nation, the storm caused at least 11 deaths and thousands of canceled flights.

Author Lucy Lethbridge explores the history of British servants through their diaries, letters and memoirs. She says, "What I found particularly fascinating was how ... butlers were so butlery"; the old caricature of the clever manservant and the silly master is one "butlers have appeared to play to the hilt."

Some clinics say they can't comply with a Texas law set to go into effect next week. It adds building requirements for clinics and places more rules on doctors who perform abortions. Laws like the one in Texas have passed in more than a dozen states.