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In the hotly contested battleground state of North Carolina, Election Day arrives early. Polls open for early voting starting this Thursday in a state that President Obama won by just four-tenths of a percentage point back in 2008. Until then, the state hadn't voted for a Democrat for president since 1976. Weekend Edition host Rachel Martin talks with John Frank, a political writer for the Raleigh-based News & Observer.

Weekend Edition host Rachel Martin talks with NPR's Mike Pesca for his take on the sports news of the week.

In a Census Bureau report released Wednesday, it tallied up the median earnings for different bachelor degree holders. Engineers make an average of $92,000 a year. Some other majors at the low-end of the list: education, fine and visual arts and communications. Those all earn an average of $50,000 to $60,000.

Mo Yan was one of three writers favored to win. He is perhaps best known in the West as the author of Red Sorghum, which was made into a film. He is only the second Chinese writer to win the Nobel — the other is poet Gao Xingjian, who won in 2000.

Vice President Joe Biden and Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan will hold their only debate Thursday night in Danville, Kentucky. Biden will be under pressure to shift the momentum back to the Democratic ticket. Ryan will be trying to keep it going in Mitt Romney's direction.

Branson dropped out of school at 15, but by 16 he had his own magazine, and by 21 he had opened his first business — Virgin Records. Today, he's the head of a global business empire. In Like a Virgin, Branson shares the story of his success.

Saturday, Pakistani cricket star-turned politician Imran Khan leads a mass "march" (actually a convoy of trucks and buses) from Islamabad to the tribal territory of South Waziristan to protest U.S. drone strikes in the region. NPR's Philip Reeves reports the "marchers" are planning to enter South Waziristan on Sunday, but it is far from clear that the Pakistani military will allow them inside the tribal territory.

Mark Helprin's sweeping midcentury novel, In Sunlight and In Shadow, describes a postwar New York in limbo. Helprin borrowed from his own experiences to write this tale of love and familial obligations. "It's all based on what I know and what I knew," he says.

The latest poll by NPR and its bipartisan polling team shows President Obama with a 7-point lead among likely voters nationally and a 6-point lead in the dozen battleground states where both campaigns are spending most of their time and money. But battleground voters were also more downbeat about the direction of the country.

The latest poll by NPR and its bipartisan polling team shows President Obama with a 7-point lead among likely voters nationally and a 6-point lead in the dozen battleground states where both campaigns are spending most of their time and money. But battleground voters were also more downbeat about the direction of the country.