NPR News

Voices echo in what once was a bustling women's fitness center in suburban Cairo. The two-story facility is full of modern equipment, but it's covered with a thin layer of dust.

Sally Salema, 28, opened the gym in 2008 because she wanted a place to exercise without having to worry about men seeing her with her veil off.

The facility included a kids' area and nursery, Salema says, so that mothers could bring their children. There's also a cafe, several classrooms and even a massage room that still smells faintly of lavender.

Around the country, environmentalists are cooking up ways to battle invasive species by serving them up on a platter.

NPR producer Sam Sanders headed to Beverly Hills, Calif., recently to see longtime fitness guru Richard Simmons in action and find out how he has been at it so long. He sent this reporter's notebook of his encounter with the man who's been helping people lose weight for nearly 40 years.

Amy Goldman is best known as the author of lavish books about heirloom tomatoes, squash and melons. Now Goldman is trying to cultivate a second term for President Obama.

Goldman wrote a check for $1 million to a pro-Obama superPAC — and gave another million to the political arm of Planned Parenthood.

It's time to extinguish The Torch, and end NPR's three-week marathon of Olympic coverage. From the London Games' opening ceremony through 302 medal events, these Summer Olympics have fed fans a rich diet of history and spectacle. I only wish I'd been able to eat it all — but part of the Olympics' allure is that its smorgasbord is over-stuffed with intense competition.

With Rep. Paul Ryan officially in the mix as Mitt Romney's vice presidential pick, the 2012 race for the White House was fully engaged Monday, as all four members of the two major-party presidential tickets campaigned in swing states.

Both President Obama and Ryan were in Iowa, while Romney, the all-but-official Republican nominee, campaigned in Florida. Meanwhile, Vice President Biden was in North Carolina, hitting a state the Republican ticket visited over the weekend.

Most documents, including the affidavits of probable cause, will remain sealed in the case of the Aurora, Colo. theater shooting, a judge decided today.

Chief Judge William Sylvester also reaffirmed a gag order that prohibits the parties in the case from talking about it.

Chicago DJ Mary Nisi is no stranger to the art of the playlist. As president of the wedding DJ company Toast & Jam, she builds them regularly for receptions of all kinds.

It's nearly time to extinguish The Torch, and end NPR's little marathon of Olympic coverage. Before we do, we must note that the games have now become the most-watched television event in U.S. history, with a total of 219.4 viewers over 17 days of coverage.

Those high ratings push the London Games past Beijing 2008, which held the previous record of 215 million viewers. The number seems to include only NBC's TV audience, not mobile or online.