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This week, the Justice Department signed a $13 billion settlement with JPMorgan Chase over the bank's mortgage practices. But it's not the first multibillion-dollar deal. Five banks, including JPMorgan, reached an agreement in 2012. Not all of the results are in, but there are some lessons learned — and lingering concerns.

As 2013 wraps up, NPR is looking at the numbers that tell this year's story. When it comes to the economy, $85 billion is a good candidate. That's the amount the Federal Reserve has been pumping into the financial system each month trying to stimulate growth and bring down unemployment. On Tuesday, Fed policymakers begin a two-day meeting at which they'll decide whether to dial back that stimulus.

Brazil is the world's third largest market for Facebook and the fifth largest for Twitter, and it has quickly become the largest market for Lulu, the controversial man-rating app for women. That has highlighted the country's race to pass legislation to keep up with a quickly changing society.

When writer Lynn Darling found herself at a turning point in her life, she sought solitude and enlightenment in the woods of Vermont. Her new memoir, Out of the Woods, describes that midlife experience. Fresh Air book critic Maureen Corrigan calls it "a compelling story of internal exploration, as well as outward-bound adventure."

Military service is compulsory for most Israelis, but the exemption for ultra-Orthodox Jews is a highly charged issue. The national debate may soon come to a head as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attempts to form a government with parties on both sides of the issue.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a new gun control bill into law Tuesday, just days after delivering an impassioned speech on the need to pass the legislation. The popular governor has managed to translate his high approval ratings into a number of political victories. But some say Cuomo is just padding his resume for a future presidential bid.

For perspective on why Democrats and Republicans in Washington have not been able to work together to avoid a countdown to the fiscal cliff, All Things Considered host Robert Siegel talks with Norm Ornstein, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Ornstein says a big part of the problem is how Republicans in Congress have behaved like a parliamentary minority.

With hours to go before the so-called fiscal cliff deadline, the House adjourned for the night and the Senate has yet to scheduled any vote. NPR's Julie Rover talks with All Things Considered host Audie Cornish about the latest.

The Newtown shooting has led some Americans to wonder if there's an epidemic of gun violence in this country. In her regular 'Can I Just Tell You' essay, host Michel Martin asks what would happen if Americans brought the same imagination and energy to stopping gun violence as it brought to previous epidemics that threatened public health.

In October 2013, open enrollment begins, when people can start signing up for their 2014 coverage through the new state-run health exchanges. But most of the changes in 2013 are tax increases and cuts in tax deductions to pay for the 2014 changes.