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Both the U.S. government and BP have estimates on just how much oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon explosion in 2010. The problem: They reached two different numbers. At stake is up to $18 billion in fines and penalties under federal environmental laws.

The faction of House Republicans leading the charge against the Affordable Care Act amid a partial government shutdown have been referred to as lemmings by those who believe they are committing political suicide. But as Renee Montagne explains, the idea that lemmings commit mass suicide is a myth.

A tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, one of the most complete in existence, was to head to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum this week. But with the museum closed because of the partial government shutdown, the T. rex will stay in Montana until spring.

The composer's tendency to push buttons won him harsh reviews — and a lasting legacy. Conductor John Mauceri discusses how Giuseppe Verdi was regarded during his lifetime and where he stands now, 200 years after his birth.

The government is out with its annual forecast for the cost of heat. The feds say the cost of heating with natural gas is rising a bit after a few years of decline. The cost of heating oil is lower than last year, but even with those trends people who heat with gas will still enjoy an advantage.

Smart, who was held captive for nine months at age 14, describes the 2002 ordeal in a new memoir called My Story. She's now an advocate for children's safety education and says "the best punishment" she can give her abusers is to move on with her life and be happy.

This week, All Things Considered is talking with leaders from different faiths about their perspectives on an afterlife. Mufti Asif Umar says Muslims believe that a person who enters paradise will find whatever he or she desires waiting there.

President Obama cancelled a planned trip to Asia this week to deal with the political crisis at home. That's disappointed — even worried — some of America's friends in the region who are counting on the United States to stand up to an increasingly assertive China.

The White House announced Tuesday that President Obama will nominate Federal Reserve Vice Chairwoman Janet Yellen to chair the Federal Reserve Wednesday. She would replace Ben Bernanke, who's stepping down from the post. Yellen has been the presumptive nominee for weeks, after Lawrence Summers announced his intention to remove himself from the running in September. She'd be the first woman to head the Fed.

While the rhetoric between Republicans and Democrats over ending the federal shutdown remains hot, some Republicans have talked about possible alternatives to demands that the Affordable Care Act be delayed a full year. But some Tea Party-backed Republicans are holding firm on that demand, including Idaho Rep. Raul Labrador. Renee Montagne talks to Labrador about the government shutdown debate, and how he thinks the impasse should be resolved.