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Cautious consumers, the housing sector's lingering problems and the drag from the government sector are combining to slow an already weak economy even further, the central bank chairman says.

It's been more than a hundred days since Matt Rutherford has walked on dry land. With any luck, it'll be another 200 before he does. The 30-year-old Marylander is sailing around North and South America. Alexandra Gutierrez of member station KUCB in Unalaska reports that if he makes it, he'll be the first person to do the 23,000-mile trip alone and without stopping.

An American CIA drone over Yemen this week killed Anwar al Awlaki — an al-Qaida figure who was born in New Mexico and initially fashioned himself as a Muslim-American spokesman. Over the years, Awlaki's message grew much more radical. He started using YouTube to inspire new recruits from the West. To understand how al-Qaida copes with the loss if this and other leaders, weekends on All Things Considered guest host Rachel Martin speaks with Michael Leiter, former head of the National Counterterrorism Center, who's been following Awlaki for years.

A generation ago, only a handful of African nations regularly held elections. Today, most do. Contests this year have shown that power can change hands peacefully, but that lasting change requires time.

Each Sept. 30, the nation wraps up its old budget, and on Oct. 1, it starts a fresh spending cycle. But once again, the country has no formal budget in place. Uncertainty over the budget not only stresses federal workers but it also hurts the already weak economy, analysts say.

While some Republicans are pushing New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie into entering the presidential race, the state of Florida announced it intends to scoop the early-primary states by moving its GOP primary up to late January. Weekends on All Things Considered guest host Rachel Martin speaks with James Fallows of The Atlantic about those stories and others from the past week.

Gary Knell will take over as CEO and president after a rocky year in which the network lost several top executives and faced renewed funding challenges. He currently leads the company behind Sesame Street and other beloved children's shows.

Drug shortages may be the new normal in U.S. medical care, experts say. Most drug shortages occur because something goes wrong in the manufacturing process that halts production.

The constitutional challenge to President Obama's health care overhaul almost certainly will be decided this term. Also making their way to the court are cases involving immigration, affirmative action, gay marriage and the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act. The court starts with a dispute over Medicaid payments.

The three scientists who won this year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine opened important windows on how the immune system works to defend against microbial invaders and refrain from attacking animals' cells.