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Also: An award for the year's most cutting book review; how it feels to hold Sylvia Plath's hair; and Donna Tartt's new book will be out this fall.

As investigators work to determine whether the charred body inside a California mountain cabin is that of former Los Angeles police officer Christopher Jordan Dorner, dramatic reports are emerging about what authorities hope were the last hours of the massive manhunt for the accused killer.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio delivered the Republican reply to the State of the Union. He needed a drink of water but the bottle was out of reach. While his speech was being broadcast, the senator ducked down, reached off screen, found the bottle, sipped it and resumed. Twitter went crazy.

In the State of the Union, Obama defends the legality of drone strikes and promises more openness with Congress.

Charlie LeDuff's hard-boiled memoir, Detroit: An American Autopsy, gives readers a rough image of the decaying Rust Belt metropolis. But far from being belly up, the city is finally on the rise, as a recent transplant from Detroit explains.

What's said and written about a State of the Union address on the morning after can determine what's most remembered. Headline writers have zeroed in on the president's talk about lifting the middle class, getting the economy moving and new gun laws.

New labels will define serving sizes clearly and state that each serving contains 0.6 ounces of alcohol. The changes come as part of a deal to settle the Federal Trade Commission's claim that Four Loko maker Phusion Projects engaged in deceptive advertising.

Presidential speeches are usually meant to inspire — and sometimes challenge — Americans. Host Michel Martin continues her State of the Union conversation with a group of diverse people: Oakland Lewis, who is looking for work, Gaby Pacheco, an immigrant rights activist, and Trei Dudley, a college student.

One of Kenya's most famous citizens is author and professor Ngugi wa Thiong'o. His criticism of that nation's post-colonial government led to his arrest and eventual exile. But he says he can't be knocked down. Host Michel Martin talks with Ngugi about his new memoir, In the House of the Interpreter.

Technical gremlins got hold of some NPR reports Wednesday morning. So the newscast was all "live." Hopefully listeners didn't notice. And now, things seem to be back to normal. Take a listen.