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From the outside, it's just another 1970s-era house with white columns and green shutters. Thousands drive past the split-level in Raleigh every month without a second glance. And that's just what its owners intended — because this house is far more unusual than its appearance would suggest.

Your weekly roundup of tech headlines from NPR and publications around the country, including more credit card security breaches and the latest developments with the "Internet of Things." We asked what was in the hacked fridge, but — spoiler alert (pun intended) — we didn't find out.

The Oklahoma senator, a leading conservative, will retire two years early. He's battling cancer but says his decision is based on serving his family by "shifting my focus elsewhere."

Richard Powers' new novel tells the story of an avant-garde classical composer who finds himself dabbling in DNA. He "gets obsessed with finding music inside of living things," Powers explains, and, as a fugitive, ends up leading officials on a low-speed chase.

After failing to agree upon an extension for federal jobless benefits to the long-term unemployed, Congress is vowing to keep trying. The help can't come soon enough for many of the 1.4 million unemployed who saw their checks suddenly cut off last month.

An appeals court ruled against the New Orleans public school system this week — a decision that could bankrupt the Orleans Parish public schools. The five-judge panel ruled that the school board wrongly terminated some 7,000 teachers and other school employees after Hurricane Katrina. For more information, Melissa Block speaks with education reporter Sarah Carr, who has written a book on the changes to the New Orleans school system after Katrina.

California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency on Friday, amid growing concerns about future water supplies for residents and for farmers. Brown called for a 20 percent voluntary reduction in water use and eased water transfer rights between farmers. However, mandatory measures will still be left to local communities to impose, for now.

When peace talks open in Switzerland, one common concern between the West and Syria is expected to be the threat of Islamist extremists and the rise of al-Qaida-linked militias. Thousands of Sunni militants from around the world have joined the rebel groups in Syria, but there are other groups of militant foreign fighters who support the Syrian regime. Iraqi Shiites are being recruited in the thousands to bolster Syria's armed forces. Recruiting billboards and social media help portray the fight as an existential battle between Sunnis and Muslims.

Gabriel Sherman traces the beginning of Fox News' success, Ken Tucker calls Cash's new album a timeless work of comfort and quiet joy, and the Supreme Court justice explains how, as a Latina, she had to work harder.

A suicide attack at a Kabul restaurant popular with foreign nationals killed at least 21 people on Friday, including a senior official with the International Monetary Fund and four United Nations employees.