Audie Cornish

Congress took a major step toward its first gun bill in nearly two decades on Thursday morning, as Democratic leaders broke a Republican filibuster to stop a proposal expanding criminal background checks for gun buyers. Sixteen Republican joined all but two Democrats to move forward with the bill. Ailsa Chang joins Audie Cornish from the Capitol to explain what it means, and what happens next.

Lillian Cahn, co-founder of Coach Leatherwear Co., died March 4 at the age of 89. Cahn was the force behind today's high-end leather handbags.

Back in the 1960s, she and her husband, Miles Cahn, were running a leather goods business in Manhattan. They produced men's wallets and billfolds but wanted to expand.

"My wife had a great sense of style, and she made the suggestions that we men maybe were a little thoughtless about," Miles Cahn says with a laugh. "Among her many suggestions was: 'Why don't we make pocketbooks?' I like to tell people I scoffed at the suggestion."

The Senate easily confirmed the nomination of John Brennan as CIA director, that following the dramatics of Sen. Rand Paul, who filibustered against it for nearly 13 hours on Wednesday night. Is this the dawn of a new era of these, old-school, "talking" filibusters? Tamara Keith talks to Audie Cornish.

Go on, pick a favorite in this year's NCAA tournament. We dare you. There's more than a dozen legitimate contenders to pick from. And then there's all those potential Cinderella teams. Mike Pesca talks to Audie Cornish about the upcoming NCAA Men's College Basketball tournament, which is as wide open as it has even been.

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From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

And I'm Audie Cornish.

After years of denial, former cycling champion Lance Armstrong has reportedly admitted that he used performance-enhancing drugs. He made the admission as part of an extensive interview with Oprah Winfrey. It's scheduled to air over two nights beginning on Thursday. Few details have been released so far. On "CBS This Morning," Oprah described the interview as difficult but said Armstrong was forthcoming.

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From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Audie Cornish. And we begin this hour in limbo. Early this morning, barely two hours into the new year, the Senate voted 89 to 8 to keep tax rates just where they were last year for all household income up to $450,000. Midnight brought the expiration of those rates, along with a schedule of new, deep spending cuts that the Senate vote would delay. But that vote means nothing without the House acting as well.

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And if past negotiations are any indication, that silence could mean the talks are going well. We're joined now by NPR's congressional reporter Tamara Keith, who has been following developments on the Hill and beyond. And as Ari just said, neither side is talking about the details, but Tamara, what are they saying?

News Corp announced on Monday that it's making some changes to its management and structure. The company has decided to end The Daily, its tablet-exclusive newspaper. They have also named the management team for its split off newspaper division. David Folkenflik talks to Audie Cornish.

Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. resigned his seat in Illinois' 2nd District on Wednesday. He resigned in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner. Jackson had been on medical leave since June, being treated for bipolar disorder. David Schaper talks to Audie Cornish.

Titan, the new supercomputer at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, has been crowned the fastest in the world. It can clock 17.59 petaflops (quadrillions of calculations per second). Audie Cornish talks to Steve Henn for more.