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Whenever Tyler Perry is in front of the camera, he's usually behind it as well. A screenwriter, director, producer and star, Perry grew up poor in New Orleans, but he has become a movie phenomenon — he was described in the New Yorker as the most financially successful black man the American film industry has ever known.

Reuters today catches up on a story that's been getting some traction in recent weeks:

An Israeli inventor has come up with a way to make a bicycle almost entirely out of cardboard — and so inexpensively that he thinks retailers would only need to charge about $20 for one.

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Few stories in the 20th century are more tragic than the fate of Cambodia, a small, peaceful country on the sidelines of the war in Vietnam. Cambodia would be invaded by both sides, carpet-bombed by the United States, taken over by murderous Maoists, invaded again by the Vietnamese and left to wither for a decade by a grotesque, international impasse.

In three weeks, millions of Americans cast their vote for president in an election that both campaigns depict as a stark choice between two fundamentally different visions for the country. But the chief executive's power is limited in real ways, by Congress, foreign interests, and other players.

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For older drivers and their families, the conversation about giving up the car keys can be wrenching. Driving, for many, means independence and the transition to life without a car can be challenging, particularly for those who live alone or in areas with limited access to public transportation.

The Chicago Sun-Times broke the news late last week that Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., is "the target of a federal investigation into 'suspicious activity' into his congressional finances."

Roxy Music's eight studio albums have just been collected in one box set, titled The Complete Studio Recordings 1972-1982.

The wolf enters a different era in Wisconsin, today, and Minnesota later this fall: For the first time in recent history, hunters in those two states will be allowed to bait, shoot and trap wolves.

The Green Bay Press Gazette reports that the move comes after the Federal government "removed Great Lakes wolves from the endangered species list in January."

For a man who was elected president partly on his ability to give a great speech, Barack Obama has been at times a surprisingly poor communicator in office and on the campaign trail.

That may have been most evident earlier this month during the first presidential debate. But Obama generally hasn't been as impressive at getting his message across in his four years in the White House as he was during the campaign that put him there.