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Crime has been bad on the south side of Stockton. Katherine Anderson, a lifelong resident of the Northern California city, says she's almost gotten used to hearing shots fired in her neighborhood.

Stockton has long had a problem with drugs. But there's been more crime because Stockton is broke.

Until Detroit's recent filing, Stockton's bankruptcy was the largest in U.S. history. Given widespread police layoffs and retirements, the city's gang intervention and narcotics teams have both closed shop. The result was a murder rate that last year broke all local records.

Anderson called the police recently after a boy was shot riding his bike down the alley that runs alongside her home. It took them four hours to show up.

"He was dead by the time they got here," she says. "There's more crime around here — a lot."

Stockton has sought to fight back. Working closely with the state highway patrol and county sheriff, Stockton has fashioned a "Marshall Plan" for crime. Thanks to stepped-up policing, the murder rate came down 63 percent in the first half of the year.

No one is declaring victory. Stockton is the second-most dangerous city in California, according to FBI statistics.

"There are still an unacceptable number of hours in a day when police will only respond to crimes in progress," says Bob Deis, the city manager.

But problems with crime and city finances aren't as bad as they were. Stockton intends to present a federal judge with its plan to get out of bankruptcy as early as this month.

There's no guarantee the city will meet with success. It continues to face legal challenges and one incredibly steep political hurdle: Convincing residents who have not been getting much by way of government services that they should start paying higher taxes.

Seeking More Taxes

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President Obama on Friday declined to say whether he'd go ahead with military action in Syria if Congress votes against it — a what-if scenario that's attracting growing attention in the wake of preliminary House head counts that suggest there's nowhere near enough votes for passage.

It's a question that won't be answered until late next week when Congress is expected to vote.

One of the few House Republicans who publicly back limited strikes, Indiana Rep. Luke Messer, said Friday that the president risks a historic confrontation if he acts in the face of congressional rejection.

"I do believe that now that the president has sought the consultation of Congress, he must abide by the outcome, " Messer told Michel Martin, host of NPR's Tell Me More. "If he does not, I believe it will create a constitutional crisis."

The administration doesn't see it that way. "The president of course has the authority to act" even if Congress does not support his plan for a military strike on Syria, White House deputy national security adviser Tony Blinken told Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep on Friday.

A member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Messer is also the president of the GOP freshman class in the 113th Congress.

You can hear the full interview with Messer and Georgia Rep. Doug Collins here.

Click here to find an NPR station that broadcasts Tell Me More.

French sports fans are known for their love of soccer. But according to Le Figaro, the country's "second sport" is hunting. The newspaper cites the National Federation of Hunters, which says that among all European countries, France has the most hunters.

The data are based on the number of registered practitioners of a sport. Soccer has more than 2 million, while hunting had 1.2 million license holders for the 2011-2012 season, Le Figaro reports.

As in much of the United States, the end of summer brings the arrival of hunting seasons for game in France, from birds to boars. The new hunting season is well under way in many French regions.

According to France's National Federation of Hunters, the sport's popularity also brings risks — there were 21 fatal hunting accidents in France during the one-year period that ended on May 31, 2013. That's out of a total of 179 mishaps.

We glanced at the comments on the Figaro story to see if any readers protested its claims — perhaps with an eye to defending rugby or auto racing. But many comments simply stated a belief that hunting isn't a sport, while others defended it.

After concerns over its product led the Chobani Greek yogurt company to issue a voluntary recall of some packages earlier this week, the New York-based foodmaker now says the mold that was identified as the culprit is not dangerous.

"Through extensive testing and expert consultation, we now know that the mold found in the products we voluntarily recalled this week is a species called Mucor circinelloides," the company says. "Mucor circinelloides is not considered a foodborne pathogen."

A week ago, Chobani said that it was investigating its production chain after reports of packages swelling or bloating. Customers' claims of illness led the company to escalate its response on Thursday, when it announced, "To be extra cautious, we have moved from a voluntary withdrawal to a voluntary recall."

At the time of the recall, Chobani said it had successfully pulled more than 95 percent of the products in question. They were made at the company's new facility in Twin Falls, Idaho, which opened last December.

Chobani asked customers who bought containers showing the manufacturing code 16-012 and a "best by" date between Sept. 11 and Oct. 7 to dispose of the yogurt and get in touch for a refund.

The mold can cause spoilage in yogurt products by leading to swelling and bloating, Chobani says. To explain more about it, the company quotes Cornell University's Randy Worobo, a professor of food science:

"This mold should not pose a health risk to most consumers. Very rarely, it can act as an opportunistic pathogen, but not through food and usually only for people with compromised immune systems through inhalation. The organism is regularly used for the production of natural flavor compounds that are widely used in the food industry."

Cornell says that Worobo was not paid to speak about the mold and that he offered his comments as a food expert, not as someone who had tested the products in questions, the AP reports.

If you're unclear on your yogurt chemistry, we refer you to the National Center for Home Food Preservation, which reminds us that yogurt is made by adding bacteria to milk that has been heated.