Soaring health care and pay costs have made it difficult for the U.S. military to "significantly increase our ... capabilities" in recent years, outgoing Defense Secretary Robert Gates says.

The Pentagon's health care bill alone, he tells All Things Considered host Robert Siegel during a conversation for today's broadcast, has "gone from $19 billion in [the year] 2000 to $55 billion now."

Getting such costs under control will remain critical to ongoing efforts to be ready for future challenges, adds Gates.

Trail maintenance is an ongoing need in natural areas all across Kentucky.  In response,  Saturday has been designated National Trails Day.  Volunteers in eastern Kentucky will work on a couple of trail projects. Workers will gather near the Cumberland Falls area to re-route a quarter mile portion of trail along Bark Camp Creek in Whitley County.  Steve Barber is executive director of the Sheltowee Trace Association.

The first HIV diagnosis was made 30 years ago. Since then, it’s spread to epidemic proportions in the United States. As Fast Company writes, “it’s probably more prevalent in your neighborhood than you think.” To prove that point, the company profiles the creators of AIDSvu, an interactive map that shows a county-by-county breakdown of adults and adolescents with an HIV diagnosis. You can look at the map here.

Worries about a loss of momentum in the U.S. economy continued to make stock markets jittery Thursday. Major foreign exchanges experienced sell-offs following the sharp drop of more than 2 percent in U.S. indexes Wednesday. The markets are responding to data that suggest the U.S. recovery will remain a long, hard slog.

Mark Vitner, senior economist and managing director of Wells Fargo, says the market sell-off was a response to a tide of negative news in the past few days.

"There's been a lot of disappointing economic data," he says.

Just as soon as V.S. Naipaul closed the book on one of literature's juiciest spats, he opened his mouth and started another one. This time the Nobel Laureate for literature said no woman writer could ever be his literary equal. He said that on Tuesday, but his comments are just now starting to echo on the Web.

The Guardian reports today:

There's much to admire about X-Men: First Class, a combination reboot and prequel for a three-film mutant-superhero series that peaked with its rousing second entry, then hit the wall in a by-the-numbers adventure that languished between workmanlike and perfunctory.

It's a quest that never seems to end — the search for a safer birth control pill.

Some thought it might be at hand almost a decade ago when a new generation of oral contraceptives came on the market. They contained a hormone called drospirenone, which some thought would be less likely to cause dangerous blood clots.

Lexington's Police and Fire Pension Fund was the hot topic at Thursday's meeting of the Lexington Forum. Brenna Angel reports on what both sides had to say.  Councilmember Doug Martin came armed with a packet of information about the Lexington Police & Fire Pension Fund, which has an unfunded liability of $200 million. Martin says the fund should be closed to new employees and benefits should be adjusted.

The E. coli story is boiling up, with the CDC saying the outbreak is being caused by a rare strain of the bacteria. The Russians have seized on it as an opportunity for some nationalist chest-thumping, imposing a complete ban on European Union raw vegetables The Germans admit they have no idea of the source. At least 18 people are dead.

Steve Proffitt is sure it's summer when he hears the sound of a Little League game. This was underlined not long ago when he took a ball to the chin when his son was playing.