Quiznos narrowly avoided bankruptcy this week when the sandwich chain shifted ownership to private equity firm Avenue Capital in exchange for erasing some debt.

The recession and poor management have hit the Denver-based sub-maker hard. The company once boasted more than 5,000 restaurants, but 40 percent of them have now shut their doors.

Andre Bonyadian owns nine Quiznos franchises in and around Los Angeles.

Newt Gingrich is a self described space nut. He traveled to Florida's Space Coast near Cape Canaveral Wednesday to outline what he described as a bold program that would send Americans back to the moon and beyond.

Gingrich outlined his vision to a crowded hotel ballroom in Cocoa, not far from the Kennedy Space Center. He talked of coming of age at the time of Sputnik, which was the first satellite launched in 1957 by the Soviet Union. He recalled reading science fiction, author Isaac Asimov and Missiles and Rockets magazine.

The Tucson Representative introduced legislation two and a half years ago to combat the use of ultralight aircraft.  Resembling gliders with a small engine and propeller, ultralights are used by drug smugglers to carry narcotics across the U-S/ Mexico border. 

Giffords’ first bill passed the House, but was never heard in the Senate.   She cosponsored another measure this year that increases the punishment for using ultralights and gives Border Patrol agents more tools to interdict them.

The man who made "danger, Will Robinson!" a phrase that some of us will never forget has died.

Dick Tufeld, the voice of the robot in the classic '60s TV show Lost in Space, passed away Sunday in Los Angeles, The Associated Press reports. He was 85.

Alice Waters has moved from the kitchen to the garden to the soap box in her 40 years as a pioneer of the sustainable and locally grown food movement. But on one recent night, The Salt found her "hanging" in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington.

Robert Siegel interviewed Rep. Ron Paul on All Things Considered on Jan. 25. This is an edited transcript of their conversation.

ROBERT SIEGEL: Representative Paul, welcome to the program once again.

REPRESENTATIVE RON PAUL (R-TX): Thank you. Good to be with you.