Girl Scouts

The Boy Scouts of America says that girls can join its Cub Scout program beginning next year and that it hopes to have a program in place for older girls in 2019.

While no decision has been made, the Boy Scouts have been considering welcoming girls in an unspecified capacity, a spokeswoman tells NPR.

"Girls have expressed a ton of interest and have been very vocal about their desire to do more STEM," a Girl Scouts regional representative says.

The 28 members of Girl Scout Troop 6000, and its two co-leaders, live in a shelter in Queens, N.Y. The troop that Giselle Burgess started is the first specifically for girls who are homeless.

A Kansas archbishop says Scouts shouldn't hold up women like Gloria Steinem as role models. He says American Heritage Girls troops are "based on Christian values" and are a better fit for parishes.

Sixteen-year-old Sydney Ireland has been an unofficial Boy Scout for more than a decade. Now she's petitioning the organization for the right to earn merit badges along with her male troop mates.

The organization has announced a program called Digital Cookies that allows Girl Scouts to sell Thin Mints, Do-si-dos, Samoas and other cookies through personalized websites or a mobile app.