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NPR Story
8:59 am
Thu June 28, 2012

5 Justices Agree: Insurance Penalty Considered A Tax

Originally published on Thu June 28, 2012 11:21 am

Renee Montagne and Linda Wertheimer has the latest on the Supreme Court's ruling on the Affordable Care Act. The court ruled that the law — with its "individual mandate," or requirement that virtually all Americans buy health insurance — is constitutional.

NPR Story
8:11 am
Thu June 28, 2012

Supreme Court Rules On Health Care Law

Originally published on Thu June 28, 2012 11:14 am

The justices have ruled on the constitutionality of the landmark health care law that has become a signature of Barack Obama's presidency. The law was largely upheld.

The Two-Way
7:31 am
Thu June 28, 2012

Live Blog: The Health Care Ruling

Originally published on Thu June 28, 2012 10:39 am

The Supreme Court ruled today that the 2010 Affordable Care Act is constitutional — giving the Obama administration a big election year win over conservative critics who argue that the health care overhaul is a step on the way toward socialized medicine.

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The Two-Way
6:58 am
Thu June 28, 2012

If E.T. Comes Calling, Americans Favor Obama Over Romney To Handle Things

Credit AFP/Getty Images
In the 1996 20th Century Fox film Independence Day, the White House did not fare well.

Originally published on Thu June 28, 2012 10:00 am

This comes from National Geographic, not The National Enquirer:

"Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of Americans think [President] Barack Obama would be better suited than fellow presidential candidate Mitt Romney to handle an alien invasion."

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Shots - Health Blog
6:44 am
Thu June 28, 2012

Waiting Almost Over For High Court Decision On Health Care Law

Credit Scott Hensley / NPR
The scene outside the U.S. Supreme Court this morning: lights, camera and soon action.

Originally published on Thu June 28, 2012 7:45 am

Outside the U.S. Supreme Court early this morning, there were some tired faces, quite a few smiles and the vibe you sometimes feel when a pack of marathoners is nearing the finish line.

Everyone's tired, but there's a sense of anticipation that the long legal slog is almost over.

Three months after historic arguments before the high court over the constitutionality of the administration's sweeping health care law, we're about to find out if it will hold up.

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The Two-Way
6:40 am
Thu June 28, 2012

Jobless Claims Dip Only Slightly; First-Quarter GDP Estimate Unchanged

Two fresh bits of economic data, neither of which change the picture much if at all:

-- The Employment and Training Administration says there were 386,000 first-time claims for unemployment insurance last week, down 6,000 from the week before. But it also revised up that previous week's estimate, from the initial report of 387,000.

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The Two-Way
6:03 am
Thu June 28, 2012

News Corp. Confirms Split; Rupert Murdoch Will Chair Both Companies

Credit Arthur Edwards / News International/Getty Images
Rupert Murdoch, chairman and CEO of News Corp., with one of his company's British tabloids.

Saying that the move will create two companies, one a "world-class" publisher and the other an "unmatched global media and entertainment" giant, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. just confirmed it is planning to separate into two distinct units.

Murdoch, a legend in the news and entertainment businesses whose TV ventures include Fox News Channel, will "serve as chairman of both companies and CEO of the media and entertainment company," the company added.

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The Two-Way
5:42 am
Thu June 28, 2012

JPMorgan's Losses 'May Reach $9 Billion'

Credit Emmanuel Dunand / AFP/Getty Images
JPMorgan Chase & Co. headquarters in New York.
Around the Nation
5:30 am
Thu June 28, 2012

Comedian Sells Out Concert Tour In Less Than 2 Days

Originally published on Thu June 28, 2012 10:50 am

Comedian Louis C.K. sold out his tour while bypassing ticket services like Ticketmaster. He sold tickets on his website for a flat fee of $45. He raised $4.5 million.

Europe
5:26 am
Thu June 28, 2012

Smell Leads Police To 9.5 Tons Of Stolen Garlic

Originally published on Thu June 28, 2012 10:34 am

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Linda Wertheimer with a culinary misadventure. Even before Austrian police pulled over three trucks near the Hungarian border yesterday, they could sense something kinky - make that stinky. The trucks had foreign license plates, were way overloaded and police did not need sniffer dogs to know what kind of contraband they'd captured. More than nine tons of stolen Spanish garlic, presumably bound for goulash. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.

The Two-Way
5:21 am
Thu June 28, 2012

'Hell In The Rearview Mirror' As Coloradoans Flee Wildfires

Credit Chris Schneider / Getty Images
Mikke Carlson took photos of the smoke from the Waldo Canyon fire while wearing a gas mask on Wednesday in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Originally published on Thu June 28, 2012 12:27 pm

Update at 2:30 p.m. ET. Our Latest Headline:

Good News: 'Great Progress' Reported In Fighting Colorado Springs Fire.

Our original post:

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Sports
5:11 am
Thu June 28, 2012

NBA Hopeful Davis Trademarks Unibrow Phrases

Originally published on Thu June 28, 2012 10:34 am

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. The NBA draft is today. And the likely number one pick has two amazing physical features. Anthony Davis is 6'10" and he'll make millions with his shot-blocking skills. He's also got a famous unibrow. Davis has just trademarked the phrases his unbroken brow has inspired - fear the brow and raise the brow. Davis told CNBC not even a deal with a razor company could get him to shave it. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.

Politics
3:45 am
Thu June 28, 2012

Tentative Deal On Transportation Reached

Originally published on Thu June 28, 2012 10:34 am

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

In Washington, House and Senate negotiators have reached a deal to fund highway and transportation projects for the next two years. This averts what could have been a dramatic shutdown after years of temporary extensions. The Senate could vote as soon as today, with the House likely to vote Friday.

NPR's Tamara Keith has details.

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Business
3:39 am
Thu June 28, 2012

News Corp. To Announce Company Split

Originally published on Thu June 28, 2012 10:34 am

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And we reported, yesterday, that Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate News Corp. was considering splitting itself into two separate companies. The company's board of directors approved a split last night.

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Television
3:24 am
Thu June 28, 2012

FX Welcomes Sheen Back To TV, But Will Viewers?

Originally published on Thu June 28, 2012 10:34 am

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

Tonight, one of the most famously dysfunctional Hollywood stars is coming back to television. Charlie Sheen's new sitcom on FX is called "Anger Management." Last year he was the star of "Two and a Half Men," but his erratic behavior led CBS to fire him. TV critic Eric Deggans says the big question is whether people really want to watch more Charlie Sheen on the small screen.

ERIC DEGGANS: My best tip for enjoying Charlie Sheen's new show?

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "ANGER MANAGEMENT")

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Law
3:16 am
Thu June 28, 2012

Common Law Marriage Suit Could Alter Canadian Law

Originally published on Thu June 28, 2012 10:34 am

A Canadian Supreme Court case has the potential to change marriage across the country. In the province of Quebec, partners in a common-law marriage have no legal obligation to support each other if they separate. But that law's validity came into question when the long time de-facto spouse of a Canadian billionaire demanded alimony payments.

Business
3:16 am
Thu June 28, 2012

Business News

Originally published on Thu June 28, 2012 10:34 am

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

NPR's business news starts with a possible deeper debt for JPMorgan.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

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Business
3:09 am
Thu June 28, 2012

Google Is The Latest To Get Into Computer Tablets

Originally published on Thu June 28, 2012 10:34 am

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

Google opened its World Wide Developers conference yesterday with a few announcements — the most notable is its entry into the highly competitive tablet market.

LAURA SYDELL, BYLINE: As NPR's Laura Sydell reports, with the Nexus 7, Google is headed for a market somewhere between the Amazon Fire and Apple's iPad.

It's called the Nexus 7 because it's a seven-inch tablet. Google also announced more content for its online store. In addition to music, movies and books, they will have TV shows and magazines.

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Business
3:09 am
Thu June 28, 2012

The Last Word In Business

Originally published on Thu June 28, 2012 10:34 am

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And you may want to Google our last word in business today. That word is foie-kage. It's kind of like corkage, the fee restaurants charge to open a bottle of wine that you've brought in with you.

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

Foie-kage is the fee that Californians will have to pay if they want to eat foie gras - fatty goose or duck liver. They'll have to bring their own because starting thanks week, restaurants will be banned from serving the delicacy.

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Europe
3:09 am
Thu June 28, 2012

European Leaders Grapple With Saving Euro

Originally published on Thu June 28, 2012 10:34 am

European Union leaders meet in Brussels for their latest summit aimed at saving the eurozone from financial meltdown. The top-level meeting will pit German chancellor Angela Merkel against her increasingly unified partners, France, Italy and Spain, which are determined to win concessions from Europe's economic powerhouse.

Music
1:26 am
Thu June 28, 2012

The Bajo Quinto: The Instrument That Will Not Go Gently

Originally published on Thu June 28, 2012 10:34 am

Almost 20 years ago, a young student at the National University of Mexico went in search of a very old instrument in the mountains of the southern state of Oaxaca. Today, he has become a leading force in the revival of the instrument called the bajo quinto and the music played on it.

Ruben Luengas was working on a research project at the National School of Music in Mexico City in 1995. He wanted to focus on the music of his hometown, in the Mixtec region of Oaxaca, so he asked his 97-year-old grandmother to tell him about the music played at her wedding.

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The Salt
1:25 am
Thu June 28, 2012

Unlike Chicken And Pork, Beef Still Begins With Small Family Ranches

Originally published on Thu June 28, 2012 5:47 pm

In the chicken and pork industries, nearly every aspect of the animals' raising has long been controlled by just a handful of agriculture conglomerates. But the cattle industry is still populated by mom-and-pop operations, at least at the calf-raising level.

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Middle East
1:17 am
Thu June 28, 2012

In A Syrian Souk, Support For The Regime Falters

Originally published on Thu June 28, 2012 6:25 pm

In Syria's capital, Damascus, the Hamidiyah souk is a landmark — a centuries-old covered market linked to a maze of alleyways in the heart of the capital. Over the 15-month uprising, Syria's merchants have supported the regime of President Bashar Assad. But that support is crumbling.

Shops selling everything from cold drinks, ice cream and spices to wedding dresses and electric guitars line Hamidiyah's cobblestone streets.

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Asia
1:17 am
Thu June 28, 2012

Amid Fierce Debate, Japan To Restart Nuclear Plants

Originally published on Thu June 28, 2012 10:34 am

After taking all 50 of its nuclear reactors offline following a devastating accident last year, Japan is planning to restart the first of two of them in western Fukui prefecture as early as Sunday.

The catastrophe at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in March 2011 forced Japan to scale back plans to aggressively expand its nuclear energy sector. But the highly controversial move to restart the two reactors on the other side of the country is a sign that the nuclear power lobby isn't throwing in the towel yet.

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Planet Money
1:16 am
Thu June 28, 2012

Going Public Is A Hassle

Credit Richard Drew / AP
Meh.

Originally published on Wed July 11, 2012 3:09 pm

Here's a classic story of how a multimillion-dollar company gets started.

A young guy named Seung Bak is on a trip to China. He gets back to his hotel room late one night and turns on the TV.

"I'm flipping through channels, and in the middle of China they are showing Korean dramas all around the clock," Bak says.

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American Dreams: Then And Now
10:03 pm
Wed June 27, 2012

Great Expectations, And Some Hope Of Meeting Them

Credit Amy Sussman / Getty Images
In plays like FOB, M. Butterfly and Chinglish, David Henry Hwang, seen here at a 2006 gala, touches on the obstacles that can stand between immigrants and the American dream.

Originally published on Thu June 28, 2012 10:34 am

David Henry Hwang is a playwright from Los Angeles, currently living in New York, who has dealt with issues of cultural identity in his work, especially as it pertains to the Asian-American experience. He spoke to NPR's Morning Edition about his thoughts on the American dream.

"I define the American dream as the ability to imagine a way that you want your life to turn out, and have a reasonable hope that you can achieve that.

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Movies
10:03 pm
Wed June 27, 2012

In France, A Star Rises From An Oft-Neglected Place

Originally published on Thu June 28, 2012 10:34 am

Frenchman Jean Dujardin may have won this year's Academy Award for best actor for his role in The Artist, but in France he was beat out for the country's most prestigious acting award, the Cesar, by a new acting sensation: The 34-year-old son of African immigrants, Omar Sy.

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Music
6:25 pm
Wed June 27, 2012

Third Time's The Charm: J-Lo And Pitbull 'Dance Again'

Credit Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images
Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull perform onstage at the 2011 American Music Awards in Los Angeles.

Originally published on Thu June 28, 2012 10:34 am

It's All Politics
5:02 pm
Wed June 27, 2012

Romney Gets No Relief On Outsourcing Story

Credit Charles Dharapak / AP
Mitt Romney appears with Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (left) on Wednesday. Romney failed to convince Washington Post journalists they were wrong to link him to the outsourcing of U.S. jobs while he led Bain Capital.

Originally published on Fri June 29, 2012 1:51 pm

Ever since the Washington Post published a widely read piece last week whose central premise was that when Mitt Romney ran Bain Capital the firm invested in companies that shipped U.S. jobs abroad, President Obama, Vice President Biden and other Democrats have repeatedly cited it.

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The Two-Way
5:02 pm
Wed June 27, 2012

In Settlement, FCC Says Comcast Will Pay $800K, Extend Stand-Alone Internet Offer

Credit Gene J. Puskar / AP
A Comcast logo is seen on a Comcast truck in Pittsburgh in 2011.

The Federal Communications Commission and Comcast-NBCU came to an agreement today over charges that the cable company had not adequately advertised its affordable Internet-only plans.

Providing data-only plans and making sure customers knew they were available was one of the conditions set by the FCC when it approved the NBC/Comcast merger in 2011.

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