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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. Eight thousand people will carry the Olympic torch before it reaches London to open the summer games, though one would-be torch barer isn't even human. He's a small red fuzzy monster.

KEVIN CLASH: (As Elmo) Elmo's ready to start training to be a monster torch-bearer. Yay. Oh, oh, Cramp, cramp.

At least 22 people were killed and another 50 wounded in southern Afghanistan today when three suicide bombers blew themselves up in a market near the Kandahar Air Field used by U.S. and coalition forces.

Most of the victims were Afghan civlians, officials tell the BBC.

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Now that it's over and Republican Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin has easily defeated a recall attempt, the morning-after analyses are in. There's a common theme:

-- Walker's win "is a stinging blow" to President Obama's re-election chances, says National Journal's 2012 Decoded blog.

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And let's turn to the issue that is front and center this election year - the economy. Austerity measures aimed at curing Europe's debt crisis have thrown a number of eurozone countries into recession. The threat of defaults in Greece and even larger countries like Spain have rattled U.S. financial markets, and President Obama recently said that Europe's troubles are casting a shadow over the U.S. economy.

To better understand what the president is talking about, we brought in NPR economics correspondent John Ydstie.

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This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And I'm Renee Montagne.

Wisconsin's combative Governor Scott Walker has survived an attempt to remove him from office. Labor unions, angry over the Republican governor's successful push to strip them of most collective bargaining rights, had battled Scott Walker and hoped Wisconsin voters would oust him.

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So far this year, 25 states have ended the Extended Benefits program. That program made sure people out of work for long periods of time continued receiving financial assistance. But there was a catch: if a state's unemployment rate improved, the money would stop flowing. The fact that some states are seeing lower unemployment may seem like a good sign for the economy. It's no comfort to the people who are still out of work.

Susie An from WBEZ in Chicago has that story.

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And our last word in business this morning is: litigious days.

(SOUNDBITE OF "HAPPY DAYS" THEME SONG)

MONTAGNE: That, of course, is the theme from "Happy Days," the hit sitcom from the 1970s and '80s. These days, not everyone is so happy. Several cast members from the show are battling with CBS and Paramount, for unpaid royalties.

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

This is MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. Good morning. I'm David Greene.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And I'm Renee Montagne.

Here a couple of the more alarming warnings coming out of the eurozone this week. Greece says it could go broke by July. Spain says it probably can't raise money from investors because they're demanding interest rates that are too high.

Despite all these troubles, one country is still eager to join the eurozone: Latvia. In fact, all three Baltic States remain supportive of the euro.

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Congressional redistricting has reshaped many elections this year. In New Jersey, it forced two friends into battle against one another. Veteran Democratic Congressman Steve Rothman lost primary yesterday to fellow Democrat, fellow Congressman Bill Pascrell. They became opponents after New Jersey lost a congressional seat following the last census. Nancy Solomon from New Jersey Public Radio has the story.

To be perverse, I'd suggest that for the horse-racing industry, it'd be best that I'll Have Another does not — yes, does not — win the Triple Crown this Saturday.

Oh, certainly, absolutely every year you want a horse to win the first two races — the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness — so that suspense builds and a horse has a chance to win the Belmont and take the Triple Crown. But isn't it better to have the potential winner barely get beat so that the losing streak continues, building interest?

This is the latest story in our series on money in politics.

If you have a mortgage on your home, you can deduct the interest from your taxes. It's a popular, well-entrenched policy. But according to one policy adviser to a U.S. senator, "the mortgage-interest deduction, from a purely policy perspective ... makes no sense."

When Mexicans go to the polls on July 1 to choose their next president, a woman will be among the candidates, the first from a major political party. She belongs to the National Action Party — or PAN — the party of current President Felipe Calderon.

On a recent visit to the Mexican border city of Juarez, Josefina Vazquez Mota steps onto a catwalk that juts into the center of a long banquet hall crammed with table after table of women. When she speaks, they cheer.

Gov. Scott Walker beat back a recall attempt in Wisconsin on Tuesday by doing what he had to do: turning out huge majorities in the Republican enclaves of the state — especially in its eastern half near Lake Michigan.

In the end, Walker wound up with about 53 percent of the vote, about 1 percentage point better than he had in winning the governorship the first time in November 2010.

Robert Siegel talks to Don Gonyea, David Schaper and Ron Elving for an update on the recall election in Wisconsin.

Robert Siegel talks with Don Gonyea and David Schaper about the state's recall election.

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney insists that when it comes to health care, his first priority is the full repeal of the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

But some of his actions of the past few days have conservatives scratching their heads.

There's been speculation for months that Apple will try to elbow Google's popular Maps app aside on the iPhone and unveil its own map app, and some of the best evidence yet comes from Tuesday's Wall Street Journal.

The paper looked into the reasons for the impending switch and the broader implications it would have for the smartphone market.

With a vote of 52 to 47, today, Republicans in the Senate succesfully blocked a Democratic-backed bill that called for equal pay for women.

But, as the AP reports, passing the bill was not the only intent of Democrats. The bill was obviously intended to draw attention to schism that have developed between the two parties on women's issues.

The AP reports:

Depression can be treated effectively over the phone, and a test of the approach showed that patients are more likely to maintain treatment telephonically.

Researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine offered 18 weeks of cognitive behavioral therapy, a kind of talk therapy, to more than 300 patients with major depression. Half received treatment in person and half over the phone.

Four years ago, Evelyn Stevens was working as a Wall Street investment banker and just starting to race bicycles. But she rose through the cycling ranks quickly, and next month she will represent the United States at the Olympic Games in London.

On a recent muggy morning in busy Central Park, Stevens easily weaves her bicycle through many obstacles.

"There's the horse carriages, there's the bike buggies, there's the Rollerbladers," she says, "the people on their bikes training, the five gajillion joggers, the hot dog stands, the dogs — there's a lot going in."