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Groupon and Living Social have sold tens of millions of daily deals and are now a major force in retail. But they rely heavily on getting businesses to offer their goods and services at deep discounts. In exchange, businesses hope for payoff in the form of return customers.

Sometimes, though, the flood of extra business causes more problems than it solves.

Deal-Hungry Crowd

Ailie Ham had just opened Creative Hands Massage in Washington, D.C., when she decided to offer deals through Living Social and Groupon last year.

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Good morning. I'm Linda Wertheimer. Twitter is going to the dogs. Yesterday, Patch, a Jack Russell terrier, boarded a train near Dublin. When the train staff discovered him, they posted his picture on Twitter. It was re-tweeted more than 500 times. Within a half hour, his owner saw the photo and tweeted: That's my dog. Then she opened a Twitter account for Patch, in case he should go missing again. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.

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The Department of Veterans Affairs is adding staff to its hospitals to meet the mental health needs of vets of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. As Erin Toner of WUWM in Milwaukee reports, some clinicians say the help cannot come soon enough.

ERIN TONER, BYLINE: The VA hospital in Milwaukee is a hectic place. On most mornings you have to circle the parking lots over and over to find a spot. Luckily there's valet service if patients would rather leave the parking to someone else.

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On the day after the Fourth, it's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

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And I'm Linda Wertheimer.

It was especially easy for some Americans to see the fireworks last night. They had no competing source of light.

INSKEEP: Brilliant displays lit up cities like New York and Washington, but across Maryland, Virginia and New Jersey, about a quarter of a million homes still have no electricity.

Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney spent his July Fourth holiday marching in a New Hampshire parade, and backtracking statements a top adviser made about the individual mandate in the Obama health care law.

There was something for almost everybody in Wolfeboro's Independence Day parade: a local brass band, bonnet-wearing Daughters of the American Revolution, a Zumba instructor shimmying across the bed of a pickup truck, and even a Jimmy Durante impersonator, complete with prosthetic nose.

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In Britain today, parliament continues its hearing on the interest rate scandal at Barclays Bank. This week, several of the bank's top executives resigned, including the chief executive, Bob Diamond. Yesterday, parliamentarians quizzed Diamond for three hours.

NPR's Philip Reeves is in London, where he says outrage is growing.

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NPR's business news starts with the back story on VIP loans.

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WERTHEIMER: A former mortgage company, Countrywide, used a VIP loan program to buy influence with members of Congress, staffers and other officials, including a number at Fannie Mae, the government backed mortgage giant central to Countrywide's business. That the bottom line of a new report out today from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

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An Arkansas woman high-tailed it home after she rear-ended another car. It didn't take long for police to find her, and when they did, they slapped her with a citation for following too closely and leaving the scene of an accident. Her excuse: She didn't think there was enough damage to call police, and her ice cream was melting.

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Pakistan and the United States have reached agreement to reopen the strategic land supply routes from Pakistan into Afghanistan. Pakistan closed those routes last November after a U.S. attack left 24 Pakistani soldiers dead. Pakistan had wanted a formal apology from the U.S. but the administration refused because it believed American troops had come under fire first from the Pakistani side. But yesterday, Secretary of State Clinton made comments that finally broke the logjam.

NPR's Mike Shuster has more from Islamabad.

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NPR's business news starts with a U.K. interest rate probe.

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WERTHEIMER: The former chief executive of Barclays is testifying before a parliamentary committee in Britain. Bob Diamond, who resigned yesterday, is being asked about the rate-setting scandal at the bank. He told lawmakers in the hearing today that it was an unfortunate series of events. Yesterday, Barclays released documents suggesting a Bank of England official may have pressured Barclays to lower its rates. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.

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A bit of good news for Colorado. Yesterday, firefighters battling wildfires there got a boost from some much-needed rain.

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The fires and drought conditions in the state prompted a firework ban for this 4th of July holiday. But an exception was made last night in Denver, where a giant crowd gathered to watch fireworks and applaud the efforts of those fighting to contain the fires.

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This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.

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And I'm Renee Montagne. Good morning.

Maybe you won't pay several hundred dollars for a pair of sneakers, but there are a lot of people who will — providing they are the right sneakers. The demand for certain models has spawned a robust market for re-sellers — people who buy up the available supply and re-sell them for a profit.

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The Olympic Games are now just over three weeks away. NPR's Philip Reeves is tracking preparations. He brings us his latest letter from London.

PHILIP REEVES, BYLINE: So it's true then. Surface-to-air missiles really will be stationed on London's rooftops during the Olympic Games.

We hold this truth to be self-evident: America loves pie. We, the people, a nation of bakers and eaters, value the art of creating that crispy, gooey, fluffy, fruity dessert — and each region reserves the right to bake the treat in its own individual style.

It is not facetious to say that dying may not have been the worst thing to happen to Joe Paterno this past year.

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Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. Visitors to the Columbus Zoo over the weekend were startled witnesses to a family feud. A fight broke out when mother elephant Phoebe was disciplining her son Beco. Another elephant, known as Aunt Connie, disapproved and the females started shoving each other. A zoo director told the Columbus Dispatch that elephants, like humans, sometimes disagree about child rearing. He also said the little elephant Beco is a punk. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.

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Good morning. I'm Linda Wertheimer. Wal-Mart wanted more Facebook fans, so it asked rapper Pitbull for help. Pitbull agreed to a show at the Wal-Mart store with the most likes. The campaign went viral, then rural. As of this morning, more than 40,000 people have liked the Wal-Mart in Kodiak, Alaska. Kodiak is on an island, a town of less then 10,000, plus bears, of course. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.

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Jobs and the economy are big issues in this election. And from Alabama, we have a story of jobs coming from overseas to the U.S. European aircraft manufacturer Airbus is making a bold move into North America to compete in the largest market in the world for passenger jets.

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The firm will build its first U.S. assembly plant on the Gulf Coast in Mobile, Alabama. NPR's Debbie Elliott reports the region has been working for years to attract Airbus.

As more people take shift work in the still struggling economy, the need for after hours child care has increased. Throughout the country, many daycare centers have begun offering evening hours or 24-hour care. Parents say their kids should be sleeping at home at night, but they have no choice but to work when jobs are available.