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The Two-Way
6:22 am
Wed May 22, 2013

Top Stories: Oklahoma Recovery; Weiner For NYC Mayor?

Originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 9:06 am

Good morning, here are our early stories:

-- In Oklahoma, Rescue Efforts Give Way To Recovery.

-- Anthony Weiner Jumps Into Race To Be NYC Mayor.

And here are more early headlines:

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The Two-Way
6:03 am
Wed May 22, 2013

In Oklahoma, Rescue Efforts Give Way To Recovery

Credit Rick Wilking / Reuters /Landov
A teddy bear sits atop some of the rubble in Moore, Okla.

Originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 6:49 pm

  • On 'Morning Edition': Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin speaks with NPR's David Greene
  • On 'Morning Edition': David Schaper reports from Moore, Okla.

(Most recent update: 8:30 p.m. ET.)

The news Wednesday from Moore, Okla., much of which was destroyed by a massive tornado Monday, begins with word that officials doubt they will find any more survivors or bodies under the hundreds of homes, businesses and other buildings that were leveled.

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The Two-Way
5:57 am
Wed May 22, 2013

Anthony Weiner Jumps Into Race To Be NYC Mayor

Credit Andrew Gombert / EPA /Landov
Former Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., in June 2011 — at the height of the sexting scandal that led to his resignation from Congress.

Originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 9:03 am

The Two-Way
5:35 am
Wed May 22, 2013

Book News: Newly Found Pearl Buck Novel To Be Published This Fall

Credit AP
At her desk in the study of her Philadelphia townhouse in 1967, Pearl Buck looks at a bound volume of the magazine Asia from 1925 that contained her first published work.

The daily lowdown on books, publishing, and the occasional author behaving badly.

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Business
5:12 am
Wed May 22, 2013

Qantas Airlines To Offer In-Flight Books

Originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 7:29 am

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

And our last word in business on this Wednesday is: Mile High Book Club.

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

We're talking about an in-flight library offered by the Australian airline Qantas.

GREENE: They will still have movies on the plane, that right, Linda?

WERTHEIMER: Yes, David. But Qantas is telling passengers who want to read that they can ditch their Kindles and settle in with a paperback.

(SOUNDBITE OF AD)

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

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Business
5:08 am
Wed May 22, 2013

Earning News Sends Home Depot Stock Higher

Originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 7:29 am

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

NPR's business news starts with Home Depot raising the roof.

Home Depot got a boost from the housing recovery in its first-quarter net income. It rose 18 percent; that exceeds expectations. The company acknowledged yesterday that while cool and wet spring weather had a negative impact on some of Home Depot's seasonal business, its core business stayed strong.

Home Depot's stock price rose by 2.5 percent with the news. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Book Reviews
5:03 am
Wed May 22, 2013

A Different Kind Of Immigrant Experience In 'Americanah'

Credit PIUS UTOMI EKPEI / AFP/Getty Images

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's fourth book, Americanah, is so smart about so many subjects that to call it a novel about being black in the 21st century doesn't even begin to convey its luxurious heft and scope. Americanah is indeed a novel about being black in the 21st century — in America, Great Britain and Africa, while answering a want ad, choosing a lover, hailing a cab, eating collard greens, watching Barack Obama on television — but you could also call it a novel of immigration and dislocation, just about every page tinged with faint loneliness.

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Politics
4:52 am
Wed May 22, 2013

Senate To Debate Immigration Overhaul

Originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 7:29 am

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Supporters of a new immigration bill claimed a victory last night. Legislation to overhaul the nation's immigration policies cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee. After weeks of debate, the committee approved this bipartisan measure that would pave the way for citizenship for some 11 million undocumented immigrants. The bill now advances to the full Senate.

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Business
4:47 am
Wed May 22, 2013

Microsoft Unveils Its new Xbox One

Originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 9:04 am

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

The wait is over for many Xbox fans. Yesterday, Microsoft unveiled its next generation Xbox gaming console. It's called Xbox One. It's the first major revamp of the gaming system since 2005. In our business bottom line, NPR's Laura Sydell reports the new Xbox is designed to be an all-in-one system, an entertainment hub for movies, TV and games that should appeal as much to grandparents as it does to children.

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Business
4:39 am
Wed May 22, 2013

Parking Industry Tries To Make Your Life Easier

Originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 7:29 am

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Finding a parking space, probably not at the top of the list of things you like to do. Well, experts in parking think they might be able to change that. One key, they say, is for developers to think about the parking experience when they're designing malls or apartment complexes, instead of just treating it as an afterthought.

This came up in Florida this week, at the International Parking Institute's annual conference. Reporter Kenny Malone, from member station WLRN, was there.

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Politics
4:34 am
Wed May 22, 2013

House, Senate Consider Cuts In Food Stamp Program

Originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 7:29 am

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

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

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

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Around the Nation
4:32 am
Wed May 22, 2013

Boy Scouts To Decide Whether To Admit Gay Youth

Originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 7:29 am

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

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

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

And I'm Linda Wertheimer.

This week, Boy Scouts of America officials will meet in Texas to consider changing the group's longstanding ban on gay members. The first round of voting starts tomorrow. A new membership policy would allow gay youth, but continue to ban adult leaders who are gay.

NPR's Kathy Lohr reports.

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Business
4:32 am
Wed May 22, 2013

Court Rules Vacation Rental Site Illegal In New York

Originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 7:29 am

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Here's some news for travelers. If you can't afford or don't want to pay the price for a hotel room, maybe you've used the cheap lodging site Airbnb. If so, you have to take New York City off your list. The popular website has suffered a major setback in court. A judge in New York ruled that an Airbnb user in Manhattan violated local laws when he rented a room to an out-of-towner.

From member station WNYC, Ilya Marritz reports.

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Politics
4:32 am
Wed May 22, 2013

Battle Lines Harden In Debate Over Blame For IRS Controversy

Originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 7:29 am

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

Lawmakers are demanding to know what went wrong and who is to blame at the IRS. Two Senate committees held hearings yesterday on the agency's aggressive handling of applications from conservative groups who were seeking tax-exemption. A top IRS official facing a House committee, today, intends to invoke her Fifth Amendment right not to testify. NPR's Peter Overby reports.

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Kitchen Window
3:23 am
Wed May 22, 2013

Real Butterscotch: The Beauty Of Sugar And Dairy Transformed

Originally published on Thu May 23, 2013 5:43 am

Butterscotch is going through something of a revival. So much so, that two Kitchen Window contributors wanted to write about it. Therefore, welcome to the more-than-you-ever-thought-you-needed-to-know-about-butterscotch special coverage. Today is the second in our two-part butterscotch series. Last week's column has more recipes featuring this resurgent flavor.

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Planet Money
1:07 am
Wed May 22, 2013

Why Apple (And Lots Of Other Companies) Wound Up In Ireland

Credit Andy Wong / AP

Originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 7:35 am

Apple was criticized in a Senate committee hearing Tuesday for using complex accounting to minimize the corporate taxes it pays. One key piece of the company's tax strategy: It funnels lots of its profits through subsidiaries in Ireland.

Offering low corporate tax rates has been a fundamental part of Ireland's economic strategy for decades — a way to get foreign companies to set up operations in the country.

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Parallels
1:04 am
Wed May 22, 2013

West Bank Businesses Seek Growth Amid Uncertainty

Originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 7:29 am

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry heads back to Israel and the West Bank on Thursday for more talks on restarting peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. When he was there last month, he walked away with at least one agreement — to improve the West Bank economy. Here's how he put it as he left Israel:

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Research News
1:03 am
Wed May 22, 2013

Quantum Or Not, New Supercomputer Is Certainly Something Else

Originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 9:33 am

It's exactly the sort of futuristic thinking you'd expect from Google and NASA: Late last week, the organizations announced a partnership to build a Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab at NASA's Ames Research Center.

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Your Money
1:01 am
Wed May 22, 2013

Instead Of Snoozing In Savings, Let's Put $5,000 To Work

Credit Robyn Mackenzie / iStockphoto.com

Originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 7:29 am

If you have a savings account you probably already know this: Your money there is losing value to inflation. Yields are so low that returns are not even keeping up with the cost of living.

I've been watching some of my own savings dwindle. And that prompted me to take up a challenge: I'm taking $5,000 from personal savings and putting it to work. I'm not a financial whiz, pundit or any kind of guru.

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Shots - Health News
1:00 am
Wed May 22, 2013

Boomer Housemates Have More Fun

Originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 6:18 pm

Today more than 1 in every 3 baby boomers — that huge glut of people born between 1948 and 1964 — is unmarried. And those unmarried boomers are disproportionately women.

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Sweetness And Light
8:04 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

Backing Becks: Don't Knock The Soccer Star's Talents

Credit Fred Dufour / AFP/Getty Images
David Beckham spent six years in the U.S. with the LA Galaxy before returning to Europe earlier this year.

Originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 7:29 am

The most unforgiving criticism in sport is directed at any athlete who fans believe is celebrated too excessively above his true talent level — especially those stars who are gloried because they're such pretty people.

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The Two-Way
4:45 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

Two Key Candidates Barred From Seeking Iran's Presidency

Credit Ebrahim Noroozi / AP
Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's candidacy for the country's presidency was rejected Tuesday by the powerful Guardian Council. He's seen here on May 11 registering his candidacy for the June 14 election.

Originally published on Tue May 21, 2013 5:04 pm

Iran's powerful Guardian Council has disqualified two key candidates — a former president and a top aide to the current president — from running in the June 14 presidential election.

The Guardian Council, which vets all candidates, approved eight names Tuesday but left out former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, who was handpicked by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Mashaei said he would appeal the decision to the country's supreme leader; Rafsanjani did not comment.

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The Two-Way
4:33 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

Storm Chasers Seek Thrills, But Also Chance To Warn Others

Credit Alonzo Adams / AP
A tornado moves past homes in Moore, Okla. on Monday.
The Two-Way
3:23 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

WATCH: Moore Tornado As Seen From Space

Credit NOAA
A NOAA satellite image of the Moore tornado.
Shots - Health News
3:14 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

The Scramble At Moore Medical Center As The Tornado Hit

Credit Alonzo Adams / AP
A Moore Medical Center patient sits in the parking lot after a tornado damaged the hospital on Monday.

A massive tornado swept through the Oklahoma City area Monday afternoon, leaving ruin in its path.

Moore Medical Center, which stood directly in the tornado's path, was devastated. But the workers, patients and their families in the hospital escaped.

Nick Stremble, a registered nurse and manager at the hospital, told Shots Tuesday what he saw.

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The Salt
3:10 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

African Cities Test The Limits Of Living With Livestock

Credit Gianluigi Guercia / AFP/Getty Images
Sheep graze in the street last year in Cairo.

Originally published on Tue May 21, 2013 3:18 pm

Raising chickens has become so fashionable among some urban Americans that there's now a market for chicken diapers, as we reported this month.

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It's All Politics
3:05 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

Former IRS Head to Senate: It Wasn't My Fault

Credit Charles Dharapak / AP
Former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman testifies Tuesday on Capitol Hill, before a Senate Finance Committee hearing.

Originally published on Tue May 21, 2013 4:13 pm

It was the Senate's turn Tuesday to grill the Internal Revenue Service, or more accurately, former agency officials, about its handling of the scandal involving the targeting of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.

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Music Reviews
2:55 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

Pat Metheny And John Zorn: A Vivid Sound World

Credit Jimmy Katz / Courtesy of the artist
Best known for bright, accessible modern jazz, Pat Metheny takes on an experimental composer's work with the new Tap: John Zorn's Book of Angels, Vol. 20.

Originally published on Tue May 21, 2013 3:43 pm

Guitarist Pat Metheny is revered for his bright, accessible modern jazz. Saxophonist and composer John Zorn is associated with much knottier, often dissonant experiments.

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Around the Nation
2:54 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

Okla. Tornado Survivors Try To Collect Lives After Storm

Originally published on Tue May 21, 2013 3:43 pm

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

In Moore, for the many people whose homes were destroyed, the top priorities are finding a place to stay, some clothes to wear, and food to eat. NPR's Wade Goodwyn has been talking with survivors in Moore, and he sent this story.

WADE GOODWYN, BYLINE: Jamie Martinez(ph) is a retired police officer who still does security work, and that's where he was when the tornado slammed into his neighborhood yesterday.

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Around the Nation
2:53 pm
Tue May 21, 2013

Moore Residents Slowly Allowed Into Tornado-Damaged Areas

Originally published on Tue May 21, 2013 3:43 pm

It's been a difficult day in Moore, Okla., as crews go house-to-house searching for survivors from Monday's tornado. Authorities have tightened access into areas with the worst damage.

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