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NPR Story
4:23 am
Wed June 6, 2012

Gov. Walker Survives Recall, Vows To Unite Wisconsin

Originally published on Thu June 14, 2012 12:07 pm

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

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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NPR Story
4:23 am
Wed June 6, 2012

Why Does Airline Food Taste So Bad?

Originally published on Thu June 14, 2012 12:07 pm

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Tiny bags of pretzels followed by some kind of rubber mystery meat - for those who fly, you know exactly what I'm talking about: the joys of airplane food. Well, some airlines are now trying to shake things up. They're showcasing some new cuisine in hopes of luring more passengers. But producing food that actually tastes great at cruising altitude is not easy, as NPR's Wendy Kaufman reports.

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NPR Story
4:23 am
Wed June 6, 2012

Auto Industry Bailout Remains Political Hot Button Issue

Originally published on Thu June 14, 2012 12:07 pm

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And the U.S. bailout of General Motors and the auto industry in 2009 has worked its way into the presidential campaign. Republican Mitt Romney says he'd sell the government stock in GM quickly if he wins the White House. A White House spokesman counters that Romney isn't credible on the issue, since he opposed the bailout that rescued the industry.

NPR's Sonari Glinton has the story.

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Sweetness And Light
2:57 am
Wed June 6, 2012

Please Sir, I'd Rather Have Another

Credit Al Bello / Getty Images
Triple Crown hopefull I'll Have Another is ridden by exercise rider Jonny Garcia during a morning workout at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

Originally published on Thu June 14, 2012 12:07 pm

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?

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Planet Money
2:56 am
Wed June 6, 2012

Why Does The Mortgage-Interest Tax Deduction Still Exist?

Credit Alex Brandon / AP

Originally published on Thu June 14, 2012 12:07 pm

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."

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Europe
2:55 am
Wed June 6, 2012

A Party On The Rise, Germany's Pirates Come Ashore

Originally published on Thu June 14, 2012 12:07 pm

They don't have a plan to save the euro or draw down the war in Afghanistan, nor do they have clear policies on an array of issues, but the German Pirate Party is winning converts and elections with its vision of digital democracy through "liquid feedback."

Despite public relations mishaps and a haphazard organizational structure, the Pirate Party is shaking up the stolid, bureaucratic world of German politics and jolting rival parties with its rising popularity.

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Latin America
2:55 am
Wed June 6, 2012

Female Presidential Candidate Blazes Trail In Mexico

Credit AFP/Getty Images/PAN Press Office
Josefina Vazquez Mota, presidential candidate from the ruling National Action Party, or PAN, delivers a speech during an electoral rally in Jocotepec, in the state of Jalisco, in May.

Originally published on Thu June 14, 2012 12:07 pm

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.

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Revolutionary Road Trip
2:54 am
Wed June 6, 2012

Once Tolerated, Alcohol Now Creates Rift In Tunisia

Originally published on Thu June 14, 2012 12:07 pm

Over the next couple weeks, NPR Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep is taking a Revolutionary Road Trip across North Africa to see how the countries that staged revolutions last year are remaking themselves as they write new social rules, rebuild their economies and establish new political systems. Steve and his team will be traveling some 2,000 miles from Tunisia's ancient city of Carthage, across the deserts of Libya and on to Egypt's megacity of Cairo. In this story, he looks at the friction that has developed over alcohol in Tunisia.

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American Dreams: Then And Now
2:53 am
Wed June 6, 2012

Grad Who Beat The Odds Asks, Why Not The Others?

Originally published on Thu June 14, 2012 12:07 pm

Fewer than 5 percent of Americans had completed college when historian James Truslow Adams first coined the term "American dream" in 1931.

Today, many consider higher education the gateway to a better, richer and fuller life. But for many kids growing up in poverty, college might as well be Mars, and the American dream a myth.

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It's All Politics
2:32 am
Wed June 6, 2012

How Walker Held On To His Job In Wisconsin

Credit Scott Olson / Getty Images
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker greets supporters at a rally Tuesday in Waukesha, Wis., after weathering a recall challenge.

Originally published on Wed June 6, 2012 8:17 am

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.

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Politics
7:53 pm
Tue June 5, 2012

Walker, Barrett Await Results In Wis. Recall

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

It's All Politics
7:34 pm
Tue June 5, 2012

Live Blog: Wisconsin Decides Governor's Fate In Recall Vote

Originally published on Wed June 6, 2012 7:40 am

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, just the third governor in U.S. history to face a recall effort, is now the first to successfully defeat such an attempt. The Associated Press projected that Walker would defeat Milwaukee's Democratic Mayor Tom Barrett in what was a rematch of the 2010 gubernatorial election.

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Politics
7:32 pm
Tue June 5, 2012

Wis. Voters Turn Out In Droves For Recall Election

Originally published on Tue June 5, 2012 7:53 pm

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

American Dreams: Then And Now
7:31 pm
Tue June 5, 2012

'My Country': tUnE-yArDs Questions The American Dream

Credit Chloe Aftel / Courtesy of the artist
Merrill Garbus is the singer and songwriter behind the band tUnE-yArDs.

Originally published on Thu June 14, 2012 12:07 pm

Shots - Health Blog
7:08 pm
Tue June 5, 2012

Romney's Health Care Prescription Gives Some Conservatives Heartburn

Credit Charles Dharapak / AP
Mitt Romney (right), at the time the governor of Massachusetts, greets then-Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt during a National Governors Association forum in February 2006. Romney reportedly has tapped Leavitt to head his presidential transition team.

Originally published on Wed June 6, 2012 8:33 am

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.

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All Tech Considered
7:02 pm
Tue June 5, 2012

Apple To Google Maps: We Have Our Own App For That

Credit Robert Galbraith / Reuters /Landov
Apple's late CEO, Steve Jobs, discusses the Google Maps application for the iPhone during the Macworld Convention and Expo in San Francisco in 2008.

Originally published on Tue June 5, 2012 8:25 pm

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.

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The Two-Way
6:34 pm
Tue June 5, 2012

LIVE NOW: Venus Transits The Face Of The Sun

Credit NASA / Reuters/Landov
Handout image courtesy of NASA shows the planet Venus at the start of its transit of the Sun, on June 5. One of the rarest astronomical events occurs on Tuesday and Wednesday when Venus passes directly between the sun and Earth, a transit that won't occur again until 2117.

Originally published on Tue June 5, 2012 8:55 pm

The Two-Way
6:20 pm
Tue June 5, 2012

Equal Pay Measure Fails To Move Forward In The Senate

Credit J. Scott Applewhite / AP
Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., and Lilly Ledbetter, right, the woman who has become the symbol for the workplace equality movement, face reporters at the Capitol as the Senate considers the "Paycheck Fairness Act," on Tuesday.

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:

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London 2012: The Summer Olympics
5:36 pm
Tue June 5, 2012

Cyclist's Swift Ride From Wall Street To The Olympics

Credit Michael Steele / Getty Images
Since entering the sport at age 25, Evelyn Stevens (right) has risen to the elite ranks of women's cycling. In April, she passed top rival Marianne Vos of Holland on her way to winning the Fleche Wallonne race in Belgium.

Originally published on Tue June 5, 2012 7:53 pm

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."

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Shots - Health Blog
5:28 pm
Tue June 5, 2012

Depressed? Treatment May Be A Phone Call Away

Credit iStockphoto.com
Therapy by telephone can work about as well as the in-person variety.

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.

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