Mark Memmott

Credit Doby Photography / NPR

Mark Memmott is one of the hosts of NPR's "The Two-Way" news blog.

"The Two-Way," which Memmott helped to launched when he came to NPR in 2009, focuses on breaking news, analysis, and the most compelling stories being reported by NPR News and other news media.

Before joining NPR, Memmott worked for nearly 25 years as a reporter and editor at USA Today. He focused on a range of coverage from politics, foreign affairs, economics, and the media. He's reported from places across the Unites States and the world, including half a dozen trips to Afghanistan in 2002-2003.

During his time at USA Today, Memmott, helped launch and lead three USAToday.com news blogs: "On Deadline;" "The Oval;" and "On Politics," the site's 2008 presidential campaign blog.

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The Two-Way
1:40 pm
Fri May 24, 2013

New Jersey Shore Is Ready For Visitors, Gov. Christie Says

Credit Jeff Zelevansky / Getty Images
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie earlier this month.
The Two-Way
12:22 pm
Fri May 24, 2013

There's No Place For Sex Assaults In Military, Obama Says

Credit Larry Downing / Reuters /Landov
President Obama delivering the commencement address Friday at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

Saying that "those who commit sexual assaults are not only committing a crime, they threaten the trust and discipline that make our military strong," President Obama on Friday urged Naval Academy graduates to help bring an end to a disturbing series of such offenses.

"They've got no place in the greatest military on earth," Obama said during the commencement address he delivered at the academy's Annapolis, Md., campus.

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The Two-Way
10:15 am
Fri May 24, 2013

2 Men Arrested After Pakistani Jet Is Diverted Over U.K.

Originally published on Fri May 24, 2013 2:49 pm

Two men were arrested and removed from a Pakistan International Airlines passenger jet Friday. It had been on its way from Lahore, Pakistan, to Manchester, England, when something that happened aboard led authorities to scramble Royal Air Force fighter jets and divert the passenger plane to London Stansted Airport.

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The Two-Way
9:16 am
Fri May 24, 2013

British Soldier Hacked To Death Was 'Our Hero,' Family Says

Credit Dave Thompson / Reuters /Landov
As Ian Rigby spoke Friday about his stepson Lee, a British soldier who was murdered on a south London street this week, the young man's widow, Rebecca (right), and his mother, Lyn, reached out.

Originally published on Fri May 24, 2013 11:37 am

The Two-Way
8:38 am
Fri May 24, 2013

Tornado In Moore, Okla.: Friday's Developments

Credit Lucas Jackson / Reuters /Landov
Rita Green carried a plastic bin of items as she helped a family friend salvage things from a home Thursday in Moore, Okla.

Originally published on Fri May 24, 2013 10:19 am

As the residents of Moore, Okla., and surrounding communities continue to recover from Monday's devastating tornado that killed at least 24 people and injured more than 375, we're keeping an eye on the news from there:

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The Two-Way
8:34 am
Fri May 24, 2013

Developing: Explosion, Gunfire In Kabul

Credit Omar Sobhani / Reuters /Landov
A wounded Afghan police officer is helped from the scene of Friday's explosion and gunfire in Kabul.

Originally published on Fri May 24, 2013 5:50 pm

  • NPR's Sean Carberry, reporting from Kabul

(We most recently updated the top of this post at 6:45 p.m. ET.)

An explosion followed by gunfire in Kabul on Friday claimed the lives of at least two attackers and wounded a small number of civilians. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which appeared to have been aimed at offices of the International Organization for Migration and stretched over several hours as Afghan security forces tried to hunt down those responsible.

As night fell in Kabul, it was unclear whether the incident was over or not.

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The Two-Way
8:13 am
Fri May 24, 2013

Assad Regime Agrees To Attend Peace Conference, Russia Says

Originally published on Fri May 24, 2013 10:27 am

Representatives of President Bashar Assad's regime have agreed "in principle" to attend an international peace conference aimed at ending more than two years of brutal warfare in Syria, Russia's foreign ministry said Friday.

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The Two-Way
7:25 am
Fri May 24, 2013

'White Flash And Cold Water' After Bridge Collapse In Wash.

Credit Dan Levine / EPA /LANDOV
The scene near Mount Vernon, Wash., on Thursday after part of an Interstate 5 bridge collapsed into the Skagit River.

Originally published on Fri May 24, 2013 5:39 pm

(Most recent update: 5:35 p.m. ET.)

Miracle is the word that comes to Dan Sligh's mind after he and his wife, Sally, survived a plunge off a highway bridge in Washington state on Thursday evening.

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The Two-Way
1:47 pm
Thu May 23, 2013

Teen Pregnancies Continue To Decline, New Report Shows

New government figures add to evidence of a decline in teen pregnancies across the nation and point to a notably large drop in births among Hispanic teens, NPR's Jennifer Ludden tells our Newscast Desk.

She reports that the overall birth rate among teens is now half what it was at its peak, two decades ago, and that a new report from the National Center for Health Statistics shows:

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The Two-Way
10:58 am
Thu May 23, 2013

Reports: Obama To Limit Drones, Urge Action On Guantanamo

Credit Bob Strong / Reuters /Landov
An American flag flying over Camp VI, where detainees are housed at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay.
  • From 'Morning Edition': Dina Temple-Raston reports

Ahead of his much-anticipated speech Thursday afternoon at the National Defense University, there's word that President Obama:

Drones

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The Two-Way
10:06 am
Thu May 23, 2013

Triple Murder May Link Tsarnaev And Man Killed In Florida

Credit / Reuters /Landov
Ibragim Todashev, in an undated booking photo provided by the Orange County (Fla.) Corrections Department.

Originally published on Thu May 23, 2013 4:18 pm

Ibragim Todashev, the 27-year-old man shot and killed after he allegedly attacked an FBI agent Wednesday in Orlando, may have been involved with Boston bombings suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev in a 2011 triple murder.

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The Two-Way
10:01 am
Thu May 23, 2013

Cleveland Hero Charles Ramsey Rewarded With Burgers For Life

Credit Scott Shaw / The Plain Dealer /Landov
Charles Ramsey on the day three young women (and one of the women's daughters) were rescued from a Cleveland home. He gained fame for his accounts of what happened.

Charles Ramsey, the neighbor who helped rescue three young women from a Cleveland home where authorities say they had been held captive and brutalized for about a decade, "will enjoy free burgers for life" in honor of his actions, The Plain Dealer reports.

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The Two-Way
9:02 am
Thu May 23, 2013

Jobless Claims Drop, But Stay In Recent Range

Originally published on Thu May 23, 2013 10:20 am

There were 340,000 first-time claims for unemployment insurance last week, down 23,000 from the week before, the Employment and Training Administration reports.

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The Two-Way
7:45 am
Thu May 23, 2013

'We Will Never Give In To Terror,' Britain's Cameron Vows

Originally published on Thu May 23, 2013 1:38 pm

(Most recent update: 1:30 p.m. ET.)

One day after a British soldier was hacked to death on a busy southeast London street by two men who were heard claiming that they wanted to avenge the deaths of Muslims killed during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Prime Minister David Cameron declared Thursday that "we will never give in to terror or terrorism in any of its forms."

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The Two-Way
6:41 am
Thu May 23, 2013

Funerals Begin In Tornado-Ravaged Moore, Okla.

Credit Katie Hayes Luke / Katie Hayes Luke for NPR
Players, coaches and parents collected donations Wednesday in Oklahoma city for the Angle Family, who lost their daughter Sydney, and their home, in the tornado. Sydney was No. 35 on a softball team called 'Bring It'.

Originally published on Thu May 23, 2013 12:44 pm

Funerals began Thursday for the 24 people known to have been killed by the tornado that devastated Moore, Okla., on Monday.

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The Two-Way
1:24 pm
Wed May 22, 2013

Male Sergeant May Have Filmed Female Cadets At West Point

Credit Greg Mathieson / MAI /Landov
The U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.

A male sergeant at West Point has been accused of secretly videotaping at least a dozen female cadets, sometimes when they were showering, The New York Times reports.

Gen. John F. Campbell, the army's vice chief of staff, tells the Times that "once notified of the violation, a full investigation was launched, followed by swift action to correct the problem."

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The Two-Way
10:50 am
Wed May 22, 2013

'I Have Not Done Anything Wrong,' Says Key IRS Official

Credit Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
Internal Revenue Service Director of Exempt Organizations Lois Lerner as she was sworn in at a hearing held Wednesday by the House Committee On Oversight & Government Reform.

Originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 12:11 pm

"I have not done anything wrong. I have not broken any laws. I have not violated any IRS rules or regulations."

That was the word Wednesday morning from Lois Lerner, the Internal Revenue Service official at the center of the political storm over the agency's targeting of some conservative groups that were given extra scrutiny from 2010 into 2012.

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The Two-Way
9:48 am
Wed May 22, 2013

Man Killed By FBI In Florida Was Linked To Boston Suspect

Originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 11:50 am

In Orlando, Fla., early Wednesday "an FBI agent was involved in a deadly shooting connected to the Boston Marathon bombing case," NBC News is reporting. A man who was being questioned by the agent is dead. NPR's Dina Temple-Raston and Carrie Johnson have also confirmed the news.

Just how firm the man's alleged connection to the marathon case is, though, remains unclear.

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The Two-Way
8:33 am
Wed May 22, 2013

Eric Garcetti Wins L.A. Mayor's Race

Credit Lucy Nicholson / Reuters /Landov
Incoming Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti celebrated with supporters late Tuesday in Hollywood.

Originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 11:13 am

The next mayor of Los Angeles will be City Councilman Eric Garcetti.

In a race in which the two top contenders were both Democrats, the 42-year-old Garcetti has opened a 7- to 8-percentage-point lead over City Controller Wendy Greuel as Tuesday's votes are being counted.

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The Two-Way
8:03 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 8:49 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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