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Economy
2:46 pm
Fri March 29, 2013

As Housing Industry Builds Up, Other Sectors Follow

Credit Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images
Home Depot is hiring 80,000 employees for its spring season. As the housing market picks up, other industry sectors — like gardening, construction and furniture — move upward, too.

Originally published on Fri March 29, 2013 9:31 pm

When fortunes rise in the housing industry — as they currently are — it tends to lift sales for other businesses, too. Home construction, sales and prices are all improving. And according to many analysts, the market is gaining steam.

For nearly two decades, Scott Gillis has owned his own moving company, Great Scott Moving in Hyattsville, Md. Moving high season is just around the corner, which means Gillis is hiring.

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The Two-Way
2:31 pm
Fri March 29, 2013

UPS Agrees To Forfeit $40 Million In Payments From Illegal Online Pharmacies

Credit Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
A UPS truck drives along Grant Street on in San Francisco, California.

Originally published on Fri March 29, 2013 2:32 pm

United Parcel Post has agreed to forfeit $40 million it made in payments from pharmacies that shipped controlled substances to Americans without valid prescriptions.

Reuters reports:

"The company also agreed to put a compliance program into place to prevent illegal online pharmacies from distributing drugs through its shipping services in the future, authorities said.

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Africa
2:24 pm
Fri March 29, 2013

Western Money, African Boots: A Formula For Africa's Conflicts

Originally published on Fri March 29, 2013 5:55 pm

For the past six years in Somalia, Western countries have been putting up the cash and African nations have been supplying the soldiers, a formula that has pushed back al-Qaida-linked militants and allowed Somalia to elect it's first democratic government in 20 years.

"We can fix our problems in Africa," says Brig. Michael Ondoga, a contingent commander with the African Union Mission in Somalia or AMISOM. "All we need is your support."

It's not at all hard to see why this plan is so agreeable to the American government.

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The Two-Way
1:24 pm
Fri March 29, 2013

New Federal Scrutiny In Wake Of NPR Grain Bin Reports

Credit John W. Poole / NPR
Will Piper and Annette Pacas visit the grave of Annette's son, Alex, at Oak Hill Cemetery in Mount Carroll, Ill. Piper says he hopes to raise money to replace the makeshift, plastic marker with a permanent gravestone.

Congress, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Justice Department are beginning to respond to the NPR-Center for Public Integrity Series on hundreds of persistent and preventable deaths in grain storage bins and weak enforcement by federal agencies.

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The Two-Way
1:15 pm
Fri March 29, 2013

U.S. Navy Funding Development Of Giant Jellyfish Robot

Originally published on Fri March 29, 2013 2:09 pm

We've already seen drones shaped like various animals, including humming birds and dogs. Next is one made to look (and swim) like a jellyfish.

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The Two-Way
12:46 pm
Fri March 29, 2013

Illinois Man Charged With Stealing 42,000 Pounds Of Muenster Cheese

Originally published on Fri March 29, 2013 9:38 pm

Seems cheese crime is booming: Today we get news that an Illinois man is being charged with trying to steal 42,000 pounds of Muenster cheese from a Wisconsin creamery. Last year we had news of the "mozzarella mafia," which was smuggling American cheese into Canada and selling it for a third of the price.

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The Two-Way
12:34 pm
Fri March 29, 2013

Christians Trace The Steps Of Jesus As They Mark Good Friday

Credit Muhammed Muheisen / AP
A worshipper prays during Good Friday Mass in Islamabad, Pakistan.

It's Good Friday, one of the holiest days of the Christian year, when tradition holds that Jesus was crucified and died.

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The Two-Way
12:23 pm
Fri March 29, 2013

New Gas Rules Aim To Clean Up Car Emissions

Credit David Paul Morris / Getty Images
The new rules' would reduce harmful emissions, the EPA says.
  • NPR's Richard Harris reports

Calling them "sensible standards for cars and gasoline that will significantly reduce harmful pollution, prevent thousands of premature deaths and illnesses [and lead to] efficiency improvements in the cars and trucks we drive," the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday proposed national rules to reduce the amount of sulfur in gasoline.

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It's All Politics
10:43 am
Fri March 29, 2013

Boehner Blasts Veteran GOP Lawmaker For 'Wetbacks' Comment

Credit Charles Dharapak / AP
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, left, performs a mock swearing in for Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, on Jan. 3, as the 113th Congress began. On Friday, Boehner condemned Young, the second most senior Republican in the House, for using the term "wetbacks," which Boehner called "offensive and beneath the dignity of the office he holds."

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, on Friday condemned the use of the term "wetbacks" by Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, one of the party's most senior members of Congress.

Young's statement, his quick apology, and Boehner's statement that the remark was "beneath the dignity of the office he holds," come at a particularly sensitive time for the Republican Party in its relationship with Hispanic voters.

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Middle East
10:30 am
Fri March 29, 2013

Refugees Creating 'Instant Cities' Across Syrian Borders

Originally published on Fri March 29, 2013 10:39 am

Transcript

CELESTE HEADLEE, HOST:

This is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. I'm Celeste Headlee. Michel Martin is away. Coming up, Passover is in full swing and Easter is just days away. And Pati Jinich joins us. She'll tell you how to put a Mexican touch on your holiday feast. But first we turn to Syria. Reports out of the Middle East say rebels have captured a key strategic town near the Jordanian border, but while the fighting continues into its third year, more and more Syrians are trying to flee the country.

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