Crisis In The Housing Market
2:00 am
Wed June 27, 2012

Morale Takes A Hit At Beleaguered Fannie, Freddie

Originally published on Wed June 27, 2012 5:47 pm

The collapse of the housing market has led to plenty of finger-pointing in Washington. Two easy targets are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

These government-backed mortgage giants had to be rescued by taxpayers and now owe the government $188 billion. Still, Fannie and Freddie, which currently make the vast majority of home loans possible, are crucial to supporting the housing market right now.

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Remembrances
10:00 pm
Tue June 26, 2012

Ephron: From 'Silkwood' To 'Sally,' A Singular Voice

Credit Stephen Lovekin / Getty Images
Author and screenwriter Nora Ephron died Tuesday in New York. She was 71.

Originally published on Wed June 27, 2012 4:59 pm

Nora Ephron brought us two of the most indelible scenes in contemporary cinema — and they're startlingly different.

There's the infamous "Silkwood shower," from the 1983 movie, with Meryl Streep as a terrified worker at a nuclear power plant, being frantically scrubbed after exposure to radiation.

Then there's the scene in which Meg Ryan drives home a point to Billy Crystal at Katz's Deli, in 1989's When Harry Met Sally. You know — the one that ends with "I'll have what she's having."

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Sweetness And Light
9:03 pm
Tue June 26, 2012

The Man Who Painted Sport, Bright and Beautiful

Credit Kathy Willens / AP
Artist LeRoy Neiman, who died last week at 91, signs serigraphs of baseball's Mike Piazza (left) in 2000.

Originally published on Wed June 27, 2012 11:44 am

Framed in my library is a sketch that LeRoy Neiman dashed off of me on the back of a menu, when he was watching me speak several years ago. LeRoy, who died the other day, was somewhat better known for another sketch, the "nymphette" that has appeared in Playboy since 1955 — but, of course, he's ever famous for simply being our most celebrated sports artist.

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Remembrances
8:06 pm
Tue June 26, 2012

Nora Ephron, Filmmaker, Is Dead at 71

Originally published on Tue June 26, 2012 8:41 pm

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

The writer Nora Ephron has died. Over the course of six decades, she chronicled the lives of women in newsprint, in books, on the stage and on screen. She was 71 years old, and died of complications from a blood disorder. She's best known for romantic comedies such as "Sleepless in Seattle" and "When Harry Met Sally," but she also brought to the big screen Karen Silkwood and Julia Child.

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U.S.
6:27 pm
Tue June 26, 2012

Future Murky For Arizona's Immigration Law

As Arizona officials prepare to apply the one provision of the state's immigration law upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, some local authorities doubt they can properly enforce it.

"We will do our best to enforce the law. But we are in uncharted territory on this issue," Tucson Police Chief Roberto Villasenor said in a statement released by the Police Executive Research Forum, a nonprofit organization of police chiefs. The group says the law "will seriously undermine local law enforcement."

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Sports
6:18 pm
Tue June 26, 2012

BCS Presidents Approve Four-Team College Football Playoff

Originally published on Tue June 26, 2012 8:06 pm

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

At long last, big-time college football has a playoff, if you want to call four teams a playoff. Today, a committee of university presidents agreed to a system that replaces the current Bowl Championship Series beginning in 2014.

NPR's sports correspondent Tom Goldman joins me now. And, Tom, this is something that college football fans have wanted for years. President Obama has said he wants this championship game. What do you know about the deal?

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The Two-Way
5:56 pm
Tue June 26, 2012

'Guardian' Publishes More Allegations Of Collusion In Mexican Presidential Race

Credit John Moore / Getty Images
Student protesters stage a demonstration front of Mexico's Federal Election Commission on Tuesday in Mexico City.

Originally published on Tue June 26, 2012 6:01 pm

Two big pieces of news in Mexico's presidential race today:

-- A new poll finds that the PRI's Enrique Peña Nieto has maintained a big lead over his rivals Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Josefina Vázquez Mota. The election is this Sunday and a few polls before this one showed Obrador had narrowed the gap.

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The Two-Way
5:26 pm
Tue June 26, 2012

BCS Presidents Approve Four-Team College Football Playoff

Credit Gerald Herbert / AP
The Coaches' Trophy is displayed before the BCS National Championship game between the LSU and Alabama in New Orleans. College football will finally have a playoff.

Originally published on Tue June 26, 2012 5:40 pm

The college football champion will be decided by a playoff beginning after the 2014 season.

The AP reports:

"Come 2014, the BCS is dead. A committee of university presidents on Tuesday approved the BCS commissioners' plan for a four-team playoff to start in the 2014 season.

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Shots - Health Blog
4:47 pm
Tue June 26, 2012

Dementia Complicates Romance In Nursing Homes

Credit iStockphoto.com
Holding hands is the easy part.

Originally published on Thu June 28, 2012 7:45 am

Relationships are never easy.

If the partners in love happen to be living in a nursing home, there are even more challenges. And if they're showing signs of dementia, then things get really tricky.

Although no law forbids intimate relationships between people with dementia in nursing homes, staff and family members often discourage residents from expressing their sexuality, says a recent report in the Journal of Medical Ethics.

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Music
4:36 pm
Tue June 26, 2012

Third Time's The Charm: J-Lo And Pitbull 'Dance Again'

Credit Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images
Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull perform onstage at the 2011 American Music Awards in Los Angeles.

Originally published on Thu June 28, 2012 11:34 am

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