NPR 2012-04-25

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There’s no suspense⁴ in tonight’s results. These are the first primary contests since Rick Santorum ended his presidential campaign, clearing the way for Mitt Romney to take the nomination. Today voters will cast their ballots⁵ in Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Romney has spent a good amount of time campaigning in Pennsylvania over the last few weeks. That’s because it’s likely to be an important swing state in the general election. He’ll deliver a speech tonight in Manchester, New Hampshire, looking ahead to the contest against President Obama in the fall. New Hampshire is where Romney formally announced his presidential campaign. The state was also his first win during this year’s primary and caucus⁶ season. Ari Shapiro, NPR News.

 

President Obama may have been taking a campaign swipe at his likely Republican challenger Mitt Romney when he addressed students at the University of North Carolina Chapel⁷ Hill today. He told the crowd that he and the first lady totally related their struggles to pay off their federal student loans.

 

“Michelle and I, we’ve been in your shoes. I guess that we didn’t come from wealthy families. So we, when we graduated from college and law school, we had a mountain of debt. When we married, we got poor together.”

 

The president is urging Congress to extend the 2007 law that had slashed⁸ student loan interest rates to 3.4%. He says if the law expires this July, the rates will double.

 

James Murdoch, the former chairman of News International, has appeared before a British inquiry⁹ today to talk about how much he may have known about phone hacking¹⁰ on his watch of the now-defunct paper. Murdoch, son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, resigned as chairman in February. His father is scheduled to appear before the panel tomorrow.

 

The UN observers sent to monitor Syria’s ceasefire say they’re not fool. Members have said they’re aware that cities they visit go quiet, but once they leave, the violence resumes. A spokesman for envoy¹¹ Kofi Annan also said satellite imagery confirms Syria has not withdrawn¹² all of its heavy weapons from populated areas as promised.

 

Ford¹³ Motor Company is shutting its junk status for the first time since 2005. Fitch Ratings has restored Ford’s credit rating to investment grade. The spokesman says the automaker’s assets will be released as collateral¹⁴ once it gets a nod from a second ratings agency. Ford’s credit rating suffered when the company mortgaged its assets to borrow enough money to avoid bankruptcy¹⁵.

 

At last check on Wall Street, Dow was up 65 points; NASDAQ off 14. 

 

You’re listening to NPR News.

 

A report out today on home prices in the US shows it’s still a buyers’ market. NPR’s Dave Mattingly reports the latest Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index shows a six consecutive¹⁶ monthly decline in home prices.

 

The index tracks home prices in 20 major cities across the US. For the month of February, prices dropped in sixteen of them. The biggest declines were in Atlanta, Chicago and Cleveland. And compared to the same month last year, home prices went down in 15 cities. Sellers did catch a break in Miami, Phoenix¹⁷ and San Diego, cities where home prices rose during the month. 

 

NPR’s Dave Mattingly reporting.

 

The nation’s largest life insurer is making good on money it owes to beneficiaries. MetLife has agreed to pay nearly 500 million dollars in a settlement that, as NPR’s Giles Snyder explains, involves more than 30 states.

 

The states are working together in an investigation¹⁸ into insurance companies’ alleged¹⁹ misuse²⁰ of Social Security death record. Regulators say MetLife should have been more aggressive about tracking down beneficiaries. California is one of the lead states. John Chiang is a state controller. 

 

“If they were trying to aggressively do the right thing, they would have checked the Death Master File, identified those people who’re entitled to the insurance proceeds and returned the money earlier.” [虚拟语气,But-口误,对应上文的MetLife should have been more aggressive about tracking down beneficiaries]

 

Another state official says the MetLife settlement and earlier agreements with John Hancock and Prudential could force the hands of other companies. MetLife says it’s working with regulators, and that it will pay about 188 million dollars this year, but the remainder over the next 17 years. Giles Snyder, NPR News, Washington.

 

I’m Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.

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