NPR 2012-04-26

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Obama administration’s Solicitor⁴ General Donald Verrilli argued that allowing Arizona to require police to verify a suspect immigration status would interfere⁵ with federal immigration enforcement. At one point though, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, an Obama appointee, told Verrilli “you can see it’s not selling very well.” The justices were not as clear about other blocked provisions of Arizona’s law, including one making it a crime for immigrants to not have registration⁶ papers on them. A Supreme Court ruling is expected in June. Ted Robbins, NPR News.

 

The head of Homeland Security is denouncing as inexcusable the recent prostitution scandal involving Secret Service agents ahead of President Obama’s trip to Columbia. In her Capitol Hill appearance today, Janet Napolitano said eight agents have lost their jobs, one other could be soon out end. Three have been cleared of serious misconduct. Napolitano says she was assured that the president’s security was never at risk.

 

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has decided⁷ to end his run for the White House one day after Mitt⁸ Romney swept five primaries and was dubbed⁹ the presumptive nominee¹⁰ by the chairman of the Republican National Committee. As NPR’s Arnie Seipel reports, Gingrich will drop out next week.

 

A source close to the Gingrich campaign confirms to NPR that the former House speaker will suspend his campaign on Tuesday in Washington DC. Gingrich’s spokesman says his candidate talked with Mitt Romney and Gingrich told Romney he’ll endorse¹¹ him next week. Gingrich had been focusing his efforts on Delaware in recent weeks. He placed a distant second to Romney in the Delaware primary. His best showing in five contests held on Tuesday. Gingrich’s only victory this primary season came in South Carolina and his home state of Georgia. The formal announcement will reportedly not come until next week. So the candidate’s family and staff can be present. Arnie Seipel, NPR News, Washington.

 

Connecticut’s doing away with the death penalty. The governor signed a law today, joining 16 other states in abolishing capital punishment.

 

The Federal Reserve is keeping a key short-term interest rate near-record lows for at least a couple more years, which means it’ll remain cheap for Americans to take out loans. In notes released today, the Fed said the US economy continues to grow moderately with slight improvement in the job market.

 

Before the close on Wall Street, Dow Jones Industrial Average up 89 points at 13,091; NASDAQ gaining 68 points up more than 2% at 3,030; S&P 500 up 19. 

 

This is NPR News.

 

Parts of the Syrian city of Hama are reported to be under a military siege. Yet again activists¹² say there have been dozens more causalities today, reaffirming skepticism that a UN-backed ceasefire will ever fully¹³ kick in. Meanwhile, conditions in refugee camps appear to be getting more difficult. NPR’s Peter Kenyon is in Killis on the border with Turkey.

 

Syrians inside the camps are getting frustrated¹⁴ because it’s harder for them to move, and the smugglers are getting frustrated because it’s getting harder for them even to get across into Syria with equipment and gear. I’m not talking about weapons here. There are still efforts at other border-crossings to smuggle¹⁵ weapons in small amounts, but mainly it’s medical and food and communications equipment that these smugglers are dealing¹⁶ with. 

 

NPR’s Peter Kenyon reporting.

 

The share of mixed race in inter-ethnic married couples grew 28% over the past decade. NPR’s Jennifer Ludden reports on the latest census¹⁷ figures on America’s households and families.

 

Ten percent of all married couples in the US are now of two races or ethnicities, and the share’s even greater among same-sex couples and unmarried partners. Couples living together are increasingly common. The census finds a 41% jump between 2000 and 2010. The census defines families as those related by marriage, birth or adoption¹⁸, and they still make up most households by far, but the census shows non-family households grew twice as fast. Many are people living alone, a group that accounts for nearly half of all households in Washington DC and Atlanta. Jennifer Ludden, NPR News, Washington.

 

I’m Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.

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