NPR 2011-01-14

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Doctors in Tucson say Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is opening her eyes for 10 to 15 minutes at a time, and they say her progress has been exceptional. NPR's Jeff Brady says doctors hope to remove her breathing tube in coming days.

Concern over brain swelling¹ is starting to pass, and Dr. Michael Lemole says medical staff are setting Giffords up in bed and dangling² her feet over the side.

"When people are dangling, we're also able to assess the strength in their legs much more readily, and I will say that she is able to move both those legs to command. That's huge."

Lemole says doctors are still concerned about problems like blood clots³ and pneumonia⁴ that can affect anyone in an intensive care unit. Lemole says it's still not clear what Giffords' recovery will look like eventually. He says people who progress at her rate could end up anywhere along a broad range of possibilities from needing help around the home to being out in the world and functional⁵. Jeff Brady, NPR News, Tucson

Funeral services for the youngest victim of this past weekend's shootings were held in Tucson today. Mourners gathered to say goodbye to nine-year-old Christina Taylor Green, who along with five others was killed when the suspected gunman opened fire outside a shopping center Saturday. Those who attended the service for the little girl say her father talked about places the family had lived and traveled to. A 9/11 flag was displayed at the funeral. Christina was born on that day.

The Food and Drug Administration now says it will limit the amount of acetaminophen that manufacturers can add to prescription⁶ painkillers⁷ like Vicodin and Percocet. The agency says it's taking action because acetaminophen has been linked to liver damage. FDA Deputy Director of the Office of New Drugs Dr. Sandra Kweder says the problem mainly occurs in the painkilling⁸ drugs combined with the second drug containing the key ingredient like Tylenol.

"The risk of liver injury primarily occurs when patients take more than one product containing acetaminophen at a time, and they exceed the current maximum dose."

Under the new FDA guidelines, the painkilling drugs would have the amount of acetaminophen they contain capped at 325 milligrams.

Government has offered a mixed bag of economic reports today. NPR's Giles Snyder reports inflation appears to be tamed and the trade gap is narrowing.

Exports help narrow the trade deficit⁹. The Commerce Department says exports climbed to their highest level in more than two years in November. The deficit shrunk to just over $38 billion, helped by a weaker dollar and rising demand for American products overseas. Back home, though, food and energy got more expensive last month. The Labor¹⁰ Department says wholesale¹¹ prices were up more than 1%. But costs of food and energy are volatile¹² when they are not taken into account. Inflation rose just 0.2%. Giles Snyder, NPR News, Washington.
Mixed economic news weighed on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 23 points today to end the session at 11,731; the NASDAQ lost two points; the S&P 500 also closed down two points today.

You're listening to NPR News in Washington.

The sound of shouting in Brazil, where onlookers¹³ were yelling in Portuguese¹⁴ to a woman who had to jump across rising floodwaters to reach a rescue rope. What is being billed as Brazil's deadliest natural disaster in decades. Nearly 500 people are reported dead with others still unaccounted for. Torrents¹⁵ of mud and water caused by heavy rain there have left a path of destruction in the country's mountainous Serrana region. Officials expect the death toll¹⁶ will climb since some people remain buried beneath debris¹⁷ with rescuers unable to reach them.

The John F. Kennedy Libery in the National Archives announced today the nation's largest online digitized presidential archive. NPR's Brian Naylor has that story

The online archive contains the famous, such as the president's inaugural¹⁸ speech delivered 50 years ago.

"Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country."

And the obscure, such as this recording¹⁹ of Mr. Kennedy greeting a group of labor leaders in the Rose Garden in 1963.

"And I can imagine that no work group of Americans who should feel more of pride and satisfaction and walking around the White House and standing²⁰ on my grass which has just been planted."

The digital archive took four years to scan and put online. It includes over 200,000 pages of speeches and notes, hundreds of reels of audio tape and over 1,000 recorded phone conversations. It's accessible at jfklibrary.org. Brian Naylor, NPR News, Washington.

Crude oil futures²¹ prices ended the session lower today, the price of crude dropping $0.46 a barrel to close at 90.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

I'm Jack²² Speer, NPR News in Washington.