NPR 2011-10-20

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For the past two years, stagnant² inflation meant no increase, the first time that's happened since automatic cost of living adjustments began. Advocates for seniors welcome this latest 3.6% raise but say it's not enough to keep up with rising health costs, those increased by double digits³ in recent years, and the administration expects to announce another rise in Medicare premiums⁴ next week. The amount of wages subject to social security taxes will also go up by several thousand dollars but will affect only a small share of workers. Jennifer Ludden, NPR News, Washington.

 

It's welcome news to many recipients⁵ who've seen their savings⁶ dwindle⁷ and out-of-pocket medical expenses rise in recent years. Irene Zisblatt lives in Pembroke Pines, Florida, where she says she's had to pinch every penny of her fixed⁸ income.

 

"I cut out a lot of step that I did before. I don't go, I don't go out too much so I don't have to get gas."

 

Just as well because the price of gas has gone up, so has the cost of food, consumers are still cautious about spending. But a Federal Reserve survey out today reveals consumer spending actually edged up in most parts of the country.

 

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is making a previously⁹ unannounced visit to Afghanistan. NPR's Jackie Northam is traveling with the secretary.

 

Secretary Clinton was due to have a working dinner with Afghan President Hamid Karzai shortly after her arrival, but scheduling problems forced her to push that meeting back until lunch Thursday. Senior US officials say the two will discuss strategic relations between the US and Afghanistan and possible peace negotiations¹⁰ which are critical to helping¹¹ end the conflict here. Those talks took a severe hit after Karzai's peace envoy¹². Burhanuddin Rabbani was killed last month by a member of the Taliban posing as a reconciliation¹³ envoy. US officials say Karzai and Clinton will also discuss relations with Pakistan, which is having an increasingly tense relationship with both the US and Afghanistan. Jackie Northam, NPR News, Kabul.

 

President Obama and the first lady have been spending today in Virginia touting¹⁴ parts of the White House's jobs plan, especially pledges of putting more veterans and military spouses¹⁵ back to work. It was a final leg of a three-day tour that also included North Carolina. Now President Obama may be the commander in chief, but apparently¹⁶ all bets are off in a pumpkin¹⁷ patch.

 

"We are gonna have these in the front of the White House, these two white ones. That's what the first lady just decided¹⁸, and I do what she says."

 

The first couple also picked up peanuts and apples before a grabbing lunch in Virginia.

 

Before the close, the Dow was down 70 points.

 

This is NPR.

 

The FDA has identified a series of problems at the Colorado cantaloupe farm linked to the deadly listeria outbreak. NPR's Allison Aubrey reports that used equipment and pools of water on the floor likely harbor and spread bacteria to the fruit.

 

Investigators¹⁹ found positive listeria samples on used, hard-to-clean packing equipment at Jensen Farms, and they say this likely offered the virulent²⁰ strains of bacteria lots of spots to hide and multiply. The outbreak, which was the deadliest in decades, sickened 123 people, including a pregnant woman who miscarried. FDA Commissioner²¹ Margaret Hamburg says moving forward prevention must be the cornerstone of food safety.

 

"Well, we know that many in the industry are taking stringent²² food safety measures. We need to make certain that all in the industry know what is expected of them."

 

Hamburg says Jensen Farms has agreed to correct all of the concerns noted²³ during the FDA inspections²⁴. Allison Aubrey, NPR News, Washington.

 

Investigators with the National Weather Service were expected in South Florida's Broward County today to assess damage from what was believed to be a tornado²⁵. The storm tore through Plantation²⁶ and Sunrise yesterday and left behind a two-mile-long trail of debris²⁷. Witnesses say a twister plowed²⁸ through vehicles and dozens of homes. Several trailers have been destroyed, but there were no immediate²⁹ reports of serious injuries. 

 

All copies of Eugene O'Neill's recently discovered one-act play “Exorcism” are now the property of a library at Yale University. The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library is not saying how much it paid. O'Neill's manuscript was long assumed lost until a researcher stumbled upon it earlier this year.

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