美国国家电台 NPR 2012-09-21

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I have never wavered in my support of comprehensive immigration reform. We did put forward a Dream Act that was passed in the house, got the overwhelming majority of support from Democrats¹ in the Senate and was blocked by the Republican party. 

 

Republican presidential candidate Mitt² Romney is speaking in Sarasota. He is dealing³ with the fallout over recent remarks that were captured on video in which he said his job is not to worry about the 47% Americans who don't pay taxes.

 

The Obama Administration has tried to distant itself from the anti-Islam video that sparked outrage⁴ around the world. And now the US is paying to get its messages out. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.

 

TV viewers in Pakistan have been shown clips of President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemning⁵ the video. There were comments the two made in news conferences here in Washington. But the U.S. government had to pay to get those advertisements on Pakistani television. A State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland explains.

 

I think the sense was that this particular aspect of the president and the secretary's message needed to be heard by more Pakistanis than had heard and this was an effective way to get that message out. 

 

She says the U.S. embassy in Pakistan spent about 70,000 dollars on the ads. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.

 

A Texas judge has stopped state officials from ordering purges⁷ of the voter rolls. The state was attempting to purge⁶ the rolls of dead voters. From Dallas, NPR's Wade⁸ Goodwyn reports. 

 

Using a death list from the Social Security Administration. The Texas secretary of state sent out a list of 80,000 Texas voters who were to be considered dead. Social Security warned Texas that it shouldn't be relied upon for purging⁹ its rolls of voters, but the state ignored that caution. Tens of thousands of mostly elderly Texas voters got letters notifying them the state considered them dead. They had 30 days to respond or they would be removed from the voter rolls. Last night, Texas' state judge Tim Sulak responded to a lawsuit¹⁰ by four annoyed not dead Texas voters, by issuing a temporary injunction restraining the secretary of state. Texas has attempted to implement¹¹ restrict of voter ID Law, was blocked by a federal court last month. Wade Goodwyn, NPR News, Dallas. 

 

Senate Republicans are blocking legislation that would put veterans back to work. Lawmakers say the one-billion-dollar jobs program would violate spending limits that Congress agreed to last year.

 

At last check on Wall Street, the Dow was up 19 points at 13,597. 

 

This is NPR.

 

Members of an Amish breakaway group in Ohio have been found guilty of hate crimes by carrying out beard and haircutting attacks against fellow Amish in a dispute over religious differences. The jury today also found their leader guilty of planning the attacks last fall in eastern Ohio. He and his family members were among 16 people who have been on trial in Cleveland. They are all facing possible prison terms of ten years or more. 

 

The New York Public Library has revised its plan to remove millions of books from its flagship branch in Manhattan to an offsite storage facility. As NPR's Jill Rose reports the library responded to public criticism of the plan.

 

Officials at the New York Public Library wanted to move more than 4 million books from 5th Avenue to a storage facility in New Jersey¹². But scholars and others who use the library famous reference room said that would diminish their access to the collection. So library officials decided¹³ to shift their renovation¹⁴ plans. They will still turn the Beaux-Arts  building on 5 Avenue into a circulating library and close to other libraries in Midtown Manhattan. But they also announced a private donation that will allow them to keep more than 3 million books onsite for researchers to use. Jill Rose. NPR News, New York. 

 

Space shuttle Endeavour has flown over Tucson, Arizona on its trip west to retirement¹⁵ in a Los Angeles museum. Endeavour did a partial loop over the city to honor former Congresswoman  Gabrielle Giffords before it continued its journey. The retired¹⁶ shuttle departed Huston earlier in the day after a one-day stop at the home of NASA's Mission Control.

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