NPR 2008-06-17

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Rain-soaked residents of the Midwest experiencing some of the worst flooding there in 15 years are getting little relief. In the town of Cedar¹ Rapids, Iowa, people have been out of their homes, in some cases, since last week, after the Cedar River overflowed² its banks. Mike Newcomb says he wants to return home but also says in some ways, he feels fortunate.  "What can I do, I mean, I am powerless over doing any of this right now. So, you represent yourself, it could have been worse, you know, you could have been injured."

Downstream in Iowa City, Iowa, things are a bit better while some 400 homes there have suffered damage and a number of buildings on University of Iowa campus were flooded. The town's levees appear to be holding. NPR's Martin Kaste is there and reports on the conditions.

Right now, you can't even get off via aiding into town on one of the main exits. Because of that, basically, we just belch³ a street into a big lake. So, it's hard to get around town right now, you probably get some traffic in the background, that is why the cars waited to get across the Burlington Street Bridge, it's one of the few bridges still open right now. So, there are obstacles, there is standing⁴ water and people have to, sort of, pick their way around the city very carefully right now. NPR's Martin Kaste. The flooding in the Midwest has been blamed for a number of deaths and caused millions of dollars in damage to homes and crops. In some areas, floodwaters have also created a noxious⁵ stew⁶ of farm chemicals and sewage.

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama says he is expecting to visit Afghanistan and Iraq before the election. He spoke⁷ by phone with Iraq's foreign minister. As NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari says Obama reassured⁸ him in their phone conversation that there wouldn't be, as the Iraqi official put it, reckless decisions to pull out US troops. "We agreed that the main challenge is to continue this progress of buildup of the Iraqi security forces to be self-sufficent, and this really would mean that there would be less reliance on US troops or forces when they come, come home." He told NPR that he updated Obama on the negotiations⁹ over the future US presence in Iraq. Zebari also met with Republican John McCain, who again criticized Obama's talk about the need for a time-table for withdrawal¹⁰. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.

Presidential hopeful John McCain again called for an end to a federal moratorium¹¹ on offshore¹² oil and gas drilling as a means to bring down energy prices. Speaking in Arlington, McCain said that states should be given incentives¹³ including a greater share of the royalties¹⁴ paid by companies if they agree to open their waters to drilling. " There are areas off our coasts, that, that should be open to exploration and exploitation, and I hope we can take the first step by lifting a moratorium in order to do so." Presumptive Republican nominee¹⁵ John McCain.

 On Wall Street, the Dow was down 38 points.

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Investment bank Lehman Brothers today revealed a quarterly loss number that was pretty much in line with analysts¹⁶' estimates. The nation's fourth largest investment bank says for its latest quarter, it lost 2. 8 billion dollars, primarily as a result of massive losses on its trading and hedging positions. Lehman says for the quarter ending May 31th, it lost $5. 14 a share, that's compared with net income of 1. 27 billion dollars, the same period a year ago.

Four-time Academy Award winner Stan Winston has died, Winston was the special effects pioneer behind such cinematic spectacles as "Jurassic Park", "Aliens" and "The Terminator". He succumbed¹⁷ to cancer, he was 62 years old. NPR's Nay¹⁸ Demail has more.

Stan Winston is being remembered today as a legend who created legends: The dinosaurs¹⁹ in "Jurassic Park", the aliens in "Aliens", the terminator in "The Terminator", the predator²⁰ in "The Predator", Edwards Scissorhands in that movie. All were brought from the script to the screen by Winston. The Virginia native arrived in California in the late 60s with dreams of making him as an actor. However, it was a makeup²¹ apprenticeship²² at Walt Disney Studios that launched his Hollywood career. By the early 70s, he had started his own makeup and effects company. Television gigs led to Emmy nominations²³ which led to film gigs and to ten Oscar nominations. Winston won four of them. He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma seven years ago, but kept creating until very near the end. The costume for Iron Man, this summer's blockbuster, is a Stan Winston design. Nay Demail, NPR News.

It went into a sudden death, but Tiger Woods pulled out a victory today at the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, Woods defeated Rocco Mediate²⁴ after making birdie on the final hole to push the tournament into sudden death. It was Woods' third US Open victory.