NPR 2009-02-06

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Supreme¹ Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is hospitalized today after undergoing cancer surgery in New York. The 75-year-old Justice had surgery in New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center after a routine exam and follow-up turned up a small tumor². NPR's Nina Totenberg says at this point it's not clear what this means for the composition of the court.

Justice Ginsburg has given no indication of any plans to retire. All we know is that she's had surgery for pancreatic cancer which is a very deadly form of cancer. But that hers was caught extremely early giving her an increased chance of survival. But it is bound to increase speculation³ as well about a possible retirement⁴.

Currently the only woman on the Supreme Court, Ginsburg was appointed by President Clinton in 1993 and has often been a crucial swing vote. The liberal-leaning Justice is expected to remain in the hospital for at least a week.

Another Obama administration nomination⁵ appears to be on hold for the moment. Once again it's reportedly over tax troubles. US Senate Committee today abruptly⁶ postponed⁷ the vote confirming Hilda Solis, the administration's choice as Labor⁸ Secretary. A followed publisher reports Solis's husband paid 6, 400 dollars this week to settle tax liens⁹ that had been outstanding for some 16 years against his business. It's not clear whether that will derail the nomination.

President Obama continued the Presidential tradition today in appearance at the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. NPR's Don Gonyea reports from the White House.

The multi-denominational gathering¹⁰, the president spoke¹¹ of his own Christian¹² faith while also noting that his late father was born a Muslim and later turned atheist¹³, then that his late mother was skeptical¹⁴ of organized religion. He noted¹⁵ that he became a Christian as a young man drawn¹⁶ to the good work he saw the church doing. He noted that faith is too often used to divide people around the world. "No matter what we choose to believe, let us remember that there is no religion whose central tenet is hate. There is no God who condones¹⁷ taking the life of an innocent human being. " Also today the President said he's continuing a program begun by President Bush, the White House Office of faith-based initiatives. Don Gonyea NPR News, the White House.

Labor Department reports today new claims for unemployment benefits rose by 35, 000 last week to a seasonally¹⁸ adjusted 626, 000. That's the highest weekly unemployment number since 1982. Robert Brusca is the chief economist¹⁹ at Fact and Opinion Economics, he says these are high numbers and the question now is how much higher they'll go. "You tend to get a spike²⁰ high in claims in the recession and then you tend to improve from that, and so I think you must be pretty near to our spike high. " Government tomorrow will release the unemployment numbers for January. Most analysts²¹ expect the monthly number will also show large numbers of jobs loss.

Despite the dismal²² unemployment figures, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 106 points today, closing at 8, 062. The NASDAQ gained 31 points.

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Cereal and snack maker²³ Kellogg says the recall of its products linked directly or indirectly²⁴ to a nationwide salmonella scare is likely to cost the company between 65 and 70 million dollars. Kellogg and a number of other companies have been forced to recall products that contain peanut ingredients found in Georgia-Based Peanut Corp. of America. Peanut paste made by the company has been linked to a nationwide salmonella outbreak. It has killed at least eight people and sickened more than 500 others. Kellogg was forced to recall a number of its snack crackers²⁵. The company also pulled some cookies and protein bars from store shelves were made on a manufacturing line where contaminated ingredients may have been present.

Before Iraqi officials release preliminary results from the country's provincial²⁶ elections, a suicide bomber²⁷ killed at least 15 people and wounded a dozen others in a town north of Baghdad. NPR's Cory Flintoff reports from Baghdad.

The attack came at a popular restaurant in the town of Khanaqin which has a large Kurdish population. The town which is only about 90 miles from Baghdad is in an area that's contested by Arabs and Kurds who have been accused of trying to expand their semi-autonomous region in Iraq's north. Iraqi police and US military sources say most of the victims were Kurds. An official with a local chapter of a Kurdish political party blamed Arab political groups for the attack, saying it was designed to intimidate²⁸ the Kurds who came in second in the Diyala provincial election. During the vote, hundreds of Kurds charged that they were illegally purged²⁹ from voter registration³⁰ lists. Cory Flintoff, NPR News, Baghdad.

Crude Oil futures³¹ prices moved higher today. The near-month contract for benchmark crude was up 85 cents a barrel ending the session at $41. 17 a barrel in the New York Mercantile Exchange.