NPR 2009-11-22

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From NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh.

Senate Democrats¹ appear to have the 60 votes they'll need tonight to send the health care overhaul² bill to the floor for debate. The final holdout, Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, says she may not support the Democratic written plan in its current form, but it deserves to be heard. "I have concluded that I believe it is more important that we begin this debate to improve our nation's health care system for all Americans rather than just simply drop the issue and walk away." The Republican minority leader Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell warns that anyone who helps move the bill along will have a lot of explaining to do. "Every senator who goes on record saying that we need to proceed to this monstrosity of a bill will in effect be voting for higher taxes, higher premiums³ and cuts in medicare." The procedural vote is scheduled for 8 pm, Eastern.

A panel of South Carolina lawmakers will meet next week to consider impeaching⁴ Governor Mark Sanford. Sanford was accused of neglecting his duties when he snuck out of the state for a South America trip to meet his mistress. NPR's Adam Hochberg reports from North Charleston.
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A judiciary subcommittee in the State House of Representatives would be the first stop for a proposed impeachment⁵ resolution. The seven-member panel was scheduled to start meeting Tuesday. And the full legislature could consider impeachment early next year. Sanford is under scrutiny⁶ both for secretly leaving the state in June and for a number of alleged⁷ violations⁸ of state travel policy. Sanford has said he'll fight to stay in office, but he has few allies even among his fellow Republicans who control the legislature. Adam Hochberg, NPR News, North Charleston, Carolina.

European scientists are celebrating today after what they say was a hugely successful restart for the Large Hadron Collider or the LHC near the Swiss-French border. Scientists think the protons circulating machine will help them better understand the origins of the universe. The BBC's Pallab Ghosh reports from Geneva.

After the euphoria of last night was the euphoria of the morning debrief⁹. Scientists here could scarcely believe their ears when they heard that the LHC had accelerated subatomic particles hundreds of thousands of times overnight and in both directions. According to one of the directors of the LHC Dr. Steve Myers, the particle accelerated has done more in a few short hours than it did in nine days last year before it broke down. "We thought we would do this work in three, four, maybe five days and we actually finished it by five hours. "
The LHC's operating team believes that they might have the first low-energy collision by next week and high-energy's early next year.
The BBC's Pallab Ghosh.

Astronauts conducted their second spacewalk of the Atlantis mission today outside the International Space Station. One more spacewalk is scheduled.

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Farmers from all over Spain protested in the center of Madrid over low prices for their products. They demanded extra subsidies¹⁰ to help them cope with the economic crisis.