Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

A record rebound for General Motors is at the top of NPR's business news.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

INSKEEP: Let's remember the carmaker almost collapsed two years ago and needed a government bailout. Today, GM announced it earned its largest profit ever in 2011.

Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum saw his income rise after he lost a Senate reelection bid in 2007.

According to records released to Politico late yesterday by the Santorum campaign, the former Pennsylvania senator earned $659,000 in 2007; $952,000 in 2008; $1.1 million in 2009 and $923,000 in 2010.

Lawyers have been back in court arguing over the authority of Missouri's governor to make budget cuts.

A House committee reviews a bill that gives Kansas an ultimatum.

Legislation has been filed in both the Missouri House and Senate to address the state’s Second Injury Fund, which provides payments to workers with prior disabilities who are injured on the job.  But the fund has been losing money for years.

The Missouri Senate has given first-round approval to legislation that would push back the filing period for the state’s August primaries by one month.

Regional news coverage from the KBIA News room, including:

Good morning!

Our early headlines:

-- Thai Police Say Iranian Bomb Suspects Targeted Israeli Diplomats

-- The Economy: Housing Starts Up; Unemployment Claims Decline

After days of accusations from Israel, Thai police confirmed that three Iranians suspected of setting off explosives in Bangkok were targeting Israeli diplomats.

Gen. Prewpan Dhamapong, Thailand's top policeman, said they "know for certain" the explosives were meant for Israeli diplomats.

The AP reports:

"'This issue was about individuals and the targets were specific,' he said. 'This was something personal.'"

Mitt Romney has worn his opposition to the Obama administration's bailout of GM and Chrysler into Michigan as a badge of honor in the lead up to the state's Republican presidential primary at the end of the month.

But that message may be a harder sell for him against the backdrop of GM reporting Thursday that it posted record profits in 2011 of $7.6 billion, 62 percent higher than the previous year's.