Ongoing Coverage:
The Two-Way
3:05 pm
Mon December 12, 2011

'Tebowing' Is So Hot It's Now A Word

He's the hottest topic in sports and now Denver Broncos quarterback is a word, kind of.

The online Global Language Monitor, which professes to track what's hot in the world of words, announced today that is has declared "tebowing, the act of 'taking a knee' in prayerful reflection" during an athletic activity is now "an English language word."

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Shots - Health Blog
2:55 pm
Mon December 12, 2011

Care For Earliest Preemies Improves, But Low Birth Weight Remains Risky

It's the kind of news that parents of a premature baby would grasp at: One of the world's smallest preemies, born weighing a mere 9.8 ounces, is now a 22-year-old college student who's living a normal life.

But doctors who deal with low birth weight babies say parents shouldn't think that sort of bright future is assured.

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Law
2:49 pm
Mon December 12, 2011

High Court To Wade Into Immigration Debate

Credit Joshua Lott / Reuters /Landov
A U.S. Border Patrol agent patrols along the U.S.-Mexico border in Naco, Ariz., in September. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a legal challenge to Arizona's tough new law on illegal immigration.

Originally published on Mon December 12, 2011 5:33 pm

The United States Supreme Court added another red-hot rocket to its docket on Monday, all but ensuring that it will resolve a major immigration case just weeks before the major parties hold their conventions next summer.

The court agreed to hear a challenge to a controversial Arizona law that targets people suspected of being illegal immigrants. This is a setback for the Obama administration, which had urged the justices to wait for the lower courts to thoroughly examine the constitutionality of the issues in the case.

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Around the Nation
2:31 pm
Mon December 12, 2011

Two Make It Through Five Layoffs In Five Years

Credit Jeffrey Thompson / Minnesota Public Radio
Michelle and Al Ford relax at their home in St. Paul, Minn., before heading to work. The Fords suffered a combination of five layoffs in five years — including a time they each received a pink slip on the same day. Now they're happy to be working again.

Over the course of the recession, 7.5 million Americans lost their jobs, and some of them were unfortunate enough to collect more than one pink slip. Serial layoffs can be personally devastating, but they can also darken a resume and raise concerns for potential employers.

Al and Michelle Ford of St. Paul, Minn., know about multiple layoffs all too well. Their version of the Great Recession started about a year before the official one was declared.

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World
2:00 pm
Mon December 12, 2011

The Core Of The Russian Protests: The Middle Class

Large protests over the weekend in many Russian cities marked discontent with the results of the recent elections there. Melissa Block talks with one of those demonstrators — a 29-year-old real estate lawyer named Dmitry Raev. This was his first time taking part in a demonstration. Raev points out that the middle class — lawyers, scientists and other professionals — seem to be driving the protests. He says these are people who have something to lose, and yet they are turning out in droves to express their long-held frustration with the political system.

NPR Story
2:00 pm
Mon December 12, 2011

Perito: PRTs In Iraq Improved Over Time

Melissa Block speaks with Robert Perito, the director of the Security Sector Governance Center at the U.S. Institute of Peace, about the effectiveness of Provincial Reconstruction Teams, or PRTs, in Iraq over the years. Perito says the teams had a lot of problems from the beginning, but they got better with time.

NPR Story
2:00 pm
Mon December 12, 2011

Britain Conflicted Over E.U. Treaty

There's trouble brewing within Britain's ruling coalition after Prime Minister David Cameron's veto of changes to an E.U. treaty to save the euro and the eurozone. Liberal Democratic Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said he was "bitterly disappointed" by the veto. Parliament debated the move — and Britain's place within Europe — Monday.

The Salt
2:00 pm
Mon December 12, 2011

Safety Concerns Linger Around Genetically Modified Salmon

This just in: After 15 years of deliberation, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has yet to decide whether it will approve a genetically modified salmon for human consumption.

Now there's a catchy lead. But the truth is, the long-running regulatory saga of AquaBounty's application to sell salmon with a growth hormone gene from one fish plus an antifreeze gene from another — which help it grow twice as fast as typical farmed salmon — does not seem headed toward a conclusion.

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The Two-Way
1:59 pm
Mon December 12, 2011

New Jersey Nets' Owner Announces Run For Russian Presidency

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's bid to return to his nation's presidency, an office he held from 2000 to 2008, picked up a surprise challenger Monday when Mikhail Prokhorov publicly declared his intention to run for the office, too.

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World
12:00 pm
Mon December 12, 2011

Megacities: Scars On The Earth, Or Keys To Growth?

Critics have long derided the world's biggest cities as disorderly, overcrowded and polluted. But in recent years, as the planet's population continues to rise past seven billion and more and more people flock to urban areas, some now argue that cities may hold the key to sustainable growth.

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