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Election 2012
2:30 am
Tue April 24, 2012

Romney Keeps Hand Hidden On Running Mate Pick

Credit Jae C. Hong / AP
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, joined by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., talks to reporters during a news conference in Aston, Pa., on Monday. Rubio is frequently mentioned as a potential running mate for Romney.

Originally published on Tue April 24, 2012 5:19 pm

Ahead of Pennsylvania's primary Tuesday, the likely Republican presidential nominee has been campaigning in the state with a man at the center of running-mate speculation — Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. But Mitt Romney hasn't said much about whom he might name as his vice presidential choice.

Romney has said he appointed a longtime aide to handle the process and that he hasn't yet discussed making a list of potential candidates. But just about everyone else in politics is discussing it. And the men at the top of that list are asked about it a lot.

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Family Matters: The Money Squeeze
2:29 am
Tue April 24, 2012

Preparing For A Future That Includes Aging Parents

Originally published on Wed May 23, 2012 9:52 am

Planning a wedding is exciting.

Mapping out a vacation is fun.

Figuring how to afford care for your confused, elderly father? That one may never cross your mind — at least, not until you need more money to care for him.

"Never thought about it," Natasha Shamone-Gilmore, 58, says about her younger self. "Never ever."

She thinks about it a lot these days. Shamone-Gilmore, a computer trainer in Maryland, now shares a modest home with her husband, 24-year-old son and 81-year-old father.

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Author Interviews
2:27 am
Tue April 24, 2012

A Rival For Pigeon In Willems' New 'Duckling'

Originally published on Tue April 24, 2012 12:51 pm

For a certain set of readers, one need only say the word "pigeon" to set off a frenzied outburst of delight. Pigeon is the star of a series of best-selling children's books, including The Pigeon Finds a Hotdog! and Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! He's not much more than a stick figure with two circles for eyes, but he can still get huffy and display all the melodrama of a 4-year-old.

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The Two-Way
7:56 pm
Mon April 23, 2012

Mona Eltahawy Explains Why Women Are Hated In The Middle East

Credit Maya Alleruzzo / AP
Mona Eltahawy (center), a prominent Egyptian-born, U.S.-based columnist, and Egyptian activist Samira Ibrahim (left) march in downtown Cairo to mark International Women's Day in March.

Originally published on Tue April 24, 2012 9:58 am

We don't usually point out opinion pieces on this blog. But Mona Eltahawy, an Egyptian-born and U.S.-based journalist, is making a statement worth noting. She wrote a cover essay titled "Why Do They Hate Us?" for this month's Foreign Policy.

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The Two-Way
6:09 pm
Mon April 23, 2012

Prosecutor Accuses Clemens Of 'Deceit,' 'Dishonesty'

Credit Mark Wilson / Getty Images
Former all-star baseball pitcher Roger Clemens leaves the U.S. District Court on Monday after the first day of his perjury and obstruction trial in Washington, D.C.

Originally published on Tue April 24, 2012 5:49 am

The retrial of baseball great Roger Clemens began in earnest Monday after a week of jury selection. Clemens is charged with lying in 2008 to a congressional committee when he denied ever using steroids or human growth hormone.

He will be judged by a jury of 10 women and 6 men — 12 jurors and 4 alternates — who will decide whether Clemens lied under oath about using the drugs when he testified before a congressional committee investigating the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.

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A Blog Supreme
5:31 pm
Mon April 23, 2012

Translating Ether To Paper

Credit iStockPhoto
For jazz musicians, transcribing from recordings is often a huge part of learning the craft.

Originally published on Tue September 18, 2012 5:04 pm

The headline of this feature story in the Green Bay Press-Gazette is "Saxophonist transcribes jazz to printed notes." Especially if you're not familiar with the mechanics of the craft, it is a rather amazing thing:

"There will be one measure with 65 notes in it," he said. "First of all, I have to write out every note and then divide each beat into however many notes until it hits on the next beat.

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The Two-Way
4:42 pm
Mon April 23, 2012

Jennifer Hudson Testifies During Ex-Brother-In-Law's Murder Trial

Credit Tom Gianni / AP
In this courtroom sketch, singer and actress Jennifer Hudson testifies on Monday in Chicago at the murder trial of William Balfour.

The Oscar-and Grammy Award-winning artist Jennifer Hudson took the stand today during the trial of the man accused of killing her mother, brother and seven-year-old nephew.

Reporting from Chicago, NPR's Cheryl Corley filed this report for our Newscast unit:

"Hudson began crying when a prosecutor asked her about the last time she saw her family. She answered it was the Sunday before their slaying in October of 2008. The man accused of killing them, William Balfour, was Hudson's brother-in-law at the time.

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Business
4:39 pm
Mon April 23, 2012

Bankrupt American Airlines Spars With Unions

Credit Spencer Platt / Getty Images
American Airlines and American Eagle employees protest Monday in New York City against American's plans to cut jobs and labor costs while under bankruptcy court protection. American is seeking permission to break up union contracts and cut expenses, but the unions oppose those plans and support a potential takeover bid by US Airways.

Originally published on Mon April 23, 2012 7:24 pm

With US Airways breathing down its neck, making nice with its unions as well as its creditors, American Airlines came to New York City on Monday to ask a federal bankruptcy judge for relief. Mostly, American wants relief from its unions — 13,000 jobs would be eliminated under its reorganization proposal. American has been hemorrhaging money for years and wants to lower its costs to compete.

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It's All Politics
4:34 pm
Mon April 23, 2012

Social Security, Medicare Reaction Reflects Partisan, Election-Year Divide

Credit Scott Olson / Getty Images
Senior citizens protest threatened cuts to Social Security and Medicare in Chicago in November 2011.

Like a mirror that reflects one's ideology back at the viewer, and no more so than during a general-election year, the political players saw what they wanted, and what they thought was most politically useful to their side, in the reports Monday by the Social Security and Medicare trustees on the long-term prospects for those two entitlement programs.

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Middle East
4:13 pm
Mon April 23, 2012

Egyptians Warily Await Final Slate Of Candidates

Originally published on Mon April 23, 2012 6:39 pm

Egypt's election commission is expected to announce the final list of candidates this week for next month's presidential elections. But which candidate will win is far from clear.

A recent Egyptian poll shows nearly 40 percent of voters have no idea who to support. Another 30 percent who had decided will be forced to select someone else because their preferred candidates were among the 10 barred by election officials recently.

As a result, Egyptian voters who were once excited about the prospect of their first free presidential election are growing frustrated.

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