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Economy
7:00 am
Sun March 18, 2012

First-Time Homebuyers Carry Financial Baggage

Host Rachel Martin speaks with Yale professor Robert Shiller about the challenges facing would-be, first-time home buyers, including stringent mortgage loan standards and record levels of student loan debt. Shiller's home price indices, developed originally with Karl Case, are now published as the Standard & Poor's/Case Shiller Home Price Index.

Around the Nation
7:00 am
Sun March 18, 2012

Tenn. Town Fights Fire With Money

Originally published on Sun March 18, 2012 8:57 am

Transcript

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Two years ago in South Fulton, Tennessee, firefighters in this town watched a home burn to the ground. The owners hadn't paid the required $75 fee for fire service. Now, after a barrage of national media attention, city leaders have finally made a change. Chad Lampe from member station WKMS in Murray, Kentucky has more.

(SOUNDBITE OF BIRDS CHIRPING)

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Presidential Race
7:00 am
Sun March 18, 2012

Puerto Rico Holds Primary With Statehood In Mind

Puerto Ricans are American citizens who do not vote in U.S. presidential general elections, but they do participate in Republican and Democratic nominating contests. Sunday, Puerto Rico holds a GOP primary. Both Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney visited the island this week. From San Juan, NPR's David Welna reports.

Politics
7:00 am
Sun March 18, 2012

Who's Money? SuperPACs To Reveal Records

Residents of Illinois and Louisiana this week have been bombarded by TV ads attacking one or another presidential candidate, the vast majority of them funded by superPACs, groups that run TV ads like a regular candidate's campaign, but legally have nothing to do with the candidate they support. Tuesday night, they must file a report detailing who gave them money and how they spent it. Host Rachel Martin talks with NPR's S.V. Dáte.

Politics
7:00 am
Sun March 18, 2012

Candidates' (Vocal) Pitch Plays Into Appeal

In a new study, scientists found that listeners were more likely to cast their vote for the candidate with the deeper voice, regardless of the candidate's gender. Host Rachel Martin reports.

Afghanistan
7:00 am
Sun March 18, 2012

Will Massacre In Kandahar Be A Policy Tipping Point?

Originally published on Sun March 18, 2012 8:57 am

Transcript

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.

In Afghanistan, the massacre of 16 unarmed Afghan civilians, allegedly by a U.S. service member, is the latest in a string of events which may have shifted the dynamic between the Afghan people and the U.S.-led Army that's been occupying the country for a decade.

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Sports
7:00 am
Sun March 18, 2012

NCAA Madness Marches On

Credit Rick Bowmer / AP
Indiana forward Will Sheehey takes the game-winning shot against Virginia Commonwealth in the second half of an NCAA college basketball tournament third-round game in Portland, Ore., on Saturday. Indiana won 63-61.

The madness marches on. Sunday holds eight more games in the NCAA Division 1 men's basketball tournament. On Saturday, thankfully, there were no major rip-up-your-bracket upsets. That is, if your bracket was in still in one piece. But there was plenty of drama. Two of the most exciting games were at the sub-regional in Portland, Ore.

March Madness isn't just screaming crowds and grown men and women chanting things like the University of New Mexico's "Everyone's a Lobo, woof, woof, woof." In fact, sometimes there's drama in hushed silence.

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Religion
7:00 am
Sun March 18, 2012

Anglicans To Get New Spiritual Head

The resignation of the archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, comes at a time of tension within the Anglican Church over issues related to homosexuality as well as women bishops. Vicki Barker has reaction to the news.

Europe
4:52 am
Sun March 18, 2012

After Spain's Construction Bust, Gardens Bloom

Spain is littered with vacant lots and half-built apartment complexes, where developers ran out of money when the construction bubble burst.

But in one Madrid barrio, neighbors are putting an abandoned tract of urban space to creative use.

Behind a chain link fence, in a dusty weed-filled lot between two soaring apartment blocks, Emilio de la Rosa is planting vegetables.

"Different types of products — garlic, beans, tomatoes, lettuce," he says. "We're teaching our children where tomatoes come from — not from the grocery store, but the ground."

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Economy
4:51 am
Sun March 18, 2012

Sweet Home: When Owning Isn't All About Money

Credit Ann Baxter / NPR
Tamika Rhodes and her children (clockwise) Taneea, Takeema and Paul at their home in St. Paul, Minn. Rhodes says the house is more important to her as a source of stability than as an investment.

It's not hard to figure out why the Rhodes family would want a house of their own. Their son Paul's passion for music makes it clear right away.

His mom, Tamika Rhodes, says in their last place, a two-bedroom apartment, Paul couldn't play the drums because it would have driven the neighbors crazy.

Now he, his two sisters, mom and dad live in a big, five-bedroom house in St. Paul, Minn. Rhodes says they all feel much more comfortable.

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