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4:53pm

Fri March 23, 2012
Shots - Health Blog

Why Getting Grimy As A Child Can Make For A Healthier Life

Credit iStockphoto.com
Maybe the kids would be healthier if Mom skipped this sometimes.

We've known for a while that people who grow up on farms are less likely to have ailments related to the immune system than people who grow up in cities. Those include asthma, allergies, inflammatory bowel disease and multiple sclerosis.

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4:53pm

Fri March 23, 2012
The Salt

Europe's Mixed Record On Animal Antibiotics

Credit Robin Utrecht / AFP/Getty Images
Pigs take a mud bath at the De Jofrahoeve pig farm in Esch, Netherlands. Dutch farmers treat their animals with almost three times the antibiotics that their Danish neighbors use.

If Danish pigs can live with fewer antibiotics, why can't their American cousins?

It's a hot topic, especially today. Yesterday, a federal judge ordered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to proceed with a 1977 plan to outlaw the use of certain antibiotics as growth promotion drugs.

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4:43pm

Fri March 23, 2012
The Two-Way

U.S. Census Show Asians Are Fastest Growing Racial Group

Credit NPR / Using Census Data
Growth of Asian Population

Asians are the fastest growing racial group according to a recent report released by the U.S. Census Bureau analyzing 2000 and 2010 census figures.

For those following the nation's changing demographics that may sound surprising because we've also been hearing that Hispanics are the "fastest growing minority group."

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4:34pm

Fri March 23, 2012
Asia

Along Korea's DMZ, No Sign That Tensions Are Easing

Cold winds blow through pine trees and across nearby mountains. On the horizon are guard posts and cameras. There's little movement, except for wildlife.

U.S. Lt. Col. Ed Taylor, lives and works on the Korean armistice line that has divided North and South for almost six decades. He even sleeps in a bed right next to North Korea.

"I cannot compare it to anything I've ever done. And I say that with 23 years in the Army and two deployments to Iraq," Taylor says.

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4:08pm

Fri March 23, 2012
Planet Money

Trying To Save A Broke City

Credit Christine Baker / The Patriot-News
David Unkovic makes his case.

This is the second of two stories we're doing today about Harrisburg. Read the first story here.

Harrisburg is broke.

The Pennsylvania city is deep in debt. It's still spending more than it takes in. And, as David Unkovic described it to me last week, there's a cash-flow problem.

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4:08pm

Fri March 23, 2012
It's All Politics

Trayvon Martin Tragedy Edges Onto Presidential Campaign Trail

Pressure had been building on President Obama for days to say something about the killing of Trayvon Martin, the Florida teenager shot to death by a neighborhood watch volunteer, and on Friday the president finally did.

And almost as soon as he did, some people suspected him of a cynical election-year attempt to appeal to black voters, judging by the reaction by some on social media and conservative sites. Martin was African American, his killer of mixed white and Hispanic parentage.

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4:06pm

Fri March 23, 2012
Judging The Health Care Law

The Legal Wunderkind Challenging The Health Law

Credit Haraz N. Ghanbari / AP
Former Solicitor General Paul D. Clement speaks during a forum at the Georgetown University Law Center on March 9. Clement will be arguing against President Obama's health care act in the Supreme Court next week.

Paul Clement is, quite simply, a walking superlative. A wunderkind who at age 34 became deputy solicitor general and then was promoted to the top spot, solicitor general of the United States, becoming the youngest person to hold that post in more than a century. Now 45, he has argued an astonishing 57 cases before the Supreme Court, more than any other lawyer since 2000. And next week, he will lead the challenge to the Obama health care overhaul, in the Supreme Court.

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3:43pm

Fri March 23, 2012
Asia

For Hong Kong And Mainland, Distrust Only Grows

A committee of Hong Kong's handpicked elite will select the territory's new leader this weekend after a hotly contested fight, which has left both the main front-runners tainted by scandal.

It's been 15 years since Hong Kong, a former British colony, reverted to Chinese sovereignty, yet tensions between local people and those from the mainland run deeper than ever.

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3:17pm

Fri March 23, 2012
World Cafe

Fun. On World Cafe

Originally published on Thu June 21, 2012 11:14 am

Credit Courtesy of the artist
fun.

A New York pop-rock trio with a spunky and theatrical side, fun. began when singer Nate Ruess was coming off the breakup of his long-running band The Format.

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3:07pm

Fri March 23, 2012
U.S.

Suspect Silent As Slain Teen's Family Cries For Justice

People across the country have had something to say about the death of Trayvon Martin, but the man at the center of the case — George Zimmerman — remains silent.

The neighborhood watch volunteer told police he was acting in self-defense when he shot Trayvon last month. Zimmerman has yet to be charged with a crime — or to speak publicly about what happened, leaving others to speak for him.

There's been a lot of scrutiny of the call Zimmerman made to 911 moments before his collision with Trayvon. But that was hardly Zimmerman's first call to the police in Sanford, Fla.

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3:01pm

Fri March 23, 2012
Sports

At 100, Cuban All-Star To Get A Pension At Last

The oldest living former major league baseball player doesn't live in the United States, but in Cuba.

His name is Conrado Marrero, but he was Connie Marrero when he pitched for the Washington Senators in the early 1950s. Today Marrero is blind and unable to walk, and next month he'll be 101 years old.

The man who once struck out Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle lives in a small, modest apartment in Havana with the family of his grandson, who is also his caretaker.

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3:00pm

Fri March 23, 2012
Monkey See

Niecy Nash Puts Her Blended Family In The Reality Spotlight

Credit Robert Ector / TLC
Niecy Nash is the star of the new family "docu-sitcom," Leave It To Niecy, on TLC.

If you know the actress and comedian Niecy Nash, you're probably either excited about her new reality show, Leave It To Niecy, or you're cringing just thinking about it. Nash does not do things halfway. Her new show starts Sunday, and it's intended to be something like a real-life Modern Family.

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2:32pm

Fri March 23, 2012
The Two-Way

Sgt. Bales Charged With 17 Counts Of Murder; Could Get Death Penalty

Credit Spc. Ryan Hallock / AFP/Getty Images
This August 23, 2011 photograph obtained courtesy of the Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System (DVIDS) shows Staff Sgt. Robert Bales (right) at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, California. (Note at 10:50 p.m. ET: Earlier, we mistakenly said he was on the left.)

Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales has been officially been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder for the March 11 killings of unarmed men, women and children in Southern Afghanistan, The Associated Press just reported from Kabul.

It adds that "premeditated murder is a capital offense and if convicted, Bales could be sentenced to death."

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2:26pm

Fri March 23, 2012
Shots - Health Blog

Whooping Cough Bacteria May Be Changing Their Ways In Australia

Credit CDC
The red dots are Bordatella pertussis bacteria, the cause of whooping cough.

Whooping cough has made a comeback lately, with big outbreaks in California and elsewhere.

One factor is spotty vaccination.

Now researchers in Australia think they've filled in another piece of the puzzle there.

They say the vaccine is better at targeting some strains of the bacterium responsible for whooping cough, Bordetella pertussis, and that's allowing other strains to flourish.

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2:05pm

Fri March 23, 2012
The Salt

How Homegrown Charcoal May Get Your Garden Through A Drought

Credit iStockphoto.com
Scientists say biochar can help dry, sandy soils, like the one pictured here, retain water and nutrients.

You've probably heard of compost – that thick chocolate-colored stuff that's an organic gardener's best friend and supplies plants with all kinds of succulent nutrients.

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2:01pm

Fri March 23, 2012
The Two-Way

While Santorum Shoots Gun, Woman Shouts, 'Pretend It's Obama'

Credit Ben Corda / AP
Republican presidential candidate, former Sen. Rick Santorum, speaks at a campaign rally in West Monroe, La. on Friday.

During a campaign stop at a Louisiana firing range, Rick Santorum took the opportunity to shoot some rounds at a target.

But as he took one shot, a supporter yelled, "Pretend it's Obama."

The GOP presidential candidate said he did not hear the remarks, but media travelling with the former Pennsylvania senator caught it on tape.

Here's ABC News video of it:

Santorum very quickly disavowed the remarks.

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1:54pm

Fri March 23, 2012
All Tech Considered

Wanted: Digital Bloodhounds For The Hotel Industry

Originally published on Mon March 26, 2012 5:03 pm

Credit Oyster.com
Kelsey Blodget of Oyster.com photographs the lobby of New York's Trump SoHo hotel. The website relies on tech-savvy workers to create online reviews and track hotel bookings.

These days, hotels aren't just looking to hire bellhops, concierges and housekeepers. What the industry really needs are digital bloodhounds: people who understand how to use new technologies to track — and attract — potential guests.

One of those newfangled workers is Greg Bodenlos. At 24, he's just a couple of years out of Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration. His official title is digital marketing strategist at The Mark Hotel, a luxury hotel in New York City.

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1:16pm

Fri March 23, 2012
The Two-Way

VIDEO: World Bank Nominee Channels Will-I-Am

Credit YouTube
Jim Yong Kim having fun.

Earlier, today, President Obama nominated Jim Yong Kim to head the World Bank.

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1:09pm

Fri March 23, 2012
Africa

Mali's Coup A Setback For A Young African Democracy

The scene in Mali's capital, Bamako, shows what used to be a familiar sight: an African capital in chaos, with drunken soldiers firing into the air and looting government buildings in the wake of a coup.

Military coups were dishearteningly common for people in Africa and Latin America during the 1960s and '70s, as governments fell to opportunistic military men.

But that trend had been slowing in the past two decades, as more and more governments began to hold regular elections.

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12:56pm

Fri March 23, 2012
Shots - Health Blog

Where Implementation Of Health Overhaul Stands

Credit iStockphoto.com

The complexity, scale and sliding timetable for implementation of the federal health overhaul make it tough to figure out exactly what's happened so far. To help you sort through some key provisions, here's a scorecard.

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