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5:56pm

Thu March 22, 2012
Shots - Health Blog

Answers To Your Questions About The Health Care Overhaul Law

Credit iStockphoto.com

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — the health care overhaul law that President Obama championed and Republicans rejected — turns two on Friday.

The law is headed to the Supreme Court on Monday, where the Justices begin hearing three days of arguments about the constitutionality of the law. Ahead of the big day, we asked for questions from our audiences online and on air. Here's a sampling of questions, edited for clarity and length, and the answers.

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5:30pm

Thu March 22, 2012
The Two-Way

Coroner: Whitney Houston's Death Ruled Accidental Drowning

Credit Getty Images / Getty Images
Pop diva Whitney Houston was found dead in her Beverly Hills hotel room on the eve of the 54th Grammy Awards.

The Los Angeles County coroner's office is saying that pop star Whitney Houston drowned in her hotel room tub on Feb. 11.

USA Today reports the coroners listed the cause of death as: "drowning and effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use."

They add:

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5:30pm

Thu March 22, 2012
Movie Reviews

'Hunger Games': Mortal Combat As Appointment TV

Credit Lionsgate
Are You Not Entertained? TV host Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci) takes the celebrity interview to new lows when chatting up the young combatants in the to-the-death Hunger Games — including Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence).

Hungry for a good dystopia? Well, as you may be gathering from reports of the millions of tickets sold before prints were even shipped to theaters, author Suzanne Collins has a feast for you in the first movie installment of her young-adult trilogy The Hunger Games.

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5:17pm

Thu March 22, 2012
The Two-Way

Goldman Sachs Scours Emails To Hunt For 'Muppets'

Credit Frazer Harrison / Getty Images
Kermit the Frog on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, where he was honored.

In the aftermath of the "take this job and shove it" scandal, Goldman Sachs has embarked on a muppet hunt.

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5:13pm

Thu March 22, 2012
It's All Politics

As Health Care And Politics Collide At Home, Obama Heads Abroad

As the Supreme Court debates the constitutionality of his signature domestic policy achievement next week, President Obama will be keeping his distance from the events in Washington.

A coincidence of timing puts the president in South Korea for a global nuclear security summit on Monday and Tuesday, as the Supreme Court holds the first two of its three days of historic oral arguments on the new national health care law.

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5:05pm

Thu March 22, 2012
Judging The Health Care Law

How Health Care Ruling Could Shift The GOP Debate

Credit Joe Raedle / Getty Images
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney signs into law a new health care reform bill during an April 12, 2006, ceremony at Faneuil Hall in Boston. The bill made Massachusetts the first state in the country to require that all residents have health insurance and has become a centerpiece of criticisms leveled by Romney's opponents in the 2012 presidential race.

As the Supreme Court gets ready to hear arguments about President Obama's health care law, supporters and opponents are planning a flurry of rallies, press conferences and phone banks to remind people why the law is so great — or so terrible. Republicans have been energized by their desire to see the law repealed, but the issue could be more complicated for the GOP than it seems.

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4:54pm

Thu March 22, 2012
World Cafe

Latin Roots: Josh Norek On Latin Hip-Hop

Credit Courtesy of the artist
Ana Tijoux.

On the latest segment of the "Latin Roots" music series, Josh Norek, co-host and executive producer of The Latin Alternative (a one-hour radio show of Latin funk, hip-hop and electronica), stops by the studio. A musician, producer and journalist who works for the Latin indie label Nacional Records, Norek spends a good deal of his time exploring the history and direction of Latin hip-hop.

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4:26pm

Thu March 22, 2012
The Salt

Kitchen Calamity? Now You Can Tweet For Help

Credit iStockphoto.com
The Twitter feed @food52hotline offers confused cooks advice round the clock.

Troubled when your creme won't brulee at 3 a.m.? Food52 Hotline can help.

The 24-hour, cooking advice Twitter feed is the brainchild of Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, two veteran New York food writers and editors who founded the site Food52.com.

The site focuses on crowdsourcing recipes and food news, so it makes sense that they would want to crowdsource cooking advice, too.

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4:14pm

Thu March 22, 2012
It's All Politics

Insider Trading Ban Passes Congress, But Some See Missed Opportunity

Originally published on Thu March 22, 2012 7:59 pm

Credit Brian Ray / AP
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, shown in August 2011, criticized the STOCK Act that passed Thursday, saying it didn't go far enough.

The Senate passed a bill Thursday to explicitly ban insider trading by members of Congress and the executive branch, and that means the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act is headed to the president's desk.

But this STOCK Act is quite a bit weaker than earlier versions.

The STOCK Act has been on a glide path ever since an explosive 60 Minutes story last fall highlighted the issue of members of Congress apparently profiting on nonpublic information.

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4:00pm

Thu March 22, 2012
Monkey See

Spiders And Fighting And Trees, Oh My: Filming 'The Hunger Games'

Originally published on Fri March 23, 2012 12:24 pm

Credit Murray Close / Lionsgate
Jennifer Lawrence on the set of The Hunger Games.

There's a movie freshly out this weekend — perhaps you've heard of it.

The Hunger Games?

On Friday's Morning Edition, director Gary Ross and star Jennifer Lawrence talk to NPR's David Greene about the film.

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3:45pm

Thu March 22, 2012
The Two-Way

Cat Falls 19 Floors, Lands Purrfectly

Credit Animal Rescue League of Boston
Sugar, after her fall.

3:44pm

Thu March 22, 2012
The Two-Way

Sanford Police Chief Will Step Down Temporarily

Credit Mario Tama / Getty Images
Sanford Police Department Chief Bill Lee (left) announces he will temporarily step down in the wake of the Trayvon Martin killing.

Saying his role as police chief has "become a distraction," Bill Lee Jr. announced he was stepping down temporarily.

The Sanford, Fla. police chief has been under fire for the way he has handled the investigation surrounding the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. Martin, who was unarmed, was shot by a a 28-year-old man, George Zimmerman, who claimed self defense.

During a news conference, today, Lee said that he stands by his police department, its personnel and the investigation that was conducted, but he was stepping down to "restore a semblance of calm to the city."

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3:34pm

Thu March 22, 2012
It's All Politics

Romney Aide's Etch A Sketch Gaffe Won't Be Easily Erased

Credit Eric Gay / AP
Rick Santorum beats up Mitt Romney with an Etch A Sketch, figuratively speaking.

Etch A Sketch. Those three little words may become more of a bane to Mitt Romney's campaign than, say, Bain Capital.

As Romney's longtime aide, Eric Fehrnstrom, has learned to his chagrin, those three small words can make a very big difference.

Earlier this month, Fehrnstrom actually made a statement very similar in kind if not wording to what he said Wednesday on CNN.

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3:31pm

Thu March 22, 2012
World Cafe

Heartless Bastards On World Cafe

Credit Nathan Presley
Erika Wennerstrom, Dave Colvin, Jesse Ebaugh and Mark Nathan of Heartless Bastards.

The Cincinnati band Heartless Bastards is led by Erika Wennerstrom, whose husky vocals have fueled the group's progression into a powerhouse rock force on its fourth studio album, Arrow. The new record marinates in all that is classic rock — catchy hooks, big riffs, a powerful voice — but also sets itself apart with Wennerstrom's distinct voice.

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3:24pm

Thu March 22, 2012
The Two-Way

California Appoints Its First Latino Poet Laureate

Credit Office of Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr,
Juan Felipe Herrera.

We don't usually dabble in arts news, but we thought we'd pass along this piece of news from California, home to 13.7 million Latinos.

Gov. Edmund Brown has appointed Juan Felipe Herrera as California's Poet Laureate. Herrera, 63, becomes the first Latino to be appointed to the position, which requires senate confirmation.

Here's how Brown's office described Herrera in its press release:

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3:10pm

Thu March 22, 2012
The Two-Way

'Thank God It's Over,' Australia's Most Wanted Man Says After Capture

"On his 2,466th night in the wilderness," the hunt for Malcolm Naden ended.

And when it did, Australia's most wanted man seemed relieved, police said afterward, according to The Sydney Morning Herald:

"Sitting on the sodden ground in handcuffs, surrounded by his captors, a lucid and relaxed Mr Naden said: 'Thank God it's over, I've had enough.' "

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3:00pm

Thu March 22, 2012
NPR Story

Toulouse Standoff Leaves Suspect Dead After Shootout

Originally published on Thu March 22, 2012 8:20 pm

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

It's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, from NPR News. I'm Audie Cornish.

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

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3:00pm

Thu March 22, 2012
NPR Story

Saints Penalized By NFL For 'Bounty' Scheme

Robert Siegel speaks with James Varney, a sports reporter for the Times-Picayune, about recent sanctions against the New Orleans Saints and what it means for the fans, players, and the NFL.

3:00pm

Thu March 22, 2012
Digital Life

'Pinterest' Wades In Murky Copyright Waters

Originally published on Thu March 22, 2012 6:05 pm

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

These days, a darling of the tech and business world is Pinterest. It's a virtual scrapbooking site that allows users to organize photos, recipes, images they like and pin them to an online bulletin board. Nearly 18 million users logged in to the site last month alone. So when Kirsten Kowalski wrote a blog post wondering whether Pinterest users risk violating copyright laws, it went viral. Kowalski is a lawyer and photographer and Pinterest user herself.

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3:00pm

Thu March 22, 2012
Energy

Obama Pitches Oil And Pipeline In Oklahoma

The second day of President Obama's all-of-the-above energy tour brought him to Oklahoma.

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