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NPR Story
4:00 am
Wed March 28, 2012

Justices Hear Arguments Over Heart Of Health Law

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning, I'm David Greene.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And I'm Renee Montagne.

It's the third and final day for the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the Obama health care overhaul. The justices hear arguments today on what parts could remain in effect if the court rules the individual mandate of the health care law is unconstitutional. After yesterday's arguments, that seemed more likely than most experts had expected.

NPR's legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg reports.

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NPR Story
4:00 am
Wed March 28, 2012

Gingrich Pares Down Presidential Campaign

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Now, if the health care law survives constitutional scrutiny, the Republicans who are running for president have vowed to repeal the law if elected. One GOP candidate now appears less likely to have that opportunity. Newt Gingrich is short on victories and low on cash, and he is dramatically shrinking his campaign for president.

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NPR Story
4:00 am
Wed March 28, 2012

Enbridge, Enterprise To Increase Pipeline Capacity

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, whose construction has been delayed over environmental concerns, could now face some competition.

As NPR's John Ydstie reports, two companies have announced plans to build pipelines that would carry out the same service as the XL, channeling oil from Canada's tar sands to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico.

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Business
4:00 am
Wed March 28, 2012

The Last Word In Business

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And our last word in business today is lost and found.

For nearly 60 years, the whereabouts of a painting by Paul Cezanne remained a mystery. Some art experts feared his 19th century painting was lost forever. The watercolor is a study for a famous series of oil paintings Cezanne called "The Card Players."

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Law
4:00 am
Wed March 28, 2012

Supreme Court Hears Arguments On Individual Mandate

The nation's capital is focused on the Supreme Court this week, and that includes members of Congress. Wednesday is the third day justices will hear arguments considering the constitutionality of President Obama's health care overhaul.

Politics
4:00 am
Wed March 28, 2012

Bill Maher's Obama SuperPAC Donation Causes Stir

Credit Chris Pizzello / AP
Bill Maher, shown here at a 2011 event in Los Angeles, gave $1 million to the superPAC supporting President Obama's re-election bid.

Comedian Bill Maher's $1 million check to the superPAC supporting President Obama's re-election is the first seven-figure donation to the group since Obama tacitly endorsed the fundraising strategy in early February.

And it has brought new focus to some of Maher's statements about women — specifically Republican women — and led to calls for the White House to disavow the HBO host and his money.

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History
4:00 am
Wed March 28, 2012

Auction House To Sell Titanic Collection

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Business
4:00 am
Wed March 28, 2012

Business News

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

NPR's business news starts with new owners for the L.A. Dodgers.

One of the more legendary athletes here in Los Angeles, basketball's Magic Johnson is leading a consortium of investors to buy the Major League baseball team.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

This is a $2 billion deal. And that shatters the record for the most money paid for a North American sports franchise. The NFL's Miami Dolphins went for $1.1 billion three years ago.

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Health
4:00 am
Wed March 28, 2012

Organ Harvesters Blur Line Between Life And Death

Backed by the federal government, doctors in Michigan are trying to expand the use of a controversial form of organ donation that raises disturbing ethical concerns, including questions about whether the donors are really dead. Defining dead turns out to be pretty complicated. There are two ways to declare someone dead.

Religion
4:00 am
Wed March 28, 2012

Pope To Officiate Open-Air Mass In Cuban Capital

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Pope Benedict stuck to mostly spiritual themes on a visit to communist Cuba's most sacred shrine. This morning, the pontiff leads a mass in Havana's Plaza of the Revolution. As Nick Miroff reports from Havana, so far even Benedict's gentle push for greater religious and political freedoms for Cubans has been rejected by the government.

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Around the Nation
4:00 am
Wed March 28, 2012

Slain Teen's Parents Appear On Capitol Hill

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Florida state investigators are continuing to look into the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. His family has been part of a widespread campaign calling for the arrest of the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot and killed the 17-year-old high school student. Yesterday, the parents of Trayvon Martin were up on Capitol Hill attending a forum on hate crimes and racial profiling. NPR's Sonari Glinton reports from the Capitol.

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The Record
12:01 am
Wed March 28, 2012

Alan Lomax's Massive Archive Goes Online

Credit Shirley Collins / Courtesy of Alan Lomax Archive
Alan Lomax (right) with musician Wade Ward during the Southern Journey recordings, 1959-1960.

Originally published on Thu October 25, 2012 2:53 pm

Folklorist Alan Lomax spent his career documenting folk music traditions from around the world. Now thousands of the songs and interviews he recorded are available for free online, many for the first time. It's part of what Lomax envisioned for the collection — long before the age of the Internet.

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Law
12:01 am
Wed March 28, 2012

In Southern States, Immigration Law Battle Rages On

Originally published on Wed March 28, 2012 8:21 pm

Last year, several states passed strict laws aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration. Those laws are now being challenged in federal court, and next month the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on Arizona's immigration law — but that hasn't stopped some Southern states from moving forward with more restrictions.

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Health Care
12:01 am
Wed March 28, 2012

Texas, Feds Face Off Over Planned Parenthood

Texas and the federal government are going at each other again, this time over Planned Parenthood.

The Texas Legislature cut off all Medicaid money to Planned Parenthood because of its involvement in abortions; in response, the federal government has suspended funding for the state's reproductive health program.

Now, Texas is suing the Obama administration.

Closed For Business

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Shots - Health Blog
12:01 am
Wed March 28, 2012

Supreme Court's Medicaid Decision Could Reach Far Beyond Health Care

Credit Adam Cole / NPR
The final argument the Supreme Court will hear about the new health care law is whether its Medicaid expansion unfairly forces states to participate.

Originally published on Wed March 28, 2012 10:56 am

After Tuesday's judicial fireworks, the Supreme Court wraps up arguments on the new health care law Wednesday by focusing on two questions. The first involves what would happen if the "individual mandate" — the core of the law that requires most people to have health insurance — is struck down. Would the rest of the law fall, too, or could some provisions stay?

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Sweetness And Light
12:01 am
Wed March 28, 2012

Watching College Basketball's Slump Into Anonymity

Credit Streeter Lecka / Getty Images
Duke freshman Austin Rivers, seen here in the Blue Devils' loss to Lehigh in the NCAA tournament, is leaving school for the NBA draft. The trend of athletes spending only one year in college has hurt the sport, says Frank Deford.

Originally published on Wed March 28, 2012 10:31 am

This year's Final Four seems more like Best in Show at the Westminster. Such pedigree: Kentucky, Kansas, Ohio State and Louisville –– four of the very top dogs in the history of the sport. Well, it's a Meryl Streep kind of year, isn't it?

But if the Final Four might delight fans by giving them aristocracy in its teams, unfortunately the whole of college basketball is plagued by anonymity in its players, and external issues that have diminished the popularity of the game.

Good grief. This year, there has been more buzz about Mad Men than about March Madness.

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Movies
12:01 am
Wed March 28, 2012

In Japan, 'Sliced-Up Actors' Are A Dying Breed

Japan is home to Asia's oldest and largest motion-picture industry, with its own unique genres and traditions. While every film industry has stuntmen, only Japan has a class of actors whose main job is to be sliced and diced by samurai sword-wielding protagonists. But the decline of period dramas means that this class of actors is literally a dying breed.

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Shots - Health Blog
12:01 am
Wed March 28, 2012

Court Looks At Whether Mandate Can Separate From Rest Of Health Law

Credit Adam Cole / NPR
If the Supreme Court rules that the health insurance mandate is unconstitutional, does that invalidate the rest of the law?

In its second-to-last argument over the Affordable Care Act, the Supreme Court on Wednesday ponders a what-if.

Specifically, if the justices decide that Congress exceeded its constitutional authority in enacting the part of the law that requires most Americans to either have health insurance starting in 2014 or pay a penalty, does that invalidate the rest of the law? And if not, how much, if any, of the rest of the law should it strike down?

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The Two-Way
7:26 pm
Tue March 27, 2012

Mine Agency To Congress: Don't Blame Us For Deadly Disaster

As we reported last week, an independent panel reviewing the Mine Safety and Health Administration's (MSHA) role in the 2010 Upper Big Branch mine disaster found that the agency "possibly could have prevented" the explosion that took 29 lives.

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The Two-Way
7:10 pm
Tue March 27, 2012

Pope Arrives In Havana, Where He's Expected To Meet Raúl Castro

Credit Marcelino Vazquez / AFP/Getty Images
Pope Benedictus XVI arrives at Jose Marti airport in Havana on Tuesday.

Pope Benedict XVI landed in Havana today and he's expected meet Cuban President Raúl Castro.

The pontiff's visit has put Cuba's dictatorship in the spotlight, because during his speeches the Pope has been taking subtle shots at the regime. The Los Angeles Times reports:

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