NPR 2008-06-04

As the final two Democratic primaries take place today in South Dakota and Montana, there has been a surge of superdelegates declaring their support for frontrunner Barack Obama, who's close to clinching 1 the majority he needs to be the Democratic nominee 2. More from NPR's David Welna.

At least 16 holdout superdelegates announced their support for Barack Obama, only one did so for rival Hillary Clinton. One of Obama's new backers is former President Jimmy Carter. Four others are members of Congress. But Senate Majority Leader Harry 3 Reid remained uncommitted out of deference 4 to Clinton. " Senator Clinton needs to be left alone. And let's get through the primary process and let this week work its course." In announcing his support today for Obama, House Majority Whip James Clyburn expressed confidence Obama will soon get a majority of delegates. "I think that threshold will be reached by the time Senator Obama addresses the American people from Minnesota this evening." Obama's appearing at the same St. Paul site where Republicans are holding their convention in September. David Welna, NPR News, the Capitol.

One of the key issues on the campaign trail has been "whether the US should talk to its enemies like Iran?". Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice argued before a pro-Israel lobby today that there is no point in talking until Iran changes its behavior. NPR's Michele Kelemen has more.

"Diplomacy 5 is not a synonym 6 for talking", that's how Secretary Rice puts it. She says true diplomacy means setting out incentives 7 and disincentives, and she repeated that she would sit down with her Iranian counterpart only if Iran suspends uranium enrichment activities. "We would be willing to meet with them, but not while they continue to inch closer to a nuclear weapon under the cover of talk." About a third of her speech to the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee focused on Iran. On Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, she said that Israel can be "bold" because the US is behind her. She did not mention the political troubles of Israel's prime minister, who's facing corruption 8 charges at home. Ehud Olmert is to address the conference this evening. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.

In a move towards the production of more fuel-efficient vehicles, General Motors announced today it will close four of its North American truck plants. The announcement from the world's largest automaker came ahead of the company's annual shareholders 9 meeting. One of those facilities is GM's Janesville, Wisconsin plant, which opened in 1919. Jim Doyle is governor of the state and says like everyone, he was shocked and saddened by the announcement. " My reaction was, I think, probably like everybody else's in the state. That made me ill , just coz I know everybody here so well. Just it was, just a, just a kick in the gut 10." (A) total of 10,000 workers are employed at the plant, some will be offered jobs at other GM facilities.

On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 101 points.

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A Texas appeals court has blocked the scheduled execution of a former car wash worker, convicted in the 1991 double murder in the Houston area. The court moving to block the execution of death row inmate 11 Derrick Sonnier after lawyers for the State Public Defender's Office claimed the state's lethal 12 injection procedure would cause him unconstitutional pain and suffering. Sonnier was convicted in the stabbing deaths of a 27-year-old woman and her two-year-old son. He would have been the first prisoner to be executed in Texas since the Supreme 13 Court took up the matter of lethal injection. The high court in April ruled such executions are constitutional.

The man who's considered the founding father of Chicago improv theater has died at the age of 80. Chicago Public Radio's Lynette Kalsnes reports.

Paul Sills created several theater companies during his lifetime. But he's best known for co-founding Second City, the famous Chicago improv company. Bernard Sahlins helped start Second City, and says there'd be no improv scene today without Sills. "He had absolute integrity in terms of the work. He served the work, and he also inspired the actors to serve the work rather than themselves. So (that), there was never any question of selling out." Sills helped start the Compass Players, which launched the careers of Mike Nichols and Elaine May. He also led workshops that taught his improv methods. He died Monday of complications from pneumonia 14. For NPR News, I'm Lynette Kalsnes in Chicago.

The astronauts aboard the 100-billion-dollar International Space Station are about to get something that may be just as important to them as the new Japanese lab delivered by the space shuttle Discovery---a working toilet. Discovery, along with the new bus-sized lab, brought a pump to fix the toilet which had been working（口误），malfunctioning for some time. A fix is scheduled for tomorrow.