NPR 2008-06-10

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama today took aim at his expected Republican opponent in the fall, John McCain. Campaigning in North Carolina, Obama said McCain will only continue President Bush's failed policies. "We were promised a fiscal 1 conservative. Instead, we got the most fiscally 2 irresponsible administration in history. And now, John McCain wants to give us another.” Obama pledged to raise taxes on high-earning Americans and also grant a thousand-dollar tax break to many working families. McCain, for his part, responded by saying the tax hikes would only worsen the already struggling U. S. economy.

Flooding and wild weather in the Midwest are now being blamed for at least ten deaths in Michigan and Indiana. While in Wisconsin, four homes were washed away by high waters. Wisconsin Public Radio’s Steve Roisum has more.

Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle has declared a state of emergency in 29 Wisconsin counties. Rainfall over the weekend in many parts of southern Wisconsin has ranged from an inch to nearly ten inches. Vernon County suffered millions of dollars of damage last year due to heavy flooding and got sloshed with nearly ten inches of rain over the weekend. Vernon County Emergency Management Director Jerry Crotsenberg says last year's flood has affected 3 this weekend's flooding. “The saturation 4 that we had in the ground,er, last,you know, fall, compared to what we have now, it’s, it’s much greater now. So even if, er, there was a little bit less rain (and) water retreated after that, we had a great deal more run-off. " Crotsenberg says the Vernon County communities of LaFarge and Viola are now islands. For NPR News, I'm Steve Roisum, in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Supreme 5 Court has ruled the government workers have no constitutional right to sue over workplace treatment that may be individually discriminatory but is not based on race, gender 6 or religion. NPR's Nina Totenberg reports.

Anup Engquist claimed that she was harassed 7 and demoted because of conflicts with a fellow employee at the Oregon Department of Agriculture. She claimed that when her supervisor 8 sided with her, both had their positions eliminated. She sued as a so-called “class of one”, claiming vindictive 9 treatment. A jury ruled in her favor. But today, the U. S. Supreme Court, by a 6-3 vote, ruled that unless there is illegal race, gender or religious discrimination involved, the constitution's guaranteed equal protection of law does not extend to individual complaints of unfair treatment in public employment. Writing for the court majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said that class of one suits have a practical problem: to allow them, he said, would subject thousands of government employment decisions to lawsuits 10 and would substitute judicial 11 discretion 12 for managerial supervision 13. Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 70 points today to close at 12, 280. The NASDAQ lost 15 points. The S&P was up a point.

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A recall of certain types of tomatoes due to a salmonella outbreak has now expanded nationwide, with a number of big restaurants and grocery store chains pulling tomatoes from their menus and store shelves. McDonald's announced today it will temporarily stop serving sliced tomatoes as a precaution. The grocer Winn-Dixie was also pulling tomatoes from its shelves. That's after the Food and Drug Administration announced over the weekend that certain raw red plum, red Roma and red round tomatoes have been linked to the salmonella outbreak. As of the weekend, the FDA reported 145 confirmed cases of salmonella linked to tomatoes.

 Shares of investment bank Lehman Brothers are down sharply today. That's after the bank said it would post an unexpectedly large loss this quarter due to mortgage-related problems. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.

 For months, Lehman Brothers has been plagued by rumors 14 that it was in a weakened financial condition. Now it's acknowledging that it will lose nearly three billion dollars in the second quarter. It will be its first loss ever. The loss stems from a combination of bad trades and miscalculations in its risk strategies and is much bigger than most analysts 15 had expected. The bank said it had sold off 130 billion dollars in assets to shore up its balance sheet. It also said it would raise six billion dollars in capital from unnamed investors 16. Lehman Brothers chief executive told investors he believed these steps would be enough to keep the bank whole despite the continued turmoil 17 in the credit markets. Jim Zarroli, NPR News, New York.

 Crude oil futures 18 ended the session lower today. The near-month contract for benchmark grade crude fell $4. 19 a barrel to close at $134. 35 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.