NPR 2008-03-10

From NPR news in Washington, I'm Korva Coleman.

 Barack Obama is the winner of yesterday's Democratic caucuses 2 in Wyoming. He picks up seven delegates to the Democratic National Convention this summer. Hillary Clinton won another five delegates. Wyoming is the least populated state in the country, and usually sees extremely light turnout for its Democratic caucuses. Yesterday thousands of people participated.

 In Illinois, Democrat 1 has won a special election to a congressional seat vacated by former speaker of the House Dennis Hastert. Democrat Bill Foster defeated Republican Jim Oberweis in a close race. Foster will serve out the rest of Hastert's term in office. It ends in January.

 People in Spain are voting in national elections. 35 million people are eligible 4 to choose between two parties with radically 5 different agendas. Jerome Socolovsky has more from Madrid.

 At polling stations across the country, voters are slipping paper ballots 6 with their choice of party into clear plexiglass boxes. The choice is between the Spanish Socialist 7 Workers' Party led by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and the conservative Popular Party led by Mariano Rajoy. The two men have been bitter rivals since the bombing of commuter 8 trains in Madrid four years ago. That attack is thought to have helped the socialists 9 win the last election. Since then, Zapatero has dramatically changed the national agenda. He's reopened the debate about the Franco dictatorship, allowed gays and lesbians to marry and is forcing companies to appoint women as board members. For NPR news, I'm Jerome Socolovsky in Madrid.

 Heavy rain has pounded parts of the east coast this weekend. Authorities had to shut down a section of the New Jersey 10 Turnpike for a few hours yesterday to allow crews to clear downed power lines. Two trains into New York City are closed until today because of downed trees. In the west, the problem is heavy snow. Ohio's capital Columbus has been socked by a late winter storm that's hit the nation's mid 11 section. Fred Kight of member station WOUB has more.

 The National Weather Service says more than 20 inches of snow has fallen on Columbus , and that tops the previous record of 15 inches in a single storm set in 1910. Making things worse, 35-mile-per-hour winds which cut visibility and cause drifting. Road crews around Ohio have been struggling to keep up. In Canton, two snowplows got stuck while others broke down under the workload 12. Storm closed highways and counties imposed states of emergency to keep people off roads. Governor Ted 3 Strickland says almost 2,000 crashes have been reported to the highway patrol. All flights of the Cleveland Airport have been cancelled. It's scheduled to reopen early Sunday. For NPR news, I'm Fred Kight in Athens, Ohio.

 Daylight Saving Time began today at two o' clock, your time. Clocks should have been set one hour ahead. This is NPR.

 Some California prosecutors 13 are investigating so-called immigration consultants 15 for allegedly taking advantage of migrants seeking citizenship 16 or trying to avoid deportation 17. Bob Hensley of member station KXJZ reports.

 The Fresno County District Attorney's office has filed charges against five immigration consultants, claiming they've failed to comply with Consumer Protection Laws. Prosecutors charged the defendants 18 lacked insurance bond and background check required by California law, and made false or misleading statements about the services they could offer. Advocates say unsuspecting victims have sometimes paid as much as 10,000 dollars to a consultant 14 and received little if any assistance. Two of the defendants say they have ordered their business practices to comply with the law. The consultants face fines if convicted. An investigation 19 was initiated 20 following complaints from immigration lawyers and inquiries 21 from Spanish-language media. For NPR news, I'm Bob Hensley in Modesto, California.

 The ruling party in Malaysia has suffered big loss in national elections. The National Front Coalition 22 lost races in five state governments and dropped about a third of the seats in Parliament. It was a stunning 23 loss although the Party still controls the government. The National Front Party has governed Malaysia since independence from Britain more than 50 years ago.

 The European Space Agency has sent a cargo 24 ship into space. The Jules Verne, as the ship is called, is headed for the International Space Station with supplies. When it's empty, the astronauts will fill it with trash and send it back into Earth's atmosphere, where it's supposed to burn up over the ocean. Jules Verne is first of nine planned cargo ship trips into space spread over several years.

 I'm Korva Coleman, NPR news in Washington.