NPR 2009-08-07

The Senate has confirmed the nomination 1 of Sonia Sotomayor to the US Supreme 2 Court. NPR's Audie Cornish reports.

 Minnesota Senator Al Franken read the tallies 3 at the end of the confirmation 4 vote. "On this vote, the yeas are 68 and the nays 5 are 31. The nomination of Sonia Sotomayor of New York to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States is confirmed." Nine Republican Senators joined the Democratic majority in approving the nomination over criticism from their colleagues that Sotomayor would be a liberal activist 6 on the High Court. Democrats 7 touted 8 her personal story, arising from the New York project, the elite 9 Ivy 10 League's and finally 17 years on the federal bench. They argued that Sotomayor had proven in her Senate testimony 11 last month that she would put the law above all else. Sonia Sotomayor will be sworn in as an associate justice of the Supreme Court Saturday morning in a private ceremony at the High Court. Audie Cornish, NPR News, the Capitol.

 First time claims for unemployment fell more than expected last week, 38,000 fewer people applied 12 for benefits from the week before. But the total number of people on unemployment continues to climb to more than 6.3 million. The head of the President's Council of Economic Advisers 14 says while unemployment is still horrendous 15, the country might have lost nearly a half million more jobs without the government's stimulus 16 efforts. NPR's Scott Horsley has more.

 White House Economic Adviser 13 Christina Romer told the Washington Economic Club the government's stimulus efforts are absolutely working to help turn the recession around. She pointed 17 to better-than-expected numbers from the Commerce Department last week, saying given what we now know about the depth of the downturn, it would be hard to recover any faster. "After we administered the medicine, the economy that was in free fall stabilized 18, and stabilized substantially. And now looks as though it could begin to recover in the second half of the year." Romer also credited the efforts by the Treasury 19 Department and the Federal Reserve. She cautioned the economy is still far from healthy and said the recovery has a long way to go. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.

 Film director, writer and producer John Hughes has died of a heart attack at the age of 59. Hughes is credited with some of the most successful comedies of the 1980s and 1990s including "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", "The Breakfast Club", "Planes, Trains and Automobiles 20" and "Home Alone I and II".

 A New York judge has blocked a 33-million-dollar settlement reached this week between the Bank of America and the Securities and Exchange Commission, pending 21 a hearing on Monday. The bank had agreed to the fine to settle charges it misled shareholders 22.

 On Wall Street today, the Dow closed down 24 points at 9,256. The NASDAQ was off 19. 

 This is NPR News.

 The Senate is debating amendments 23 to legislation that would add two billion dollars to the "Cash for Clunkers" program. A vote is expected later today. The car trade-in initiative is expected to run out of money as soon as tomorrow.

 The Federal Aviation Administration is ordering airlines to modify jet fuel pumps on all Boeing 767s. The government says automatic shutoff systems must be installed to ensure to prevent a buildup of explosive air and fuel mixtures in empty tanks.  That hasn't happened in a 767, but a similar situation is believed to have caused a 747 to explode off the Coast of Long Island in 1996.

 The front man for the rock band Aerosmith, Steven Tyler, was taken to a hospital after falling off a stage at a campground in South Dakota last night. Some in the audience weren't sure if that was part of the act. From South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Jennifer Jones has the story.

 Alicia Gomez was at the concert. She says in the middle of the song "Love in an Elevator", Tyler walked out on the catwalk and looked like he was going to spin around. She says he slipped and fell. When security pulled him up, Gomez says Tyler was holding his head and it looked like his shoulder was bleeding. "I think everyone kind of hoped that they would come back out; but then you could hear the ambulance siren in the back and that's when everyone kind of knew that was it." The crowd waited for a while until officials came out and said they'd taken Tyler to a hospital. The 61-year-old suffered head, neck and a shoulder injury, though the severity of his injuries hasn't been released. For NPR News, I'm Jennifer Jones in Vermillion, South Dakota.

 And I'm Barbara Klein, NPR News in Washington.