NPR 2009-09-15

A year after the start of the financial crisis, President Obama urged Wall Street to embrace reform to prevent another one from happening again. NPR's Frank Langfitt has the story.

Last fall the financial system was on the brink 1 of ruin. Today, the economy appears to be stabilizing 2. And efforts to reform the financial system have lost momentum 3 in Washington. In a speech on Wall Street, the President pressed the financial community to back reform, he said, would protect the US economy from systemic risk. "We will not go back to the days of reckless behavior and unchecked excess that was at the heart of this crisis, where too many were motivated only by the appetite for quick kills and bloated bonuses. Those on Wall Street can not resume taking risks without regard for consequences.” The President's Wall Street audience remained quiet through most of the speech. The only applause came when the President called for a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Flank Langfitt, NPR News, Washington.

There are reports that the New York Attorney General's office's preparing to charge several senior Bank of America executives for failing to disclose details about the bank's acquisition of the troubled Merrill Lynch. Executives did not alert shareholders 4 about the broker 5 firm's huge losses, nor did they tell them about accelerated bonus payments about to be made to Merrill executives. Bank of America agreed to acquire Merrill last year when the credit crisis was at its worst.

The FBI released its Uniform Crime Report today. It provides a snapshot of crime across the country as we hear from NPR's Dina Temple-Raston.

The Uniform Crime Report is compiled by getting crime statistics from law enforcement agencies all over the country. Experts say it is the gold standard when it comes to tracking crime in the US. This report covers 2008 and the news is almost uniformly good. Violent crimes were down about 2% between 2007 and 2008. Murders were down almost 4% over the same period. The number of stolen cars fell almost 13%. The number of other property crimes like burglaries are another story. They have shown rose between 2007 and 2008. The bureau doesn't rank cities and their crime rates, but it is possible to see regional trends. The southern part of the country, for example, had the highest crime rate. The northeast had the lowest. Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News.

US commandos in the helicopter apparently 6 have killed one of the region's most wanted militants 7 in southern Somalia. Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, a Kenyan man, was wanted in connection with a hotel bombing and a failed missile attack on an Israeli airliner 8 in 2002. There are fears that insurgents 9 are gaining a foothold in the African nation.

On Wall Street the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 21 points to close at 9, 626. The NASDAQ was up 10 points to 2, 091 and the S&P added six.

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Connecticut’s Chief Medical Examiner confirms the body found stuffed into a wall of a lab building on the campus of Yale University is that of missing grad student Annie Le, and ruled her death a homicide. Le's body was found yesterday, the day she was to be married. Police say they don't believe the killing 10 is a random 11 act. They did not say if they have a suspect.

Parks in New York City could become smoke-free. Michael Bloomberg, the city's mayor, says his next goal in his anti-smoking crusade is to end smoking in city parks, playgrounds and beaches. NPR's Margot Adler has more.

The announcement was actually made by the City's Health Commissioner 12 Tomas Phaley, who outlined a ten-step program with health goals the city wants to reach; it's put on something called Take Care New York 2012. Phaley said the city hopes to cut adults smoking rates from 16. 9% to 12%. He said the indoor smoking ban which was instituted in 2003 was so successful that the mayor wants it expanded and will seek legislation or ask the Parks Department to change its policy. He said that New Yorkers shouldn't have to breathe second-hand 13 smoke even outside, and that children shouldn't have to see people smoking. The city has more than 1, 700 parks and some 14 miles of beaches. It was a tough battle to pass the indoor smoking ban. This could be just as difficult. Margot Adler, NPR News, New York.

Serena Williams apologized today for her profanity-laced outburst to a lineswoman during the women's semi-finals of the US Tennis Open against Kim Clijsters. Williams told the lineswoman, in so many words, that she was lucky Williams didn't force a tennis ball down her throat. She was penalized 14 a point for her conduct and fined 10, 000 dollars. Williams and her elder sister Venus won the women's doubles final in New York.