NPR 2009-08-15

President Obama traveled to Montana today to promote his administration's health care initiative, telling an audience at a town hall meeting there that the news media may have bear some of the blame for overemphasis on scenes of angry protesters at other meetings across the country. President said that "TV loves a ruckus." And in an airport hangar in Belgrade, Montana, Mr. Obama said while that time is contentious 1, the discussion of how to rework health care is important. "Across the country you're seeing people who are coming together and having a civil, honest, often difficult conversation about how we can improve the system. That's how democracy's supposed to work." President's appearance comes as his health care overhaul 2 plan has been running into increasing opposition 3. Mr. Obama took aim at health insurance companies, saying they deny coverage 4 based on pre-existing conditions or at times cancel coverage when people get sick.

 A cargo 5 ship that went missing near the English Channel more than two weeks ago has reportedly been found but several mysteries remained. The French Defense 6 Ministry 7 says the freighter "Arctic Sea" was found off the Coast of West Africa. More from NPR's Corey Flintoff.

 The Arctic Sea was last sighted on July 30th as it steamed south out of the channel between Britain and France. It had a crew of about 15 Russian sailors and a cargo of timber valued at more than 1.6 million dollars. French officials say the vessel 8 has been sighted about 400 miles from the tiny island nation of Cape 9 Verde off the West African coast. Russia's Navy says it's sending a warship 10 to investigate. Before the Arctic Sea disappeared, its crew had already told one strange story. They said they were boarded off the coast of Sweden by about a dozen armed and masked men who beat them, asked questions about drug trafficking and thoroughly 11 searched the ship. Corey Flintoff, NPR News.

Boeing has agreed to pay the US government 25 million dollars to settle a lawsuit 12. The Chicago-based company allegedly performed defective 13 work on refueling planes for the Air Force. Chicago public radio Susie An reports.

 The US Department of Justice calls Boeing's KC-10 Extenders a mainstay of the Air Force's aerial refueling fleet in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Two whistle-blowers in Texas filed the lawsuit alleging 14 the company improperly 15 installed insulation 16 blanket kits 17 in the aircraft during maintenance. The blankets maintain temperature inside the plane during flight. The two former Boeing workers will now receive $2.6 million for drawing attention to the problem. The company also allegedly overcharged the government for installation of the blanket kits. Boeing will pay about $18 million in cash and do more than six million dollars worth of repair work. For NPR News, I'm Susie An in Chicago.

 On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 76 points to end the week at 9,321. The NASDAQ was down 23 points. The S&P lost eight points today.

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 There is more information coming out now about an air traffic controller's actions during this past weekend's crash, involving a small private plane and a sightseeing helicopter over the Hudson River in New York. According to officials with the National Transportation Safety Board, a controller at an airport in New Jersey 18 had cleared the plane for take-off and then made a personal phone call. The board says radar 19 showed several blips in the plane's path including a helicopter. A total of nine people were killed in the mishap 20. The controller and supervisor 21 on duty at the time of the accident have been placed on the administrative 22 leave.

 Teddy Afro, the jailed popular Ethiopian singer whose songs are embraced by that nation's political opposition is now free. NPR's Gwen Tompkins reports.

Teddy Afro was the stage name of Tewodros Kasahun, a 33-year-old reggae star in Ethiopia, who spent more than a year in prison on charges related to the traffic death of a homeless man. But many of Afro's supporters believed that his conviction had political import. Afro's songs celebrate Ethiopian culture which dates back to the Queen of Sheba. But his songs also question the effectiveness of Ethiopia’s political leadership. Afro was originally given a longer sentence but few in Ethiopia were satisfied that the case was solid. Hospital records showed that the homeless man was killed while Afro was out of the country. And the records were later changed to a date when Afro was in the country. Ethiopian Supreme 23 Court commuted 24 the singer's sentence. Gwen Tompkins, NPR News, Nairobi.

Hurricane Guillermo is now a Category 2 storm out in the waters of Pacific, the National Hurricane Center announced today Guillermo with maximum winds around 100 miles an hour is some 1,200 miles west, southwest of the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja peninsula. The storm is expected to weaken somewhat, however, as it moves into a cooler water over the weekend.