NPR 2009-02-10

President Obama continues to press Congress aggressively to pass his economic stimulus 1 plan. NPR's Mara Liasson reports.

With an increasingly aggressive tone toward his Republican opponents in Congress, President Obama is using every tool in his kit 2 to bend lawmakers to his will. He took a bunch of congressmen, including one Republican who voted against the bill in the House with him to Elkhart, Indiana today where Mr. Obama held a town hall meeting and called on Congress to pass the bill immediately. Elkhart's unemployment rate shot up to 15. 3% from 4. 7% over the last year. Tonight, the president will hold a prime time press conference where he will be asked to defend the plan and possibly to explain why when his job approval rating is in the mid 3 60s, the stimulus plan itself is less popular. All this week, through the use of the bully 4 pulpit across the country, President Obama will try to transfer some of his own popularity to a plan he hopes will help fix the economy. Mara Liasson, NPR News, Washington.

The Senate is due to vote this hour on whether to end debate on the economic stimulus bill. If Senators vote for cloture, the next vote they cast on the matter will be on the stimulus legislation itself scheduled for tomorrow.

In Iraq, four American soldiers and their interpreter were killed today after a suicide car bomber 5 detonated explosives near a US convoy 6 in the northern city of Mosul. It's the deadliest attack on American forces this year. Mosul is Iraq's second largest city. While violence has declined there, Al-Qaeda and Sunni groups have carried out scattered 7 attacks. Earlier today, three policemen were killed by a mortar 8 attack.

The US army has suspended research at its main biological weapons lab in Maryland because of problems tracking its inventory 9. It's the same lab where anthrax suspect Bruce Ivins worked. NPR's Dina Temple-Raston has more.

The Maryland lab sent an email to its workforce 10 last week, saying it would temporarily suspend research so it could work out some kinks in its inventory system. The lab was in the news last year after the FBI said one of its scientists Bruce Ivins was the man behind the deadly anthrax mailings in 2001. Ivins killed himself before the bureau could indict 11 him. In a statement, the lab said that they'd been working on inventory improvements for months and for the next several weeks lab technicians would comb through the storage freezers to find any samples of pathogens that might not be reflected in their current inventory database. The Fort Detrick lab does research on a number of pathogens, including anthrax. Ivins had been a longtime employee there. Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News.

On Wall Street today, the Dow fell nine points to close at 8, 270. The NASDAQ was off just a fraction of a point to close at 1591. And the S&P climbed one point.

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Alleged 12 criminal money manager Bernard Madoff has reached an agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission that permanently 13 freezes his assets. A preliminary injunction had been put on the assets after his arrest in December. This will eventually force Madoff to pay a civil fine and return money to his investors 14, but he will not have to admit or deny allegations against him.

The woman at the center of a politically charged right-to-die case in Italy died today after 17 years in a vegetative state. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli has the story from Rome.

Eluana Englaro's death came four days after her feeding tube was disconnected and as lawmakers were rushing through a law to force doctors to put her back on life support. Her case has dominated news headlines for months. Last year, her father won a decade-long legal battle to allow her feeding tubes to be removed. But the Catholic Church mobilized and under government pressure no hospital could be found willing to carry out the ruling until last week. On Friday, doctors began reducing her nutrition, but Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi backed by the Vatican launched a political battle to pass legislation that will prohibit food and water from being suspended for patients who can't feed themselves. Analysts 15 said Berlusconi was using the Englaro case to widen his executive powers. News of Englaro's death arrived as lawmakers were debating in the Senate. Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News, Rome.

New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez today admitted he used performance-enhancing drugs from 2001 to 2003. Responding to a report by Sports Illustrated 16 that he tested positive for steroids in 2003, Rodriguez says he hasn't used the banned substance since. He said he took the drugs because of the pressures of being baseball's highest-paid player.