NPR 2010-11-05

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh.

President Obama's charting a path for working with a newly empowered GOP in Congress. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports that following a cabinet meeting this morning, the president talked about his postelection hopes of picking up bipartisan support for his agenda.

The White House is trying to regroup after an election that gave Republicans a House majority and shrank the Democrats 2' lead in the Senate. President Obama told reporters after his cabinet meeting, voters sent a message.

"They want us to focus on the economy and jobs and moving this country forward. They're concerned about making sure that taxpayer 3 money is not wasted, and they want to change the tone here in Washington."Mr. Obama says he invited the Democratic and Republican leaders from the House and Senate to a White House meeting on November 18th. He wants to set an agenda for the lame-duck session of Congress that includes extending Bush-era tax cuts for the middle class, extending unemployment insurance and ratifying 4 a nuclear arms treaty with Russia. Ari Shapiro, NPR News, the White House.

Despite the White House's conciliatory tone today, the Senate's top Republican, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, says the GOP's gains Tuesday were good but won't go far enough unless there's a change in the White House.

"We can hope the president will start listening to the electorate 5 after Tuesday's election. But we can't plan on that. And it would be foolish to expect that Republicans will be able to completely reverse the damage Democrats have done as long as a Democrat 1 holds the veto pen."Senator McConnell speaking today at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C.

In Nevada, an active-duty Navy SEAL and two other men face federal charges for allegedly smuggling 6 machine guns from overseas to sell in the United States. From member station KUNR, Brandon Rittiman has details.

Prosecutors 7 say all three men were arrested yesterday after undercover agents bought guns from a fourth man in their operation. The agents say that unnamed gun dealer 8 bragged 9 he was getting his weapons from a Navy SEAL, who was bringing them back from Iraq. According to court documents, he cooperated with the authorities and led them to the Navy SEAL, 33-year-old Nicholas Bickle, who's based in San Diego. Bickle's accused of conspiring 10 with the man in Las Vegas and another in Colorado to sell as many as 32 guns—more than half of them automatic. Prosecutors say many had Iraqi military marks on them. Each man faces five years in prison and a quarter of a million fine if convicted on conspiracy 11 charges. Prosecutors also file then array of weapons charges against the men. For NPR News, I'm Brandon Rittiman.

Two consecutive 12 weeks of declines in Americans filing their first unemployment claims didn't make it to a third week. The Labor 13 Department reports initial applications rose by 20,000 to a seasonally 14 adjusted 457,000 last week.

On Wall Street, though we're seeing US stocks soar, Dow was up 220 points at last check at 11,435.

This is NPR News.

A federal judge reluctantly halted the trial today of the man accused of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart, who was held captive for nine months eight years ago. NPR's Howard Berkes reports that a federal appeals court ordered the delay due to concerns about the jury.

Attorneys for accused kidnapper 15 Brian David Mitchell sought the delay after a jury was seated this morning. They'd asked a federal appeals court earlier to move the trial outside of Utah, citing extensive and prejudicial publicity 16. The appeals court rejected the argument, but said it would reconsider if the defense 17 believed that any of the jurors actually seated in the case could not be fair. A three-judge panel ordered the trial postponed 18 just after the jury was seated and while opening statements were underway. Elizabeth Smart was watching in the courtroom at the time. Her mother and younger sister had been expected to testify this afternoon. Smart's own testimony 19 was expected as early as Monday. The appeals court seems ready to consider the issue quickly. It ordered the defense and prosecution 20 to file briefs by midnight tonight. Howard Berkes, NPR News.

Sparky Anderson's being remembered today for his humility 21 and humanity. The Hall of Fame manager, who led the Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers to World Series championships, died today. At a Hall of Fame induction 22 ceremony ten years ago, Anderson credited his success to a simple rule.

"There's two kind of managers—one that ain't very smart. He gets bad players, loses games and gets fired. There was somebody like me that I was a genius. I got good players, stayed out of their way, let them win a lot and then just hung around for 26 years."Anderson's death from complications of dementia came one day after he was placed in hospice care. Sparky Anderson was 76 years old.