NPR 2010-03-05

The New York governor’s communications chief is resigning over the political scandal overshadowing the state’s top office. In a statement today Peter Hoffman says that given the recent developments, he had to quit. Governor David Paterson is under pressure by members of his own party to resign after a series of political mishaps 1 and an alleged 2 ethics 3 violation 4. Paterson had said he would not step down but he did agree to drop out of the gubernatorial race.

Consumers seem to be splurging a little more, the latest retail 5 numbers are any indication. NPR’s Wendy Kaufman reports that in February, merchants saw their sixth straight months of gains.

Across the price spectrum 6 from Target and Cosco to North Druid, most retailers 7 did well last month. Roughly three out of four beat Wall Street expectations. Total comparable store sales for February compared to the same period last year rose roughly 4%，the biggest monthly gain in a long time. Analysts 8 pointed 9 it dependent upon demand holiday sales large turnouts even amid massive winter storms, and strong sales of spring merchandise at full price. As a couple of retail analysts put it，the consumer is starting to come out of hibernation 10. While the numbers are encouraging and might suggest a strong Easter shopping season in March, some experts caution not to read too much into the results, since February is generally a slow shopping month. Wendy Kaufman, NPR News.

Scientists are sounding a new warning about methane 11 gas in a new report out today. The gas is not only seeping 12 out of the Arctic Ocean seabed, NPR’s Richard Harris reports it’s happening at a surprising rate.

Methane gas is trapped in the permafrost in the frozen North. And it seems that methane was likely to stay in the permafrost that’s under the seafloor. But that’s not so. Scientists from Alaska and Russia have been measuring methane gas bubbling up into the Arctic Ocean and they say it’s seeping out of the undersea permafrost at a surprising rate. So far the amount of methane is too small to have a significant impact on the earth’s temperature. But if the Arctic continues to warm as it has been, more and more of this permafrost methane is likely to vent 13 into the atmosphere and that in turn can trigger more warming and yet more methane. The result was published in this week’s Science Magazine. Richard Harris, NPR News.

Companies are under more pressure to hire. The latest numbers on productivity or any indication the Labor 14 Department is reporting output rose at an annual rate of 6.9% in the final three months of 2009. However economists 15 say there is only so much growth that businesses can achieve without adding jobs so they will have to consider rehiring workers soon.

At last check on Wall Street: the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 27 points at 10,424, NASDAQ up five at 2,286.

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Chile is in for a long recovery from an earthquake that has claimed more than 800 lives and displaced tens of thousands of survivors 16. Now outgoing President Michelle Bachelet is warning it could take the country three to four years to rebuild.

Damage assessment 17 is under way in southern Taiwan where a 6.9 earthquake struck early Thursday local time. It sparked at least one fire and brought transportation to a halt, authorities say 64 people were hurt, from Beijing NPR’s Anthony Kuhn says Taiwan’s government has already dispatched troops.

Taiwan’s Defense 18 Ministry 19 said helicopters and soldiers have been sent to the quake’s epicenter in mountainous parts of Gaoxiong County to look for casualties and assess damage. Several students in Jiayi County were injured by falling debris 20. The southern part of Taiwan’s high speed railway was shut down as was Gaoxiong’s subway. In the capital Taipei buildings rocked for several minutes and there were scattered 21 power outages. President Ma Yingjiu activated 22 an emergency response plan to deal with the quake, he was criticized for his slow response to Typhoon Morakot which struck last summer in the same area as today’s earthquake. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News Beijing.

Two subsidiaries of American International Group will pay more than six million dollars to settle claims of discrimination against African American borrowers. According to court documents filed today, Wilmington Finance and Federal Savings 23 Bank are accused of charging black clients higher home loan fees than white borrowers were charged. AIG, a recipient 24 of more than 180 billion dollar tax payer bailout denies it discriminated 25 against anyone.