NPR 2011-05-11

President Obama was on the US-Mexican border today in an effort to create public pressure on Congress to try again to pass an immigration overhaul 1 bill. NPR's Mara Liasson reports.

President Obama promised Hispanic voters in 2008 that he would pass a bill that'd enhance border security and also provided a path to legalization for undocumented workers, but when Democrats 2 were the majority in Congress, he wasn't able to.

"Everybody recognizes the system is broken. The question is: will we finally summon the political will to do something about it? And that's why we're here at the border today."

The president made an economic argument for immigration reform, saying one way to strengthen the middle class is to get rid of the massive underground economy that exploits illegal immigrants as a cheap source of labor 4, depressing wages for everyone else. Mara Liasson, NPR News, the White House.

Federal Appeals Court says the government's mishandling of mental health claims by returning war veterans is unconstitutional. NPR's Richard Gonzales reports the appeals court is ordering a massive overhaul of the Department of Veterans Affairs mental health care system.

In unusually strong words, a three-judge panel of the US 9th Circuit says the VA's unchecked incompetence 5 has gone on long enough. The court notes that an average of 18 veterans commit suicide every day. A quarter of them were enrolled 6 in the VA health care system. The court says veterans suffering from severe depression or post-traumatic stress disorder 7 were forced to wait weeks for an appointment and then wait an average of four years for full mental health services. The ruling overturns a lower court that said there is no system-wide crisis in mental health care delivery for vets 8. The appeals court says it would have preferred that the Congress or president fix the VA, but it says those branches of government have chronically 9 failed. Richard Gonzales, NPR New, San Francisco.

Federal Appeals Panel today heard arguments in two Virginia lawsuits 10 challenging the country's health overhaul plan. The three-judge panel, the 4th US Court of Appeals, is vigorously questioning lawyers on both sides, though much of the debate was over whether the law's requirement that individuals buy insurance is constitutional. Ken 3 Cuccinelli is Virginia's Attorney General and says the hearing before the appeals court is little more than a warm-up for what's next.

"We hope to hear from the 4th Circuit sometime this summer, and then we will be on to the Supreme 11 Court."

Richmond-based 4th Circuit has historically been built as the nation's most conservative appeals court. A recent Democratic appointment has steered 12 it towards a more ideological 13 center.

Stocks held on to some of their gains, with the market shrugging off early losses, as investors 14 tried to determine [the] future direction of the market. The market was boosted by a couple of stronger-than-expected earnings 15 reports along with Microsoft's deal to buy Skype. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 75 points to close at 12,760; the NASDAQ gained 28 points, ending the session at 2,871; the S&P 500 was up ten points today.

You're listening to NPR News in Washington.

Guitarist Cornell Dupree has died. His playing can be heard on thousands of recordings 17 by the likes of Aretha Franklin, Miles Daivs, Paul Simon, Joe Cocker and many more. As NPR's Felix Contreras reports, the 68-year-old musician died from complications of emphysema in Fort Worth.

One of Cornell Dupree's first recordings as a session musician was the song "Rainy Night in Georgia" by vocalist Brook 18 Benton in 1970.

"Hoverin' by my suitcase, tryin' to find a warm place to spend the night."

Cornell Dupree played on many landmark 19 recordings in the 70s and 80s, and he worked so often with the same small group of session musicians. They formed their own supergroup of sorts called Stuff. Just four weeks ago, Cornell Dupree finished recording 16 his 11th solo album, which will be released in September. Felix Contreras, NPR News.

Online search engine Google is moving into music, announcing a new service that will let users store their music remotely then access it via mobile phone, tablet or computer. Called Music Beta by Google, the service will be available by invitation and will be free to users while it's being tested. It will allow users to load up to 20,000 songs to remote servers and access them through an Internet connection. The service will compete with Amazon's cloud-based service that lets users play songs they've uploaded themselves to a remote server.

Crude oil futures 20 prices after giving some ground last week appear to be inclined to take some of it back this week. After yesterday's more than five-dollar-a-barrel rise, oil was up another dollar and 33 cents a barrel today to settle at 103 dollars and 88 cents a barrel in New York.