NPR 2011-04-27

Still no hope yet for homeowners looking to sell and profit. The latest S&P/Case Shiller Home Price Index finds homes rent for less money in most major US cities in the first month of the year. And in 11 markets, the price drops accelerated. Housing analyst 2 Patrick NewPort of IHS Global Insight says given improvements in the overall economy, he's not sure why the housing market isn't picking up.

"Still, the housing market's still at the bottom. It's gonna pick up soon, but I'm just surprised that it hasn't happened. "

A record number of foreclosures are weighing down home prices in most metro 3 areas. Well, despite the troubles in housing, consumers are still giving a thumbs-up to the improving economy.

Lynn Franco, director of Consumer Research, says the Conference Board's Index rose to 65.4 from March.

"For the seventh straight month, we've seen gains in our Present Situation Index. So, it looks like the economic recovery remains 4 on track."

But the index is still below the reading of 90 that indicates a healthy economy. And at

last check on Wall Street, the Dow was up nearly 1% before the close at 12,595. NASDAQ gained 22; it's 2,848. S&P500 up nearly 1% at 1,347.

In other news, residents in rural Butler County, Missouri are fleeing to higher ground after a rupture 5 on the Black River levee. As Jacob McCleland of member station KRCU tells us, the breakage occurred just south of the community of Poplar Bluff 6.

The levee failure is spilling floodwater across agricultural lands and farm houses in this rural southern Missouri county. Missouri National Guard troops and the Butler County Sheriff's Department are evacuating 7 all residents in the floodwater's path. Poplar Bluff Deputy Police Chief Jeff Rolland says the rupture is easing tension on the fragile Black River levee that threatens the community, but he cautions that the town could still be in danger.

"That levee is so saturated 8 with water that it's still very unstable 9. You know, any more torrential downpours could cause it issues also."

Residents in low-lying neighborhoods have been evacuated 10. More severe thunderstorms are in the forecast. For NPR News, I'm Jacob McCleland in Cape 11 Girardeau, Missouri.

The countdown to the final launch of space shuttle Endeavour is under way at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. President Obama and Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords are expected to be among the hundreds of thousands of spectators for the Friday afternoon liftoff.

More violence has been reported out of southern Syria, where residents in Daraa say they have come under sniper attacks again. A local human rights group says authorities have detained dozens of people across Syria, the latest in the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.

At last check on Wall Street, the Dow had risen 116 points nearly 1% at 12,596. NASDAQ was up 22 at 2,848.

This is NPR News.

Singer Phoebe Snow has died. She was best known for some memorable 13 hits in the 1970s and 1980s. As NPR's Neda Ulaby reports, Snow died this morning from complications of a brain hemorrhage she suffered last year.

More than any other song, Phoebe Snow will be remembered for a wistful hit from 1975 about falling in love with a married man.

"Poetry Man" took the then 24-year-old from Greenwich Village coffeehouse stages to the top of the charts and the cover of Rolling Stone, but her life was even more profoundly transformed when her husband left her soon after their daughter was born with serious brain damage. She chose to focus on her disabled child not her own career and moved back to New Jersey 14, where she'd grown up. It's also where she died. Phoebe Snow was 60 years old. Neda Ulaby, NPR News.

Some pro 1 football players are returning to their team facilities a day after a federal judge stopped the NFL lockout in the wake of a labor 15 dispute. Judge Susan Richard Nelson has given the players until tomorrow morning to respond to the league's expedited motion for a stay.

Stocks opened higher today on strong earnings 16 reports from Ford 12 and 3M. Before the market opened, Ford Motor reported its best first-quarter earnings since 1998, and 3M said its quarterly profit jumped 16% from a year ago. The Dow was up nearly 1% before the close at 12,596, and the NASDAQ had risen 22 more than 0.5% at 2,848.

This is NPR News.