NPR 2011-01-25

Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel says he'll appeal a court's decision today to boot him off the February 22nd ballot 1 for Chicago mayor.

"I have no doubt that we will in the end prevail at this effort. As my father always used to say: 'Nothing's ever easy in life.' So nothing's ever easy. So this is just one turn in the road."

Illinois Appellate Court ruled 2-1 that Emanuel's name cannot be on the ballot because he didn't live in Chicago for the year prior to the election. Emanuel returned to Chicago in October after he left his job at the White House.

Here's some better-than-expected news out today on the US economy. NPR's Chris Arnold reports a quarterly survey of businesses finds a big jump in hiring plans and other spending.

Every few months, the National Association for Business Economics calls up all kinds of businesses around the country to basically check the vital signs of the economy.

"I did find that survey more encouraging than I expected, particularly that employment figure."

Ken 2 Simonson is an economist 3 with the survey. He says only 7% of businesses expect to cut jobs, while 42% expect to hire people. That's the best ratio that the survey has seen in more than 10 years.

"To have six times as many firms say that they'd be expanding employment as decreasing it, I think it's really very positive news at the time when the economy has been frankly 4 pretty sluggish 5."

Simonson is hopeful that the economy could soon start adding 200,000 or 300,000 jobs a month, which will help bring down the unemployment rate much more quickly. Chris Arnold, NPR News.

Russian officials suspect a suicide bomber 6 was behind today's attack on Moscow's busiest airport. More than 30 people died and more than 130 were wounded.

A gun fight in St. Petersburg this morning left two police officers dead after a SWAT team tried to arrest a Florida man. As WUSF's Scott Finn tells us, the gunman was also killed.

Thirty-nine-year-old Hydra 7 Lacy Jr. spent time in prison in the 90s for sexual battery and false imprisonment 8 of a child. His family and neighbor said he vowed 9 never to go back again. Early in the morning, two St. Petersburg police officers and a deputy US marshal were attempting to serve a warrant on him for aggravated 10 battery. St. Petersburg Police Chief Chuck Harmon:

"When we got there, they became engaged in a fire fight where numerous, numerous bullets, shells were fired in both directions. Two of my officers were struck."

The two officers died, and the deputy US marshal was injured. At least six Florida police officers have been killed by gunmen since June. Two in Tampa, two in Miami last week, and now two in St. Petersburg. For NPR News, I'm Scott Finn in Tampa.

At last check on Wall Street, the Dow was up 88 points at 11,959. The NASDAQ Composite Index rose 28. It's at 2,717.

This is NPR News.

A freeze is bearing down on the northeastern US, pulling temperatures down to as low as minus 5, the further north you go. Certainly test the male residents such as Mark Joy, a school crossing guard in Vermont who thinks anything but joyful 11 today.

"I really. I'm cold. Just get about to go inside to the school, warming up a little bit."

Schools were closed in other parts of Vermont, New Hampshire, Upstate New York and Pennsylvania.

A truck driver convicted in the US as deadliest human smuggling 12 attempt is getting 34 years in prison rather than multiple life sentences. He was re-sentenced today during a hearing in Houston.

In Iraq, a suicide bomber targeting Shiite pilgrims has killed at least 20 people and wounded at least 30 others. NPR's Kelly McEvers tells us from Iraq that this marks a third day of attacks against pilgrims during an annual march to the holy city of Karbala.

Officials said the attacker struck in a parking lot where pilgrims unload from buses and walk the rest of the way to the holy shrine 13 of Imam Hussein. Cars inside the city have been banned during the ritual. Hundreds of thousands of Shiites from inside and outside Iraq have converged 14 on the site to mark the end of the 40-day mourning period for Imam Hussein, who was killed in a battle in the 7th century. Shiites were not allowed to perform the ritual under the rule of Saddam Hussein. The attack is the latest in a string of bombings targeting Shiite pilgrims. More than 100 people were killed last week in attacks that also targeted police. The latest upswing in violence after months of relative calm have many worried that Iraqi forces aren't ready to provide security as American troops withdraw. Kelly McEvers, NPR News.

I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.