NPR 2008-02-27

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Paul Brown.

Two politically-charged votes on the Iraq War are on the Senate's schedule today. One Democratic-sponsored bill would cut off most funding for the war three months after enactment 1. Previous measures have been rejected. Another bill would require President Bush to specify 2 the US strategy to defeat terrorist groups including al-Qaeda.

In eastern Afghanistan today, a roadside bomb killed five Afghan policemen and a child. NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson has more on that from Kabul.

The attack occurred in eastern Khost Province near the border with Pakistan. The provincial 3 police chief says an 8-year-old boy who was killed was the son of one of the officers. Afghan officials say the Taliban planted the roadside bomb. Police officers are a favorite target of Taliban militants 4. Their attacks are aimed at discouraging Afghans from joining the fledgling police force that the government with western help is trying to build. Taliban officials say they also plan to start bombing cell phone towers this week, if providers failed to agree to shut off phone service at night. The threat is an attempt by the Taliban to prevent NATO-led forces from finding militants by tracking their cell phone signals. Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, NPR News, Kabul.

Spending on health care in the US will nearly double in the next ten years. That's according to a new projection 5 from government analysts 6. Here's NPR's Joanne Silberner with some details.

Every year the Department of Health and Human Services collects data and makes a projection. What will health care cost ten years from now? Most years the growth rate is more than the growth rate in the gross domestic product, meaning that health care is taking a bigger and bigger bite out of the nation's economy. According to the new analysis, the nation will spend 4.3 trillion dollars on doctors, hospitals, drugs and the like in 2017, compared to 2.2 trillion dollars last year. Part of the reason for the increase, the baby boom generation is hitting the age for Medicare. The government will pay proportionally more for Medicare, Medicaid and other programs. The actuaries expect the growth in hospital spending will decrease and the growth in prescription 7 drug spending will increase. Joanne Siberner, NPR News, Washington.

New crash test results are out for popular SUV models and Russ Rader(just a spokesman's name) of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says there was one standout.

"We tested nine midsize moderately priced SUVs 2008 and 2009 models; the top performer getting a gold star is the Nissan Murano."

The Murano was the only SUV tested to receive the highest rating in front, rear and side collisions. The larger Hummer H3 came out of the test with some of the poorest results including the possibility of driver leg injures in frontal collisions. Its maker 8, General Motors, responded that the tests are, quote, "one measurement of crash performance".

This is NPR News.

A new study out of California says that immigrants in that state commit far less crime than the average US native. NPR's Richard Gonzales reports from San Francisco.

The study by the non-partisan Public Policy Institute of California finds that people born outside of the United States make up about 35% of California's adult population. But they represent only about 17% of the state prison population. US-born adult men are sent to state prison at rates more than 3 times higher than foreign-born men. The age group most likely to commit crime is between 18 to 40 years of age. In that category, US-born men are ten times more likely than immigrants to be in county jail or state prison. The study did not differentiate 9 between legal or illegal immigrants, but its author say that fears that immigration is a threat to public safety are unjustified. Richard Gonzales, NPR News, San Francisco.

Democratic presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are to debate tonight in Cleveland. That's their last debate before next week's primaries in Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas and Vermont. The debate is sponsored by MSNBC. Clinton has said Texas and Ohio are must-win states for her. Yesterday she again attacked Obama without mentioning his name suggesting in a speech that his approach to foreign policy is both reckless and naive 10.

Republican John McCain was blunt about his prospects 11 in the presidential race yesterday. Speaking in Ohio, McCain said that if he is to win the White House, he has to convince Americans that US policy in Iraq is succeeding. He later backed off that comment somewhat saying that Iraq will play a role in voters' consideration of him.

I'm Paul Brown, NPR News in Washington.