NPR 2008-05-31

In a decision certain to be appealed to the US Supreme 1 Court, a three-judge federal court today upheld a key provision of the federal Voting Rights Act. NPR’s Nina Totenberg has more.

The 1965 Voting Rights Act was reauthorized most recently two years ago, requiring certain states and districts to get approval from the Justice Department or a federal court here in Washington before making any change to election procedures. A local government district in Texas challenged the law, contending that despite many demographic changes in various parts of the country, Congress had made no change as to which states and districts were covered by the law. But today, a three-judge court here in Washington rejected that argument, concluding that there was sufficient evidence of contemporary discrimination in voting in the covered areas to justify 2 the legislative 3 decision. Applying either the Supreme Court’s original standard on this question or more recent and stricter standard, the court said, Congress had acted rationally and constitutionally. Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.

Afghan government officials say they are battling to retake a town that was captured by Taliban fighters last night. NPR’s Ivan Watson reports from Kabul.

The Afghan government had sent 80 Afghan soldiers and police to recapture the town of Rashidan. A Taliban spokesman says his fighters captured the town Thursday night after a battle that lasted about an hour. The Taliban claims it captured the town police chief and the top government official in Rashidan along with a number of Afghan policemen. Rashidan is located less than 100 miles southwest of Kabul. The United Nations says last year, more than 4,000 Taliban fighters were killed in clashes with foreign troops led by the NATO alliance. But due in large part to the weakness of the Afghan central government, the insurgents 4 have succeeded in infiltrating 5 provinces neighbouring the Afghan capital. Ivan Watson, NPR News, Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

NASA says all systems are go at the moment for tomorrow’s scheduled lift-off of the space shuttle Discovery. The shuttle and its seven-member crew are slated 6 to take part in a 14-day mission to the International Space Station, where they’ll help install a one-billion-dollar Japanese lab. Shuttle Weather Officer Kathy Winters says the weather is also expected to cooperate for tomorrow's scheduled 5:02 p.m. Eastern Time launch. “Everything is coming together for launch and that includes the weather. The weather is looking promising 7 for launch day.” Perhaps more urgency to the space station astronauts, however: the part the shuttle will be carrying into orbit to help fix a malfunctioning 8 toilet aboard the International Space Station.

Officials in New York are now confirming a second death related to the collapse 9 of a construction crane there, the second deadly crane collapse in that city in the past several months. The two dead were identified as construction workers. In an earlier accident back in March, a crane gave way, killing 10 seven people.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell seven points today. This is NPR.

United Airlines and US Airways 11 have decided 12 against merging 13. The second and sixth largest airlines ended talks, which heated up last month following word that Atlanta-based Delta 14 was combining with Northwest to create the world’s largest carrier. In a letter on the airline’s website, US Airways CEO Doug Parker notified employees the consolidation 15 will not be taking place now. However, he did not rule out future merger 16. In the case of a possible United Airlines-US Airways combination, sources say labor 17 opposition 18 and integration 19 costs were apparently 20 enough to kill the deal.

The Food & Drug Administration issued a public health advisory 21 today regarding asthma 22 inhalers. NPR’s Joanne Silberner has more.

Albuterol inhalers can stop the wheeze 23 in asthma and other kinds of lung diseases. Push down on the inhaler, and out squirts the drug along with the chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, used to carry it. But those CFCs deplete 24 the ozone 25 layer. And these old-style inhalers are banned as of next January. Many people have already made the switch to new-style inhalers, but millions haven’t. So, the FDA has issued an advisory, suggesting that they talk to their healthcare providers now about changing to the new inhalers, which use a different propellant. The agency says they’re widely available, but they do taste and feel a bit different. The spray itself is softer, and each one has different instructions for cleaning and priming. They are also as much as triple the price of the old ones. Joanne Silberner, NPR News, Washington.

Crude oil futures 26 wound up the week on an up note, ending the session up 73 cents a barrel to settle at $127.35 a barrel in New York.