NPR 2008-06-25

An Inspector 1 General's report is contending that politics played a major role in who was hired at the Justice Department by the Bush administration. NPR's Dina Temple-Raston reports.

If you are a young lawyer trying to get a career job at the Justice Department, there are two ways to get in: either through the Honors Program, or the Summer Law Intern 3 Program. And according to today's report, ever since the beginning of the Bush administration in 2002, to get through that door, you probably needed to be a Republican. The report lays out stark 4 numbers. In 2002, for example, of the so-called "liberal candidates", 15 of 18 were rejected. Not one of the conservative candidates was bounced. Those hiring practices have since changed, and Attorney General Michael Mukasey said he would adopt all the IG's additional  changes to make sure politics stays out of the process. Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News, Washington.

Missouri National Guard soldiers are patrolling levees in Lincoln County, north of St. Louis, looking for problems. Further south, a levee has breached 5 near the City of St. Charles. From member station KWMU in St. Louis ,Adam Allington reports.

 In the village of Foley, Missouri, floodwaters began filling the higher parts of town after the lower east side was already submerged. North of Foley, some residents in Pike County remain cut off after high water crossed over Highway 79 in multiple spots. Randy Sappinton says even though he can only access his home by boat, he plans to stay.  "Mainly, just make sure nobody gets in there and loots, and,you know, trys to turn anything up. You know, there is another hundred, almost 200 homes in there (back) right long the river and like a small river community. So, you know, we're all trying to take careof each other down there." Two holes opened up early today in the saturated 6 Elm Point levee in the City of St. Charles, Missouri. About 700 people were immediately evacuated 7 as National Guard troops rushed to form a makeshift levee. For NPR News, I'm Adam Allington in St. Louis.

 Fire crews from around the country are helping 8 to  battle hundreds of wildfires in California. One of the fires sparked by a lightning strike over the weekend has already blackened 16 square miles in a rural area, some 120 miles north of San Francisco. Randy Eardley is with the National Interagency Fire Center based in Boise, Idaho, which helps coordinate 9 western firefighting efforts. He says while there may be a few more storms this week, they aren't expected to be as severe as those that ignited many of the California fires.  "I guess the one good thing is while there will continue to be isolated 10 storms, there's nothing forecast like we saw over the weekend, where there were thousands of strikes." All told, officials say more than 800 fires are burning in California, all but a handful in the northern part of the state. One fire in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, north of Sacramento, is threatening 1,200 homes and several campsites.

 On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 35 points to end the session at 11,807. The NASDAQ lost 17 points today.

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Militants 11 in Afghanistan torched a convoy 12 carrying military supplies south of the Afghan capital and killed two NATO soldiers in the turbulent south and east of the country. The latest attacks showing the now six-year-old multi-national effort to establish order there is running into new headwinds. Germany confirmed today it plans to up its contingent 13 there by another thousand this fall. There are currently around 60,000 multi-national troops in Afghanistan. Insurgent 14 attacks in Afghanistan are up 40% this year compared to last year, according to the top U.S. general there.

Radio shock jock Don Imus is in hot water again. And again, he's gotten in trouble over race. NPR’s David Folkenflik reports.

On Monday’s show, Warner Wolf told Don Imus that pro 2 football player “Pacman” Jones now wanted to go by his given name "Adam" to try to shed the taint 15 of his involvement in a nightclub shooting. Wolf is the first voice, Imus the second.

"He's been arrested six times since being drafted by Tennessee in 2005."

"What color is he?"

"He's African-American."

" Well, there you go, ok, now we know."

Imus was fired by CBS Radio and MSNBC in April,2007. He was hired in December by Citadel 16 Broadcasting which owns the ABC Radio Network. But Imus has stirred new criticism. And on Tuesday, he said he had been misunderstood. "What people should be outraged 17 about is that they arrest blacks for no reason, and I mean there's no reason to arrest this kid six times." Imus says any claim of racism 18 is nonsense. David Folkenflik, NPR News, New York.

Crude oil futures 19 prices ended the session slightly higher. The near-month contract for benchmark crude was up 26 cents a barrel today to end the session at $137 a barrel in New York.