NPR 2008-08-27

It's Hillary Clinton's night at the Democratic National Convention. She takes the podium for a prime time speech to urge her supporters to rally behind Barack Obama's candidacy. NPR's Debbie Elliott has more.

With polls showing less than half of Clinton's supporters ready to commit to Obama, her speech tonight is considered a critical moment if Democrats 1 are to emerge from Denver unified 2. Alita Black is a Clinton delegate from Virginia. She is expecting Clinton to call on her supporters to back Obama. "What I want from this is a closure. I want her to give me the strength to go on and work in a campaign that has treated me with the most disrespect that I have ever encountered in any campaign in my 56 years. " Clinton's name will be put into nomination 3 before what's expected to be a limited roll call vote agreed to by both campaigns. Debbie Elliott, NPR News, Denver.

U. S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she still hopes there would be Israeli-Palestinian peace deal before President Bush leaves office. She also criticized Israel's continued expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, saying it is not helpful to peace talks. NPR's Linda Gradstein reports.

Secretary Rice wrapped up her 25-hour visit to the region with a joint 4 news conference of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "God willing and with the goodwill 5 of the parties, we have a good chance of succeeding," she said of the Bush Administration's goal for a peace agreement. But she offered no specific signs of progress, and did not mention any kind of a joint document. Abbas said it is important to reach a complete and comprehensive solution, not a partial peace deal. He also said the Jewish settlements in the West Bank are (quote) "a main obstacle" in the road of the peace process. He spoke 6 as the dovish Israeli group Peace Now published a report that Israel has almost doubled its building in Jewish settlements in the West Bank in the past year. The report said there are 2, 600 new homes under construction. For NPR News, I'm Linda Gradstein in Jerusalem.

A problem with the communications network has caused major problems at US airports today. The reports that air traffic in more than two dozen airports are being held up by the glitch 7 which, according to Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson Diane Spitaliere, centers round the Georgia FAA Center. "We had a processing center that went down in Atlanta, and that facility processes flight plans and weather information for the different carriers and as well for all, all aircrafts.” The FAA which expects to have the problem fixed 8 tonight, says there are no safety issues and controllers are still able to speak to pilots on planes, on the ground and in the air. It's not clear how many flights are affected 9.

On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 26 points before closing up at 11, 412. The NASDAQ lost three points to 2, 361 today. This is NPR News.

Ford 10 said today it will spend around 75 million dollars to retool 11 part of a Michigan Truck Plant to build cars. The number two domestic automaker says the one thousand workers of the plant who currently build Expedition and Lincoln Navigator sport utility vehicles (SUV) will be sent to the nearby Wayne Assembly Plant where Ford will add a third shift to make more of its Focus model cars. Ford says it will let in clear space at the Michigan Truck Plant to allow for retooling 12, convert of solely 13 over to a car plant by 2010. Ford like many of its competitors including GM is trying to shift away from building trucks and SUVs to more fuel-efficient models.

The College Board has released this year's SAT scores. NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports.

Just under one million five hundred and nineteen thousand students took the SAT this past school year, a record. But the average scores in math, reading and writing remained flat. The overall average was 1511 out of a possible 2400. Asian students had the highest average, 1610, 27 points higher than whites, who had the second-highest average. Latinos were next. African American students averaged just under 1300. More females than males took the SAT while ethnic 14 and racial minorities now represent 40 percent of all test takers. As in past years, students from high income college educated families outperformed middle and low income students whose parents did not go to college. Private school students outscored public school students by ninety points on average. Claudio Sanchez, NPR News.

Consumer Product Safety Commission announced today Sears will voluntarily recall more than 145, 000 of its twelve-cup Kenmore and Kenmore Elite 15 coffee makers 16, after reports of wiring overheating. The recall follows at least 20 reports of coffee makers overheating including 12 fires. There were no injuries.