NPR 2008-12-24

An internal review prepared by the staff of President-elect Barack Obama acknowledges that one member of his transition team Rahm Emanuel had a discussion with Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich about Mr. Obama's vacant Senate seat. However, according to that report issued today, the talk did not involve any deal concerning whom the governor should appoint to fill the seat. Greg Craig is incoming White House counsel. "All these conversations were completely innocent, they were completely appropriate, no one was approached with any kind of deal." The report did note that Emanuel and one other top-aide to Mr. Obama Valerie Jarrett have been interviewed in connection with the federal investigation 1. Federal authorities have charged Blagojevich with seeking to sell President-elect Obama's vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder 2. Blagojevich has denied any wrongdoing and resisted calls for his resignation.

The founder 3 of an investment fund linked to disgraced money manager Bernard Madoff was found dead in his New York City office this morning. Officials are still determining the cause of death but believe it was a suicide. NPR's Dina Temple-Raston reports.

Paramedics were called to the Madison Avenue headquarters of Access International Advisors 4 at 7:30 local time. Once they arrived, they found investor 5 Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, he had no pulse. De la Villehuchet ran a number of investment funds, one of which, Alpha Lux, had fed money to Madoff. Madoff was arrested last week accused of running a 50-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme. Officials familiar with the case say De la Villehuchet slit 6 his wrists, and may have bled to death. It's unclear whether authorities found a suicide note. The New York Medical Examiners Office has yet to examine the body. They expect to announce an official cause of death on Wednesday. Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News, New York.

Buyers are staying out of the real estate market and that's contributing to a record drop in home prices. NPR's Tamara Keith reports.

Existing home sales fell 8.6% in November from a month before, and sales are down more than 10% from November 2007. The nation's medium home price was dragged down to 181,000 dollars. Foreclosures and other distrust properties are keeping prices low. And there's a significant lack of demand. Lawrence Yun, the chief economist 7 with the National Association of Realtors says people are worried about the economy and the stock market slump 8, they are worried they could lose their jobs, and so they are reluctant to make a huge purchase like a home. "Buyers are not motivated and there's a hesitancy. You know, as long as housing market struggles, it will be very difficult for the economy to recover." At the current pace of sales, there's enough inventory 9 on the market to last just over 11 months. Tamara Keith, NPR News Washington.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 100 points to close at 8419 today, the NASDAQ was down 10 points, the S&P 500 lost 8 points.

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 Another day of frigid 10 temperatures blowing snow and freezing rain is causing headaches for travelers ahead of the Christmas holiday. In Chicago, weather led to upwards 11 of 250 flights being cancelled out of the city's two major airports. And icy conditions caused a tractor trailer accident of I-64 in southwestern Illinois that led to part of the highway being shut down. Some Amtrak passengers were also stuck in Chicago unable to get to New York. Winter storms have caused problems as far west as Seattle and as far east as New Hampshire.

Health officials say the cholera 12 epidemic 13 in Zimbabwe has spread to all parts of that country and killed nearly 1200 people. NPR's Jon Hamilton has more.

The epidemic began in August in a suburb of Zimbabwe's capital Harare. Clogged 14 and broken sewer 15 lines apparently 16 contaminated drinking water allowing cholera to spread. Since then, infected people have carried the disease to all 10 provinces of Zimbabwe as well as across the borders to South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana and Zambia. Cholera is caused by bacteria that grow in the intestine 17 and cause severe diarrhea. Without treatment, people can die of dehydration 18 in less than a day. Officials from UNICEF say 1174 people have died so far and at least 23000 have been infected. They expect the epidemic to worsen now that the rainy season has begun. Rain water transports the bacteria to new drinking water supplies. Jon Hamilton, NPR News.

Shareholders 19 of two big regional banks, PNC Financial Services Group of Pittsburgh and Cleveland-based National City have approved the merger 20 of the two banks. National City is being acquired by PNC for around 5.6 billion dollars. The combined bank will have around 2700 branches.