NPR NEWS 2008-02-16

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

 Police and Northern Illinois University officials in DeKalb, Illinois will talk to the public later today after yesterday's shootings in an NIU classroom. Seven people including the gunman died and at least sixteen were injured. Twenty-one-year-old NIU senior Desiree Smith was in the lecture hall when the gunman opened fire. She described bedlam 4 in an interview with Chicago Spotnews. "Everyone dropped down to the ground. It's like a movie theater style seating. Uh, I could see people through the seats, I kinda like locked eyes with this girl for two seconds and then, we realized everyone was crawling out so I started to army-crawl out of there." The university president says the shooter was a former graduate student at northern Illinois who stepped from behind a screen in the classroom and started firing. Classes have been cancelled today. This is the fourth shooting at a school in the U.S. within a week.

 President Bush says he will put off a long planned trip to Africa if necessary to push Congress to approve his warrantless domestic eavesdropping 5 program. NPR's Brian Naylor reports.

 The Senate and House have approved two different measures that would continue the program. The difference is the Senate has included immunity 6 for phone companies that face lawsuits 7 charging they illegally turned over records to the government after 9/11. The House does not have immunity in its bill. The president wants House lawmakers to drop their objections and go along with the Senate plan. "Republicans and Democrats 8 in the Senate can put partisanship 9 aside, and pass a good bill. There is no reason why the House can not do the same, and pass the Senate bill immediately." The current surveillance legislation expires on Saturday, but the president could continue the program until this summer. Brian Naylor, NPR News, the Capitol.

 Republican presidential rivals Mitt 2 Romney and John McCain have put aside their differences. Romney endorsed 10 McCain yesterday and says he will ask his delegates to support the Arizona Senator. NPR's Scott Horsley reports.

 Romney and McCain fought a sometimes bitter battle during the GOP primary, but that was mostly forgotten when the two men appeared together in Boston yesterday. Romney who dropped out of the presidential race last week said McCain is capable of leading the country in what he called "a dangerous hour". McCain said he looks forward to Romney's help as he moves forward with his own campaign. "Now we move forward together, for the good of our party and the nation, and I'm honored, I'm very honored to have Governor Romney and the members of his team at my side." McCain said Romney's intensive primary campaign helped him become a better candidate. He is far ahead of his remaining rivals Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul in the race for the GOP nomination 11. Scott Horsley, NPR News.

 Democrat Hillary Clinton has been named the winner of the New Mexico Democratic presidential primary nine days after "Super Tuesday". She is now 56 votes behind Barack Obama in delegates but appears to have a lead among super delegates.

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 Angry Republicans boycotted 12 a House vote yesterday, as two confidants of President Bush were held in contempt for failing to cooperate with an inquiry 13 into the firings of federal prosecutors 14. The vote was 223-32 to hold White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers in contempt. Republicans walked out to a podium waiting on the Capitol steps. Minority leader John Boehner said the House needed to be working on a foreign intelligence surveillance bill. Democrats said they were acting 15 to protect the constitutional responsibilities of Congress in the system of checks and balances.

 The head of the United Auto 16 Workers union says he expects at least 15,000 workers to leave General Motors in its latest round of buyouts. From Michigan Radio, Dustin Dwyer reports.

 Last year, the UAW signed a new contract with GM that allows the company to hire about 16,000 new workers at half the wage the company currently pays. But to get in the new lower paid workers, GM has to convince current workers to leave. So now it is offering incentives 17 worth up to 140,000 dollars for workers to give up their jobs. UAW president Ron Gettelfinger says he expects between 15 and 20 thousand workers to accept the deals. A GM spokesman says workers will get more details on the buyouts in the coming weeks. They will then have 45 days to decide whether to accept. Similar buyout programs are already underway at Ford 18 and Chrysler. For NPR News, I'm Dustin Dwyer in Ann Arbor 19, Michigan.

 China is reporting a forecast-beating trade surplus for January even as economic growth slowed in other countries and credit in China became tighter. Chinese imports and exports both grew faster than economists 20 had expected.

 I'm Paul Brown, NPR News, Washington.