NPR 2009-03-24

President Barack Obama and his Treasury 1 Secretary Timothy Geithner officially unveiled the administration’s latest revamping of its financial rescue package today. Speaking to build as a three-prompt effort to draw private investors 2 into a partnership 3 with a new federal entity 4 that could eventually buy up to a trillion dollars worth of bad assets to weigh down banks' books, the president acknowledged while not a panacea 5 for what ails 6 the financial markets, he believes it is a critical step. “It’s not gonna happen overnight. There is still great fragility in the financial systems. But we think that we are moving in the right direction.” Among other things, the new public private investment program will provide financing for 500 billion dollars in purchasing power to buy up so-called “toxic assets”. That means the government and the private sector 7 would share risk, finally competitive auctions 8 will be used to set appropriate prices for those assets.

Wall Street liked the plan: the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 497 points today ending the session at 7,775 to gain at nearly seven percent; the S&P 500 gained 54 points.

There was good news in the beleaguered 9 housing industry. Reports said sales of existing homes rose unexpectedly in February. NPR’s Jim Zarroli has more.

The National Association of Realtors said home sales rose 5.1% to an annual rate of about 4,700,000. Economists 10 had expected sales to fall. The medium sales price was also up slightly in February compared to the month before. Still the association said that prices are down 28% from their all-time high in July 2006. The organization also said the number of unsold homes on the market rose and it said a higher number of the sales are foreclosed properties which usually sell for less. The housing market has been helped in part by falling mortgage rates. The Federal Reserve has been pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into the market by purchasing mortgage-backed securities issued by Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac. Jim Zarroli, NPR News, New York.

A new study shows eating a lot of red meat may increase the likelihood of dying from heart disease and cancer. NPR’s Alison Aubrey reports.

The increased risk of death from heart disease and cancer associated with eating lots of red meat is modest according to researchers. And the finding’s fit with prior research: people who eat the highest level of red and processed meat are about twenty percent more likely to die of cancer compared to people who eat less than five ounces per week. With heart disease, researchers found heavy red meat consumption increased the risk of death for men by about 27% and for women about 50%. The study included some 545,000 adults who were surveyed about their eating habits. The major drawback of the study is that it relies on the people’s memories which are not always accurate. The National Cattlemen's Beef Association has questioned the findings. They say it is hard to draw conclusions based on surveys of large populations. Alison Aubrey, NPR News, Washington.

Crude oil prices rose $1.73 a barrel.

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Investigators 11 probing a fatal plane crash in Montana yesterday that claimed lives of 14 people including a number of children, say they are trying to determine whether the plane was overloaded 12. Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board/ said the plane was likely designed to carry a total of ten people including two pilots. Of the 14 people aboard, seven were children. The turboprop left Oroville, California, was headed for Bozeman, Montana, but changed course to Butte where it went down as it was coming in for landing. Officials said the plane did not have a cockpit, voice or data recorder and was not certified 13 to carry commercial passengers. The passengers were on a ski vacation.

A spring snowstorm that could bring up to 18 inches of snow to the eastern half of Wyoming is shutting down businesses, schools and highways. Wyoming Public Radio’s Bob Beck has more.

Hundreds of miles of Interstate 80, 90 and 25 in eastern Wyoming are closed due to snowfall, high winds and numerous crashes. The Wyoming Department of Transportation’s Dave Kingham says winds of 40 miles an hour and gusts 14 over 50 are making travel conditions hazardous 15. “It’s not so much the quantity of snow has fallen so far that is causing the problem but it's the blowing and poor visibility.” Kingham says a number of other roads are closed throughout the state. Over 75 crashes have been reported. A blizzard 16 warning remains 17 in effect for eastern Wyoming and western South Dakota until noon, Tuesday. For NPR News, I’m Bob Beck in Wyoming.

The National Weather Service officials are keeping a close eye on the Red River near Fargo, North Dakota. Already, officials said the river is several feet above flood-stage and there is more rain in the forecast. They said the river is not expected to crest 18 until Friday. It’s expected that the river could reach a record of 40 feet later this week. As a result, the dike 19 protecting of the city’s been raised.

I’m Jack 20 Speer, NPR News in Washington.