NPR 2009-11-23

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Craig Windham.

Some of the moderate Senators who cast crucial votes to move a sweeping 1 health care overhaul 2 bill to the Senate floor for debate say the legislation will have to be changed before they would support letting it come up for a final vote. More from NPR's David Welna.

Despite having voted to let the health care bill debate proceed, Connecticut independent Joe Lieberman still opposes the public insurance option in that bill. He told NBC’s “Meet the Press” he may join a GOP filibuster 4 to block a final vote on the bill. "If the public option is still in there, the only resort we have is to say ‘no’ at the end to reporting the bill off the floor." Nebraska Democrat 5 Ben Nelson told ABC’s “This Week” he too might take such action. "It depends on what the public option is. I'm opposed to the public option of where the states have to opt 3 out. I said I would look at a public option where states could opt in." Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown scolded his holdout colleagues on CNN’s “State of the Union”. "I don’t want four Democratic Senators dictating 6 to the other 56 of us and to the country when the public option has this much support. That is not gonna be in it." David Welna, NPR News, the Capitol.

The lawyer for one of the codefendants who will be tried in New York for their alleged 8 roles in the 9/11 attacks says all five intend to plead not guilty, so they can express their viewpoints during the hearings. NPR's Dina Temple-Raston has the story.

One of the criticisms leveled against the decision to try the 9/11 suspects in a US criminal court is that it would give the defendants 7 a world stage for their views. Now one of the defendant's lawyers say that while the men would not deny their role in the 2001 attacks, they would plead not guilty, so they can explain what happened and why they did it. Scott Fenstermaker is defending one of the five men. He met with his client Ali al-Aziz Ali last week in Guantanamo Bay and said Ali told them the defendants would use their trial to explain their negative views on American foreign policy. News of the pleas first appeared in the New York Times. Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News, New York.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is sending investigators 9 to the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania after a small amount of radiation was found there. Beth Archer 10 is a spokeswoman for Exelon Nuclear which runs the plant. “No contamination was found outside of the containment 11 building. There is no threat to public health and safety. And radiological surveys showed that the contamination was confined to surfaces inside the containment building.” About 150 employees were sent home yesterday as a precaution. In 1979 there was a partial meltdown in one of the reactors 12 at Three Mile Island.

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak is urging his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres to reconsider Israeli plans to build 900 new apartments in a Jewish neighborhood of East Jerusalem. Mubarak said the plans are another impediment to a final of Middle East peace accord. Palestinians have refused to restart peace talks unless there is a total halt in Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

This is NPR News from Washington.

A pack of bulls broke through a security barrier on a movie set in Spain today, triggering panic in streets. Two people were injured. Jerome Socolovsky has more.

The Bull Run was being rehearsed in Cadiz for a scene in an upcoming action film starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. After a bull knocked over the barrier, the pack went charging through the narrow alleys 13 of the ancient port city. Crowds that had gathered to watch the filming found themselves caught in an impromptu 14 no-holds-barred running of the bulls. After 40 minutes of panic, the thousand-pound animals were finally rounded up on the beach. One local councilman is accusing the city government of overlooking safety measures in its effort to please Hollywood filmmakers. The city has suspended the shoot. For NPR News, I'm Jerome Socolovsky in Madrid.

The astronauts on the Space Shuttle Atlantis had most of the day off as they gear up for another spacewalk outside the International Space Station tomorrow. Astronaut Randy Bresnik today announced that his wife had finally given birth to their second child back in Houston, 220 miles below where Atlantis was orbiting. The baby had been due on Friday night. “I want to take this opportunity to report some good news. At 11: 04 last night Abigail Mae Bresnik joined the NASA family, and mama and baby are doing very well.” The baby's birth occurred after the Atlantis crew had gone to sleep last night. Bresnik's wife Rebecca is an attorney specializing in international law at the Johnson's Space Center in Houston. Atlantis is scheduled to return to earth on Friday.

I'm Craig Windham, NPR News in Washington.