NPR 2009-08-28

A processional of police motorcycles escorted the body of Senator Edward Kennedy from Cape 1 Cod 2 to Boston today in advance of his funeral Mass on Saturday. From member station WCAI Sean Corcoran reports.

Hundreds of people lined the tree-covered streets as the body of Senator Edward Kennedy departed his beloved Hyannis Port in Cape Cod for the final time. Some people waved flags and held signs that said simply “Thank you, Senator Kennedy.” Cathy River of Hyannis says she was a close friend of Kennedy when they were younger. And as the processional rolled past, she could hear the words of members of the Kennedy family.

“They were all saying out their windows, thank you to all of us. And his daughter, thank you... Oh, God love them. They’re gonna miss Uncle Teddy so much, he was so much fun...”

The public is invited to say a final goodbye to Senator Kennedy through Friday as his body lies in repose 3 in the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston. For NPR News, I'm Sean Corcoran in Hyannis Port.

Kennedy's body arrived in Boston a short time ago with crowds standing 4 along the streets near the city’s historic Faneuil Hall to pay their respects. Kennedy will lie in repose today and tomorrow. He will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery 5. Kennedy died late Tuesday night, following a yearlong battle with brain cancer, he was 77 years old.

With expectations, this fall could see a resumption of the spread of the swine flu virus. Health officials are stressing it's vital for both pregnant women and new parents receive flu shots to protect themselves. Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a group that represents Nurse-Midwives, say it’s vital that women in any stage of pregnancy 6 be immunized against swine flu. With more than a million cases of swine flu reported by the CDC in the US, it has become the agency's No.1 priority.

The government fund that protects most bank deposit has fallen to just 10.4 billion dollars, that's according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. And now the FDIC views more than 400 financial institutions as problem banks. NPR's Frank Langfitt has more.

The economy maybe bottoming out, but many banks are still under stress. Rising unemployment and loan defaults have caused 81 banks to fail so far this year. At a news conference, FDIC Chair Sheila C. Bair said those failures are sapping its insurance fund. Bair emphasized that depositors aren’t at risk.

No insured depositor has ever lost a penny of insured deposits, and no one ever will.

But Bair said the fund does need more money. She said the FDIC has no plans to borrow from the Treasury 7, instead she expected to levy 8 a special assessment 9 on banks to raise the money later this year. Frank Langfitt, NPR News Washington.

Officials at the National Weather Service are keeping a close eye on Tropical Storm Danny as it moves north off the North Carolina Coast. The forecasters are saying there is a good chance Danny could strengthen to do a Category 1 hurricane by late tomorrow. Forecasters expected Danny to pass 75 miles to the east of Nantucket.

On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industry Average rose 37 points. This is NPR.

Sheriff's Department deputies in California now say they are 99 percent sure the woman who walked into a police station and said she was kidnapped 18 years ago at the age 11 is telling the truth. They said they have determined 10 the woman, Jaycee Lee Dugard was abducted 11 in front of her South Lake Tahoe home in 1991 as she headed to a school bus stop. Police say Dugard entered the police station and told them she has been the victim of the abduction. Two people have reportedly been taken into custody 12 in that case.

A 17-year-old British sailor has become the youngest person to sail solo around the world. NPR's Rob Gifford reports from London.

Nine months and 28 thousand miles after he set off, 17-year-old Mike Perham sailed past the finish line of Cornwall, South West England today and entered the record books. He'd hoped to become the youngest person to sail nonstop around the world. But problems with his boat had forced him to stop several times, so the nonstop record still belongs to an 18-year-old Australian. Perham said he had plenty of problems on the journey with equipment and with bad weather, but that the hardest part was just being on his own. His arrival coincides with the move by social workers in the Netherlands to try to stop a 13-year-old girl from setting off to break the same record. They say she is too young to attempt it and that her parents should not be allowing it. Rob Gifford, NPR News, London.

Labor 13 Department says the number of people filing first time jobless claims fell by 10,000 last week, declining to a seasonally 14 adjusted 570,000. The total number of persons collecting unemployment claims also fell to more than 6.1 million, the lowest level since April. The unemployment rate nationally

is currently at 9.4 percent.