NPR 2009-12-24

President Obama says he hopes a final health care bill will reach his desk with some combination of funding mechanisms 1 from both the House and Senate versions. That would include a tax on so-called Cadillac insurance plans. NPR's Scott Horsley reports.

Once the Senate approves its health care bill in a vote expected tomorrow, its plan will have to be reconciled with the House version. One key difference to be ironed out is how to pay for expanding health care coverage 2. The Senate wants to impose a tax on high-end health insurance plans while the House wants to tax rich people. In an interview with NPR, President Obama said both ideas will likely be included.

Taxing Cadillac plans that don't make people healthier, but just take more money out of their pockets because they’re paying more for insurance than they need to, that's actually a good idea and that helps bend the cost curve.

The president also defended the health care overhaul 3 as an important step forward even though it doesn't go as far as some on the left have hoped. Scott Horsley, NPR News, the White House.

Iranian opposition 4 websites are reporting more clashes today between Iranian security forces and supporters of a late dissident cleric. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.

Iranian officials deny reports that security forces have been using batons 5 and tear gas to break up demonstrators in Isfahan and elsewhere. Still State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said it's clear that Iran is using various security elements to, as he put it, stamp out the aspirations 6 of the Iranian people.

We've seen this dynamic tragically 7 for the people of Iran over several months. Iran is increasingly showing itself to be a police state.

The Obama administration has stepped up its rhetoric 8 on Iran as it tries to convince other countries to agree to tougher sanctions to pressure the Iranian government to curtail 9 its nuclear ambitions. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, the State Department.

Officials in Jamaica say more than 40 people were injured yesterday following an airline accident in Kingston, two people were seriously hurt. An American airline's jet overshot the runway in heavy rain and skidded 10 to a stop just short of the Caribbean Sea. The cause of the accident is not known. Passengers reported turbulence 11 several times during the flight from Miami. Rescuers found the plane with a cracked fuselage.

The government says sales of new homes dropped in November. The Commerce Department says they were down more than 11%, the lowest monthly report since April. The drop came as a tax credit for first-time home buyers were supposed to run out. Would-be home buyers apparently 12 stopped looking for houses. The tax credit is worth up to $8,000 and was supposed to expire before Congress extended the deadline.  

On Wall Street before the close, the Dow Jones industrials were up two points at 10,463. The NASDAQ was up 16 points that was at 2,268.

This is NPR.

Some of the Salvation 13 Army's famous bell ringers could be out past Christmas this year around the country because of bad weather and lower-than-expected donations. NPR's Pam Fessler reports.

The Salvation Army says that donations to its Red Kettle campaign are 9% below what they were a year ago, and that a big storm this past weekend on the east coast made matters worse. Major George Hood 14, the group’s chief communications officer, says the bad economy has really hit home.

As compared to a year ago when we ran the frontage, people hadn’t really experienced it yet, so they gave and they gave very generously, but this year, we are finding that many middle-class donors 15 have now become our clients.

Other social service providers reported similar squeeze with more demands for services and fewer donations. Salvation Army bell ringers generally stop asking for money on Christmas Eve but Hood says that some stores are allowing the campaign to continue for a few days after  Christmas to help make up the losses. Pam Fessler, NPR News.

The training service linking Britain with France is slowly returning to normal. Eurostar says service will remain limited through tomorrow. Trains were halted over the weekend after very bad weather stopped rail traffic through the channel, the rail tunnel underneath 16 English Channel. Some people were trapped underground for hours without food, water or information.

Major League Baseball and its umpires have reached a tentative five-year contract. Negotiators for the World Umpires’ Association and baseball owners talk through the day yesterday before hammering out the agreement. Thirty baseball clubs will now have to approve this, the umps will have to ratify 17 it as well. Both sides are meeting separately in January.