NPR 2010-07-29

Opponents of Arizona's new immigration law are celebrating a victory this afternoon.

"We believe that a judge's ruling was a very strong one."

Clarissa Martinez of the National Council of La Raza pleased that a federal judge blocked some of the most controversial parts of the law that, NPR's Ari Shapiro reports, is scheduled to take effect tomorrow.

Judge Susan Bolton's ruling is a victory for the Obama administration which went to court to challenge the law, but it's a short-term win until the court can resolve the issues raised in the suit. Her ruling suspends the most controversial sections of the law. One such provision requires police officers to check someone's immigration status during a stop for another reason. Another requires immigrants to carry their papers at all times. And a third section that's now on hold makes it illegal for undocumented workers to seek a job in a public place. Other parts of the law will still go into effect as scheduled. Ari Shapiro, NPR News.

They still haven't stopped the flow of oil, natural gas and water from the abandoned well hit by a barge 1 on a Louisiana waterway early yesterday. They hope to shut down the well this afternoon. Officials say the amount of oil that's come out of the wellhead is minuscule 2, compared to the BP spill in the Gulf 3 of Mexico.

BP says it's paid out more than a quarter of a billion dollars to workers and businesses hurt by the Gulf spill.

Authorities in Pakistan suspect bad weather and not terrorism in the crash of a jetliner outside the capital of Islamabad. All 152 people on board were killed, including two Americans. In Islamabad, NPR's Julie McCarthy says the plane went down in thick clouds and heavy rain.

International condolences are pouring in. Shocked relatives of the victims of the ill-fated flight swarmed 4 hospitals to identify their loved ones, but it was clear from the rescue workers who shifted bags of remains 5 from ambulances to area hospitals that identification would be a slow and painful process. The plane plunged 6 into a steep ridge 7 in the lush Margalla Hills, scorching 8 a broad area and burning many of the victims beyond recognition. Recovery operations will resume at daylight. The government has ordered the Defense 9 Ministry 10 to investigate what caused the Airblue Airline's jet to crash. Aviation experts say among the questions are why in such bad weather, the aircraft took off from Karachi at all. Julie McCarthy, NPR News, Islamabad.

Firefighters are battling to save an entire community from a raging wildfire on the edge of California's Mojave Desert. Dozens of homes have already been consumed, but the blaze is about 25% contained.

Stocks traded lower today on news that durable 11 goods orders were down 1% in June. It's another sign of a sputtering 12 economic recovery.

Near the close on Wall Street this afternoon, the Dow was down 49 points to 10,493, NASDAQ down 24, the S&P off eight.

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President Obama is on a visit to New York and New Jersey 13 today. He'll attend a couple of events to raise money for the Democrats 14 in the upcoming midterm elections. And he's promoting again the administration plan to increase lending to small businesses. Meantime, Democratic Party Chair Tim Kaine says their fall election strategy will be to link the GOP to the Tea Party movement.

A Chicago federal jury's been deliberating the fate of Rod Blagojevich for several hours now. NPR's Cheryl Corley reports the ousted 15 Illinois governor and his brother are on trial for allegedly plotting to sell or trade then President-elect Barack Obama's US Senate seat.

As jurors decide whether or not to convict Rod Blagojevich, they will weigh the evidence, testimony 16 from the former Illinois governor's two-month-long trial, a plethora 17 of documents and comments made by Blagojevich himself and undercover FBI recordings 18 of his telephone conversations. This morning, the jury received very lengthy 19 instructions on how their deliberation should be conducted. Afterwards, Blagojevich told a crowd of reporters that supporters had sustained him and his family. His lawyer said they had no regret about not putting Blagojevich on the witness stand. Earlier, attorney Sam Adam Jr. said he had done the best he could for his client.

"If at the end of the day, it's not good enough, then I apologize to Mr. Blagojevich: I'm sorry. I did everything I thought I could do and wanted to do."

The Blagojevich team also filed a motion for a mistrial today. Cheryl Corley, NPR News, Chicago.

Eleven accused pirates are being arraigned 20 in federal court in north of Virginia today. The Somali nationals are charged with attacking two US Navy ships last April. All of pleaded not guilty. If convicted, they face a mandatory 21 life sentence.