NPR 2010-01-22

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh.

The US Supreme 1 Court is allowing corporations to spend however much they want on political campaigns again. Today the nation's high courts struck down a 20-year-old ruling that restricted corporate 2 contributions to candidates. The justices also rejected a part of McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill that prevented union and corporate funded political ads from running in the final days of campaigns. President Obama is strongly criticizing the high court's decision saying it has given a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in politics.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she lacks the votes to approve the Senate version of a health care overhaul 3 bill dealing 4 another setback 5 to the now flagging effort. NPR's Julie Rovner reports.

Tuesday's election of Republican Scott Brown to fill the seat of late Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts means Democrats 6 no longer have 60 votes to block a Republican filibuster 7 in the Senate. That means the health bill that was nearing the final vote must find another route to passage. One possibility was to have the House-approved version passed by the Senate last month. But Speaker Pelosi said today her members still found that unacceptable.

"So in its present form without any change, I don't think it's possible to pass the Senate bill in the house."

Pelosi, however, insisted that all options remain on the table and that finding a way to move forward on some sort of health overhaul remained a top priority for Democrats this year. Julie Rovner, NPR News, Washington.

Southern California residents are getting hit by a fourth powerful storm with it comes a threat of new floods and mudslides. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is pleading with residents under evacuation orders to get out. "When we say you have to evacuate 8, we mean it. It's because of potential for flash floods, mudslides and alike. Nearly 1,000 homes are under orders to evacuate.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton uses a speech on Internet freedoms today to call on China to investigate cyber attacks on Google and openly publish the findings. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.

Google threatened to leave China after the latest cyber attacks saying hackers 9 targeted the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists 10. Secretary Clinton said the US will candidly 11 and consistently raise this issue with China.

"We look to the Chinese authorities to conduct a thorough review of the cyber intrusions that led Google to make its announcement. And we also look for that investigation 12 and its results to be transparent 13."

In a speech at the museum in Washington, Clinton said there's been a spike 14 in threat to the free flow of information not only in China but also Tunisia ,Uzbekistan, Egypt and Vietnam. She said the State Department will hold a high-level meeting next month with Internet providers to talk about ways to fight censorship on the Internet. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.

Dow's down 190. This is NPR.

The American Red Cross is vowing 15 to be transparent about the way it's spending the money people donate to Haiti relief. And to that end, the Red Cross says that as of yesterday, the public has pledged 137 million dollars. Most of the donors 16 are from the US. Of the 34 million dollars received thus far, about half of it has been spent on food and water, the rest has been used for various supplies such as tents, first aid, vehicles and fuel.

Former Senator John Edwards has admitted he is the father of a young girl born to a worker on his presidential campaign. Edwards had earlier confessed / having an affair with the woman but until now had denied paternity. NPR's Adam Hochberg has details.

Edwards, the 2004 Democratic vice 17 presidential nominee 18, issued a written statement admitting that he fathered Frances Quinn Hunter who's now almost two years old. The girl's mother Rielle Hunter worked on Edwards's 2008 presidential campaign. The former Senator previously 19 admitted to having an affair after the National Enquirer 20 published allegations about the relationship. But for more than a year, he denied he was the girl's father. Instead, one of his campaign aides claimed paternity. Now as the campaign aide prepares to release a tell-all book, Edwards finally has admitted that he himself is Quinn's father. In his new statement, Edwards said he will do everything in his power to provide Quinn with the love and support she deserves. He said he's truly sorry to those he hurt. Adam Hochberg, NPR News, Chapel 21 Hill, North Carolina.

NBC says it's giving Conan O'Brien about 33 million dollars after deciding to take him off The Tonight Show and return Jay Leno to that spot in March. The network says it will also give O'Brien's 200-member staff about 12 million dollars in severance 22.

I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News, Washington.