NPR 2008-10-02

Senate lawmakers are moving toward a vote tonight on a revised 700-billion-dollar financial rescue plan, though from the floor debate it's clear there are lawmakers who continue to have reservations. Vermont independent Senator Bernie Sanders said there's no way he can vote for the bill at least in its current form. "This bill does not address the major economic crisis we face: growing unemployment, low wages and the need to create decent paying jobs, rebuilding our infrastructure 1, and moving us to energy efficiency and sustainable energy". But others in the Senate stressed the importance of getting the bill through. Connecticut Democrat 2 Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking 3 Committee, said action needs to be taken, calling it not just a Wall Street but a main street issue.  "A halt from the flow of money threatens not only Wall Street firms, which would not bring us here today, but what is a danger is the way of life for millions of Americans far beyond lower Manhattan." Leaders in both parties are predicting the several sweeteners including raising the FDIC coverage 4 limit on bank accounts, and putting in place middle-class tax breaks will help speed passage of the measure. It's expected the House will take up the bill on Friday.

Even as congressional lawmakers work toward a financial rescue package, one program geared toward helping 6 troubled homeowners is already under way. Aimed at helping prevent additional mortgage holders 7 from falling into foreclosure, the new program will let an estimated 400,000 homeowners swap 8 their current mortgages from more affordable 9 loans. It will be up to banks holding the mortgages to decide whether or not they participate. The qualified 11 borrower must be spending more than 31% of their income on mortgage payments.

US companies continued to hand out more pink slips in September. Thats according to a new report from Challenger Gray & Christmas. The number of announced layoffs 12 rose 7.2% last month. NPR's David Nogueras reports.

Most of the cuts came in the computer industry. Tech-companies eliminated more than 25,000 jobs in September. By comparison, financial services companies cut just over 8,000 jobs. But those numbers don't reflect the fall of Titans, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. John Challenger, chief executive of Challenger Gray & Christmas, says things will only get worse for the financial sector 13.  "For the year we've seen over 111,000 jobs cuts there. It's the leading sector in the economy and it looks like the lull 14 before the storm." Challenger says troubles on Wall Street are largely overshadowing cuts in the auto 15 industry. US auto-makers, he points out, have cut 75,000 jobs just this summer. David Nogueras, NPR News.

Major auto-makers weighed in with their September sales numbers today. Most showed double-digit declines. Ford 10 says September sales were down more than 34.5%. GM says September sales fell 16%, compared to a year ago. Toyota's sales were down 32%.

On Wall Street today the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 19 points to end the session at 10,831. The NASDAQ lost 22 points today.

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Jurors at the trial of Alaska Senator Ted 5 Stevens today were shown "Thank you" notes he wrote to an oil-pipeline contractor 16 who oversaw 17 work at the lawmakers' home. Federal prosecutors 18 contend the notes show that Stevens was where he was getting renovations carried out on his Alaska home for free. Bill Allen of VECO Corporation, a long-time-friend of Stevens, has testified his company paid for the work. However the notes shown to jurors also discussed home financing, bolstering 19 defense 20 attorney's claims the senator intended to pay for the project. Jurors meanwhile were sent home early today to accommodate one member of the jury panel. The government alleges 21 the Alaska Republican lied on Senate forms about receiving 250,000 dollars in gifts.

National Transportation Safety Board has released new information from its investigation 22 of the deadly collision between a Los Angeles commuter 23 train and a freight train last month. Karen Grigsby Bates reports.

In its latest update, the NTSB released subpoenaed 24 records from Metrolink engineer Robert Sanchez's phone activity on the day of the crash. In the first two hours of the split shift, Sanchez's cell received 21 text messages and sent 24. During the second half of the shift, the phone received seven text messages and sent five. Record showed that the last text was sent from his cell at 4:22:01PM. Data recorders aboard the Union Pacific train the Metrolink crashed into indicate the collision occurred 22 seconds later. Soon after the crash a few teen train buffs told a reporter they'd been texting with Sanchez. The NTSB is continuing to coordinate 25 recorded times from train and signal data and the engineer's cell to refine the exact collision time. Karen Grigsby Bates, NPR News.