NPR 2009-12-15

Senate Democrats 2 are preparing to drop a plan to allow the near elderly to buy coverage 3 in the Medicare program as part of their health bill. NPR's Julie Rovner has more.

The so-called Medicare Buy-in would have allowed those age 55 to 64 to buy coverage in Medicare. Regular Medicare eligibility 4 begins at age 65. The plan was part of an agreement tentatively reached last week between moderate and conservative Democrat 1. The deal was to drop a government-run public option in exchange for the expanded Medicare coverage. But on Sunday, Connecticut independent Joe Lieberman said he wouldn't vote for the bill if it included either a public option or the Medicare proposal. Democrats need Lieberman's vote to defeat unified 5 Republican opposition 6 to the bill. Senators emerging from a closed-door meeting said no final decision has been made, but that it appears the Medicare Buy-in will be dropped from the proposal along with the public option. Lieberman said he was ‘’encouraged'’. Julie Rovner, NPR News, the Capitol.

San Francisco-based Wells Fargo said today it plans to repay the entire 25 billion dollars it received under the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program. Wells Fargo, the country's fourth biggest bank, says it will sell 10.4 billion dollars of its common shares. Wells Fargo is the latest of the nation's banks to announce plans for repaying the government and the taxpayers 7. Earlier today, Citigroup said it's raising 20 billion of capital to repay the government. Citi received 45 billion dollars in government loans.

The Obama administration has reached an agreement with two watchdog groups to recover an estimated 22 million emails from the George Bush administration. NPR's Peter Overby reports.

These missing emails could cover some of the most controversial episode of the Bush administration, to name a few, the turn of fortune turn in the Iraq War, President Bush's re-election and the push to oust 8 several federal prosecutors 9. The emails should have been clearly archived, but the system at that time couldn't do that. And for months, the Bush administration said no emails were missing. In 2007, two groups filed suit, the National Security Archive and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics 10 in Washington, or CREW. Some details of the arrangement are unclear. At least 33 days of the emails will be produced. CREW says 94 days will ultimately become available. It says the dates were chosen based on email volume and news events. But there's not enough money to restore all 22 million or so. Peter Overby, NPR News, Washington.

Poor countries attending the climate change summit in Copenhagen have apparently 11 found a solution due to speak with rich nations, announcing today they will stop their boycott 12 of negotiations 13 at the summit. Developing countries had brought negotiations to a standstill that demanded rich countries offer much deeper cuts in their greenhouse gas emissions 14. According to the environment spokesman for the European Union, the formal discussions resolved the impasse 15.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 29 points today.

This is NPR.

A military helicopter is now joining the search effort for a couple of missing hikers on Mount Hood 16. Rescuers say despite the fact one member of the party was found dead on a glacier 17 Saturday, rescuers are still holding out hope of finding the other two alive. Aircraft and ground crew searching for the missing hikers have been unable to reach the upper elevations 18 of what is Oregon’s tallest peak due to bad weather. However, with a break in the weather, the National Guard Black Hawk 19 helicopter was able to lift off today to resume the search.

NASA has launched a new space telescope that's designed to make an infrared 20 map of the entire sky. NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce reports.

A huge rocket took off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

'Five, four, three, two, one. We have ignition and lift-off.'

Inside was a NASA telescope called the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. About an hour later, it had separated from its rocket and was orbiting Earth. After a few weeks of checkouts 21, WISE will begin to scan the sky at infrared wavelength 22. If all goes well, it will create a panoramic 23 map, showing hundreds of millions of space objects. WISE should be able to see dim, dark objects, like failed stars called brown dwarfs 24. WISE should also allow researchers to detect hundreds of thousands of asteroids 25, including ones nearby that could potentially pose a threat to Earth. Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR News.

Britain's Cadbury is continuing to push back against a hostile takeover bid from Kraft Foods, rejecting a 10-billion-dollar offer. Cadbury's also hinting it may be ready to contemplate 26 other offers, though Cadbury's chairman said they have not yet been received from rivals Hershey and Ferrero.

I'm Jack 27 Speer, NPR News in Washington.