NPR 2009-10-22

The FBI has arrested a Boston-area man for allegedly conspiring 1 to kill prominent US politicians and attack shoppers at a mall. NPR’s Dina Temple-Raston reports.

Tarek Mehanna was arrested at his parents’ house in Sudbury Massachusetts in an upscale neighborhood west of Boston. Prosecutors 2 say he and two other men had been hatching a plan to kill two politicians and possibly attack US targets. Mehanna, who graduated from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy 3 in Boston, allegedly went overseas with co-conspirators, hoping to gain entry into terrorist training camps, but they were turned away. Mehanna and his co-conspirators were allegedly inspired by the D.C. sniper case in which 10 people were randomly 4 shot in the D.C. area in 2002, so they allegedly discussed attacking a US shopping mall. They abandoned the idea when they couldn't secure automatic weapons. Mehanna is expected to appear in court to enter a plea Oct. 30th. Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News.

Iranian negotiators are said to have reached a tentative deal to begin shipping 6 around three quarters of the country’s stockpile of nuclear fuel out of the country to Russia, though a final arrangement would still have to be signed off on by Tehran and Washington. The draft deal with Iran was presented by the United Nations key nuclear watchdog group which has been meeting in Vienna along with the US, Russia and France. The possible agreement is aimed at reducing Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium, seen by the West as a nuclear weapons risk.

What some say as an early Test Vote in the Sen. on a health overhaul 7 did not go the Democrats 8' way. NPR’s Julie Rovner reports.

While closed-door negotiations 9 continue on the broader health care bill, Democrats had hoped to pass a bill to address one nagging 10 bit of annual business, canceling a scheduled fee cut for doctors in the Medicare program. For the past several years, the cuts have been postponed 11 a year or two at a time, but this bill would have permanently 12 changed the formula that produces the cuts, the only problem: the bill would have cost the Federal Treasury 13 245 billion dollars over the next decade and Democrats didn’t provide a way to offset 14 that cost. There is bipartisan agreement that next year’s 21% pay cut for doctors shouldn’t be allowed to happen, but Senate majority leader Harry 15 Reid now says a permanent solution will have to wait until after the bigger health bill is done. Julie Rovner, NPR News, Washington.

The Federal Reserve in its latest region-by-region snapshot of the economy says some improvements in housing along with signs of a pickup 16 in manufacturing are driving the early stages of an economic recovery. Reports from the 12 regions where the Fed maintains member banks show modest improvement or stabilization 17 in a number of areas, though it's still from relatively 18 depressed 19 levels.

On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 92 points to end the session at 9,949. The NASDAQ lost 12 points. The S&P500 dropped nine points today.

This is NPR.

Airplane builder Boeing saw a major drop in third quarter numbers. The Chicago-based company says its bottom line was hurt by cost associated with its much delayed 787 Dreamliner program as well as difficulties associated with a revamped version of its classic 747 jumbo jet. Boeing says with the three months ending in September, the company lost 1.6 billion dollars. It also slashed 20 its profit forecast going forward. Boeing, the second largest commercial airplane builder after Europe’s Airbus, says it had to deal with some airlines announcing order cancellations or delays due to the weak economy.

Six years after a wildfire destroyed nearly 1,000 homes in southern California, a grand jury has indicted 21 a prison inmate 22 on arson 23 and murder charges. Steve Julian from member station KPCC has more.

The fire began in a mountain canyon 24 when witnesses say someone threw a road flare 25 out of the window of a van. The fire quickly intensified 26 and burned through 140 square miles at the San Bernardino National Forest. Five people suffered fatal heart attacks as a result. The fire burned into two ski resort communities. Rickie Fowler was first interviewed in connection with the fire early 2004 based on a telephone tip, but prosecutors didn’t have enough evidence then to charge him. New evidence they say recently came to their attention and a criminal grand jury indicted him only days before the statute 27 of limitations was set to expire. Prosecutors say they are not certain whether Fowler or another man who had since died through the flare, but they are confident they have enough evidence to convict him. If they do, Fowler could face the death penalty. For NPR News, I’m Steve Julian in Los Angeles.

From the tracks auto 5 industry sales is out with an upbeat report today, CSM Worldwide is projecting US auto sales next year will hit 11.8 million units. That’s up from this year.