NPR 2012-03-10

 The US is seeing its strongest three months of hiring since the start of the recession. The Labor 1 Department reports an increase of 227,000 jobs in February. The numbers from the previous two months have also been revised upward. But the unemployment rate is still 8.3% because it accounts for a greater number of people who started looking for work again. Still, President Obama says the report is proof the economy is improving.

 
“More companies are bringing jobs back and investing in America, and Manufacturing is adding jobs for the first time since the 1990s.”
 
The president speaking at a Rolls-Royce Virginia plant to drum up support for greater insourcing and made-in-America products.
 
Republican Rick Santorum campaigns in Kansas today ahead of the weekend's caucuses 2 which he says he’s hoping will help propel him toward a GOP nomination 3. Santorum has said that winning the state was important to surpass [slip] Mitt 4 Romney. 
 
Ohio plans to more closely regulate how companies get rid of wastewater from hydronic fracturing or fracking. NPR's Jeff Brady reports the rules come after a series of earthquakes linked to wastewater injected deep underground.
 
Fracking a natural gas well requires huge amount of water, chemicals and other things that have to be disposed of. The drilling boom in and around western Pennsylvania has led to much of these waste being disposed in Ohio. About a year ago near Youngstown, earthquakes started occurring. The strongest was a 4.0 magnitude. Ohio's Department of Natural Resources won’t say there’s a direct link between the earthquakes and a nearby well that brine was injected into. Still, the state now will require better geologic 5 data before it approves wells. Also, companies will have to electronically track the wastewater and what's in it. Jeff Brady, NPR News.
 
The number of African-American women who are getting infected with the AIDS virus may be much higher in some big cities than was previous thought. That's according to a new study released at a scientific meeting in Seattle. We have details from NPR's Rob Stein.
 
For the study, researchers analyzed 6 data collected from more than 2,000 women in six urban areas in the Northeast and Southeast hit hardest by the AIDS epidemic 7. These so-called HIV hot spots are Baltimore, Atlanta, Washington DC, New York City, Newark, New Jersey 8 and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. The researchers found that the rate at which women were getting infected with HIV was about five times higher than would have been expected based on previous estimates. Nearly 90% of the women in the study were African-American. The researchers say the findings indicate efforts need to be intensified 9 to stop the spread of AIDS virus, especially among African-Americans living in urban areas in the United States. Rob Stein, NPR News.
 
Dow’s up 41 points. 
 
This is NPR.
 
Federal housing authorities are spearheading the first-ever national study on housing discrimination against lesbian, gay and bi-sexual individuals. Today the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan also announced a new rule had taken effect this week that definitively 10 bars anyone operating HUD housing from asking about an applicant's sexual orientation 11 or gender 12 identity.
 
The Italian president is demanding clarification from Britain about the failure of a rescue operation in Nigeria which left one Italian and one British hostage dead. NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton reports Italy was not informed about that mission until after it had begun.
 
Giorgio Napolitano says it's inexplicable 13 that Britain failed to tell Rome about the attempt to rescue an Italian and a Briton who were kidnapped in Nigeria last May. Engineers Franco Lamolinara and Chris McManus died in the rescue bid by British and Nigerian special forces. Italy's president says he wants a political and diplomatic explanation why they were not informed about the military operation which could have had such consequences. Britain is defending its action, saying it was a fast-moving situation in Nigeria, and that Italy had been contacted as the failed operation began. Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR News, Dakar.
 
As Japan prepares to observe the anniversary of its earthquake and tsunami 14, the country was shaken today by a moderate quake with a magnitude of 5.4. It struck the northeastern part of the country near the zone that was hardest hit by last year's disaster. However, there were no immediate 15 reports of injuries or damage.
 
At last check, the Dow was up more than 40 points at 12,949.