NPR 2011-05-01

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Nancy Lyons.

Volunteers are doing what they can to help victims of the massive tornadoes 1 that swept across the South this week, killing 2 more than 330 people. Walt Maddox is mayor of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, one of the hardest-hit communities.

"Today, thousands of volunteers and dedicated 3 city employees, along with emergency providers, will stand shoulder to shoulder with their fellow citizens to provide food, water, first aid and most importantly comfort."

Tens of thousands of Alabama homes and businesses are still without power.

A federal appeals court is giving the go-ahead for the US Army Corps 5 of Engineers to blow a hole in a Mississippi River levee. As NPR's Allison Keyes reports, they are trying to protect an area downriver from flooding.

The Army Corps of Engineers is considering using explosives to blast a hole through the levee and ease the strain rising Mississippi River levels are putting on a floodway system created after a record-setting 1927 flood. Corps spokesman Jim Pogue says the explosion would allow the corps to remain in control of that section of the national flood protection system. If the river doesn't drop and the levee isn't breached 6, he says: "Significantly larger amounts of land in Missouri and down into Arkansas, including several larger communities, could be adversely 7 affected 8." The state of Missouri lost a court appeal today to block that plan, which officials there say would flood as many as 130,000 acres of rich farmland, leaving a layer of silt 10 that could take a generation to clear. Allison Keyes, NPR News.

NASA says engineers should know by tomorrow whether there will be a Monday attempt to launch the space shuttle Endeavour. Friday's liftoff was scrubbed due to a glitch 11 in the heating system that's connected to the hydraulics. Engineers have spent much of today draining fuel from the shuttle so they could reach the compartment 12 where the problem occurred.

NATO powers are rejecting Muammar Gaddafi's call for a ceasefire, saying they want actions, not words. Gaddafi made the offer during an early morning televised address. NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro is in Benghazi and has more on the Libyan leader's speech.

Gaddafi's appearance is always slightly eccentric. Needless to say the very fact that he came on state television in the middle of the night, when very few Libyans would be watching, shows that this is a man who many people feel is not in full control of his own faculties 13, much less those of the rest of the country, but you have to understand that western Libya is still in his thrall 14. There are checkpoints everywhere. There is a real sense that he does have control over the military forces.

NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro reporting from Benghazi.

In Afghanistan, NATO says that a Taliban threat to begin a spring offensive tomorrow is a propaganda ploy 4. Coalition 15 forces have been intensifying 16 security in anticipation 17 of increased militant 18 attacks.

This is NPR News from Washington.

It is the last weekend that the Canadian federal election campaign. As Dan Karpenchuk reports, if recent polls are to be believed, Canada's political map could be in for some dramatic changes.

Traditionally, power has fallen to the country's two largest parties: the Liberals and the Conservatives. The third national party, the New Democrats 19, who are further left on the spectrum 20, usually run a distant third, but over the past week, the party has surged in the polls mainly because of the popularity of its leader Jack 21 Layton. It has passed the Liberals in support, and it's even eating into the lead of Prime Minister Harper's Conservatives, and the NDP is threatening the separatist Bloc 9 Québécois' supremacy 22 in Quebec. All of the other parties have now focused their attack ads against the NDP, hoping to slow its momentum 23. The latest smear 24 against its leader comes from a TV news report saying Layton had 16 years ago been interviewed by police in connection with a massage 25 parlor 26. No charges were ever filed. For NPR News, I'm Dan Karpenchuk in Toronto.

President Obama says it's time to end the four billion dollars in tax breaks for the oil and gas industry. In his broadcast address today, he said the giveaways aren't right. He says the money recouped from ending the tax subsidies 27 would be better spent on researching new energy resources. Republicans say ending the subsidies would mean tax increases that would end up costing jobs, and Congressman 28 James Lankford from oil-rich Oklahoma said in a GOP address that Mr. Obama has smothered 29 the industry in new regulations.

President Obama will be looking for smiles tonight when he attends the White House Correspondents' Association Annual Dinner. The event is typically a light-hearted affair and an opportunity for the president to show off his humorous side.

I'm Nancy Lyons, NPR News in Washington.