NPR 2011-05-17

A bit of good news for residents of Louisiana's Atchafalaya Basin this afternoon: Flood level projections 1 have been lower slightly. But as NPR's Greg Allen reports from Baton 2 Rouge 3, people who live along the Mississippi River and its bayous are beginning to see rising water.

Most of the communities threatened by the opening of the Morganza Floodway are watching for backflooding. Water then will back up as the Atchafalaya Basin fills. But in the town of Millville, a handful of residents who live right on the river have already seen water rise several feet and begin to lap at their backyards. Wendy Comal has lived here for 50 years. She says it's a beautiful river.

"But it can get angry, and it's angry right now. When you live in the flood, you always, you know, going to expect it."

She's already moved everything out of her house. She was here the last time the Morganza was opened in 1973. Based on that experience, she expects she might not get back home until the end of this summer. Greg Allen, NPR News, Baton Rouge.

The US has reached the legal limit on borrowing money. Treasury 4 Secretary Timothy Geithner today told Congress he's dipping into government workers' pension fund and won't be adding to the fund. That pushes the deadline for either raising the debt ceiling or cutting the budget by about 40% to August 2nd. If neither step is taken, the government will go into default.

The head of the International Monetary 5 Fund remains 6 in police custody 7. As NPR's Joel Rose reports, a New York judge has ordered Dominique Strauss-Kahn held without bail 8 on charges that he sexually assaulted a maid in a high-end Manhattan hotel room.

Prosecutors 10 asked the judge in Manhattan to deny bail, contending that Dominique Strauss-Kahn is at risk to flee the country, and the judge agreed, ordering Strauss-Kahn to be held without bail until his next hearing. Strauss-Kahn was arrested on Saturday night aboard an Air France plane that was about to leave New York for Paris. Strauss-Kahn is charged with several counts of sexual assault including attempted rape 11, but his lawyer Benjamin Brafman says Strauss-Kahn is innocent.

"We think this case is very defensible. We do not believe he has any intention of ever fleeing the jurisdiction 12. His principal intention is to try and clear his name."

Strauss-Kahn faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted. His job as director of the IMF, not to mention his political career, is also in jeopardy 13. Joel Rose, NPR News, New York.

The International Criminal Court is calling for the arrest of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, his son and his brother-in-law. The ICC's chief prosecutor 9 in The Hague says the three have committed crimes against humanity including rape and murder of civilians 14, and that they should be tried. ICC judges will decide whether to issue an international arrest warrant.

Just before the close on Wall Street, the Dow was down 41 points at 12,054; the NASDAQ was off 45 points at 2,783.

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Donald Trump 15 says he won't run for president. He released a formal statement today saying while he believes he could win the Republican primary and beat President Obama, he's not ready to leave the private sector 16. Trump says he'll continue to host NBC's "Celebrity 17 Apprentice 18."

Space shuttle Endeavour is on its way to the International Space Station after lifting off from the launch pad at Florida's Kennedy Space Center. As NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce reports, it’s Endeavour's last mission and a busy one.

Endeavour's final voyage in space will last a little more than two weeks. Six astronauts will deliver supplies for the station as well as new equipment, like a couple of communications antennas 19. They'll also install a two-billion-dollar physics instrument onto the orbiting outpost. The device is a big particle detector 20 that will spend years measuring cosmic rays and searching for evidence of antimatter and dark matter. Astronauts are scheduled to go on four spacewalks to do maintenance work and retrieve 21 experiments that have been left outside. The shuttle will dock to the station early on Wednesday. After this mission ends, NASA will have just one shuttle flight left before all the space ships are retired 22. Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR News.

The world's Roman Catholic bishops 23 are getting letters from the Vatican with instructions on how to deal with cases of sex abuse by priests. It suggests bishops cooperate with civil authorities, but does not say reporting cases is mandatory 24.

The Rev 25. Billy Graham is back home after being treated for pneumonia 26 at a North Carolina hospital. Doctors say the 92-year-old evangelist is responding to treatment, but that his recovery will be slow.

I'm Barbara Klein, NPR News in Washington.