NPR 2011-09-09

 President Obama is expected to call for hundreds of billions of dollars in new tax cuts and government spending tonight in an effort to boost the creation of jobs and bring down the nation's high unemployment rate. NPR's Scott Horsley reports the president's long-awaited job speech to a joint session of congress comes at a time when many are questioning his stewardship of the economy. 

 
After months of looking for ways to cut government spending and raise tax revenue, President Obama will call on congress to move in the opposite direction tonight. White House Spokesman Jay Carney says while the president is still concerned with deficit reduction, his immediate goal is shoring up the economy. 
 
The president will put forward a series of proposals that he believes are the right answers to the most important question, which is, what can Washington do to help private sector create jobs and to help those who have lost their jobs deal with that situation. 
 
Carney says the president's plan is tailored to win bipartisan support, though in today's deeply divided congress that's far from guaranteed. Scott Horsley, NPR News, the White House.
 
In an assessment likely to fuel GOP criticism of the administration, Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke says it appears the impact of the last recession was worse than initially thought. 
 
From recent comprehensive revisions of government economic data, we have learned that the recession was even deeper and recovery weaker than we had previously thought. Indeed, aggregate output in the United States has still not returned to the level that it had attained before the crisis. 
 
Bernanke also said that he was surprised at how cautious consumers have been with spending in the two years since the recession officially ended. But he offered no indications that the Fed would take new steps to help the economy grow faster. The Central Bank is expected to consider some options though at the next meeting later this month. 
 
It's just a matter of hours before the Susquehanna River is expected to crest at nearly 41 feet, sending about 100,000 residents in Pennsylvania and New York running for safety at the order of local officials. Days of heavy rains from tropical storm Lee are triggering flood alerts across the northeastern US including in Connecticut, where Nancy Cohen of WNPR reports some places are seeing problems with the sewage system. 
 
In Connecticut, the ground is saturated and there are still a lot of debris left over from tropical storm Irene clogging up storm drains. That means there are not a lot of places for storm water to go. Dennis Greci with Connecticut’s environmental agency says in some cases flooded streets have drained into the sewage system and overflowed. 
 
It means we do have raw sewage going into the rivers and onto the streets and into people's basements. 
 
Some of the larger rivers, like Connecticut and Farmington, are expected to flood. From NPR News, I'm Nancy Cohen. 
 
At last check on Wall Street, the Dow was down 94 points at 11,321. This is NPR. 
 
The Associated Press is reporting that investigators say a wildfire caused by a plane crash in California burnt twice as many buildings as initially thought. They say 27 homes and more than 50 other buildings were destroyed in that place. It was caused by a weekend plane crash that killed two people in a remote area. The fire officials expect full containment though by tomorrow. 
 
A long simmering labor dispute has erupted into violence at the Washington State Port of Longview on the Columbia River. As NPR's Martin Kaste reports a crowd of disgruntled Longshoremen stormed the port and overpowered security. 
 
Local police say unionized Longshoremen broke down gates, smashed windows and briefly took several port security guards hostage. Then they damaged railroad cars carrying grain to the port. They are members of the International Longshoremen and Warehouse Union. And they are angry that the operator of a new grain terminal is using a contractor that employs workers from another union. The National Labor Relations Board is already seeking a court order to end what it calls the union's “aggressive” picketing at the port. Martin Kaste, NPR news, Seattle. 
 
Former Christian Dior designer John Galliano has been convicted by a French court for making anti-Semitic remarks. He is not serving prison time and a fine of 6,000 Euros have been suspended. Galliano who says he cannot remember making the insults because he was drunk and on prescription drugs at the time was not at today's court proceedings in Paris. 
 
US stocks continue to lose ground. At last check the Dow had fallen 108 points at 11,307. 
 
I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.