NPR 2011-10-04

 Amanda Knox is walking free. As heard through an interpreter on CNN just moments ago, a judge with the Italian appeals court announced the panel was throwing out the former student’s murder conviction. 

 
“So we have overturned. So, knox, Amanda, is free.”
 
Knox had been serving a 26-year-sentence for the 2007 murder of her British roommate Meredith Kercher, whose family had been monitoring today’s developments, and they’ve long said that the victim had been overlooked and even forgot in the worldwide media coverage 1 of Knox’s appeals stemming from new questions about DNA 2 evidence. Knox’s ex-boyfriend who was sentenced to 25 years in prison in connection with Kercher’s death was also ordered free. 
 
The Nobel Prize in Physiology 3 or Medicine this year recognizes basic discoveries in the workings of the immune system. But as NPR’s Richard Knox reports, the death of one of the three winners has clouded the usual festivities. 
 
The Nobel committee awarded half the $1.5 million prize to Ralph Steinman of Rockefeller University in New York City. The other half went to American Bruce Beutler and Frenchman Jules Hoffmann. But Steinman died last Friday of pancreatic cancer. Neither the Nobel committee nor Steinman’s own university knew that until after the prize was announced early this morning. Nobel rules don’t seem to allow prizes for scientists who have died before the award is announced, but at the end of the Swedish day, Nobel officials offered condolences to Steinman’s family and said he would keep the prize. Steinman discovered the function of a key immune cell. The other two winners discovered fundamental workings of innate 4 immunity 5, the first line of defense 6 against invading organisms. Richard Knox, NPR News, Washington. 
 
All three Detroit automakers saw their sales increase in September. NPR’s Sonari Glinton reports pickups and SUVs led the sales growth. 
 
Most of the sales growth among US automakers is based on need, there’s a lot of pent-up demand as consumers held off on purchasing new vehicles. General Motors was up by 20%, Chrysler by 27%, though that’s compared to some dismal 8 numbers from last September. Meanwhile, Ford 9 saw its sales increase by 9%. It was trucks that carried the payload for the American automakers. That comes as gas prices fell. Each of the Detroit Three saw their sales of pickup 7 trucks jump by more than 30%. While car and truck sales continue to grow, analysts 10 expect the industry to sell about four million fewer vehicles this year than it did at its height before the last recession. Sonari Glinton, NPR News.
 
Investors 11 still worried about the debt crisis in Europe after Greece said it wouldn’t make its deficit 12 reduction target to keep getting an international bail-out. On Wall Street, Dow was down 258 points for more than 2% at last check at 10,655. 
 
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Several columns of thick black smoke can be seen rising from a magnablend chemical plant burning out of control just south of Dallas. The facility in Waxahachie reportedly had more than two dozen employees inside when the fire broke out this morning. Several areas are being evacuated 14. Jessenia Colin works at the local Hampton Inn, where she’s been watching the situation just get worse. 
 
“So it’s just spreading and spreading and they are telling everybody to evacuate 13. Like we have another college that’s near us, the very college they’ve evacuated already. And an elementary school they’ve evacuated as well.”
 
So far though no injuries have been reported. 
 
A new study finds the number of Americans living in multi-generational households has grown by nearly five million during the recent recession. NPR’s Jennifer Ludden reports it’s the largest such increase in modern history. 
 
The Pew Research Center finds doubling up with relatives is a financial lifeline for many. A quarter of young unemployed 15 have done so. The move that reports suggest has kept many from falling into poverty. Young adults also fuel the trend. In 2009, a fifth of those aged 16 25 to 34 lived in a multi-generational household. Asians, blacks and Hispanics are all far more likely than whites to live with other generations. The Pew study finds the sharpest spike 17 has been among Hispanics, a group hit especially hard by the downturn. Jennifer Ludden, NPR News, Washington. 
 
South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary is now scheduled for January 21st, becoming the latest state to jockey for a higher profile in the presidential nominating process. The state responded after Florida announced it wouldn’t move up its election, violating national party rules.