NPR 2008-10-03

Alaskans are heading home early from work tonight to catch the vice 1 presidential debates set to begin in about two hours from now. Sarah Palin's nomination 2 has revealed more about the governor than most Alaskans ever knew. NPR's Elizabeth Arnold reports from Anchorage.

Sarah Palin was considered a blank slate 3 when she was first elected governor, but after weeks of being in the national spotlight 4, the now vice presidential nominee 5 has emerged as someone many here don't seem to know at all. Palin has long characterized herself as an everyday working-class American, but the headline in Thursday's statewide newspaper here says she and her husband Todd had assets of at least 1.2 million dollars. Photos of her houses, remote properties, snow machines and airplane paint the picture, while Palin did deliver a boost to the McCain campaign and is proven to be a charismatic politician. Tonight's debate will be watched closely here and will be pivotal for her career, whether or not she goes on to the White House. For NPR News, I'm Elizabeth Arnold in Anchorage.
 
House leaders from both parties are scrambling 6 to round up enough votes to ensure passage of the 700-billion-dollar bailout package that won Senate approval last night. Some House Republicans say they can deliver the votes needed, but only if the scope of the package is reduced. More from NPR's David Welna.

Twenty three House Republicans are seeking to amend 7 the bailout bill passed by the Senate, so that only 250 billion of the 700 billion dollars authorized 8 by that bill could actually be spent. They also want to strip from the bill hundreds of millions of dollars in tax subsidies 9 that were added after the House defeated the bailout package on Monday. That group of Republicans, twenty of whom voted against the bill, say if they are allowed to offer the amendment 10, they can guarantee that when it comes up again, they will supply 15 yes votes. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said today that she does not want to amend the Senate-approved legislation, since that would mean the Senate would have to vote on it again if it passes the House with changes added to it. Pelosi is aiming to hold the vote on the bailout by Friday, but says she'll only bring it up if she's assured there are enough votes for it to pass. David Welna, NPR News, the Capitol.

After a hiker turned up personal items trace to missing adventurer Steve Fossett, search crews now said they have found body parts among the wreckage 11 of the small plane Fossett was flying when he disappeared. Authorities say it appears the plane may have slammed head-on into the side of a mountain in the Mammoth 12 Lakes area of California. The wreckage was found about 10,000 feet up in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Fossett who was 63 at the time he disappeared a year ago was declared legally dead in February. 

Problems in the credit markets were also having some effect on mortgage rates, it seems. Freddie Mac reported today the rate on a 30-year mortgage rose in a second straight week this week to 6.1%, rates on 15-year loans also aged 13 higher, rising to just about 5.75%.

On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 348 points, ending the session at 10,482. The NASDAQ lost 92 points. The S&P was down 46 points today.

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The Freedom Tower, centerpiece of the efforts to rebuild Manhattan's World Trade Center after the 2001 terror attacks, is not likely to be completed until well past the original target date. That's according to officials. The head of New Jersey 14 Port Authority now says the more than 1,700-foot tower meant to symbolize 15 the city's revival 16 likely will not be done until 2013. It will be built at a cost of more than three billion dollars. The project would be three times the original estimate. Other parts of the memorial to the nearly 3,000 people who died in the attack against the Twin Towers would likely be finished by 2011.

A federal judge has ordered that a Pakistani woman suspected of links to al-Qaeda undergo a psychiatric examination. NPR's Dina Temple-Raston has more.

US District Judge Richard Berman ordered a month-long medical assessment 17 for Aafia Siddiqui, a 36-year-old former MIT student who was arrested in Afghanistan in July. He ordered treatment and psychological examination to determine if she is medically fit and mentally competent to stand trial. Siddiqui was shot in the abdomen 18 by a US soldier in Afghanistan after allegedly grabbing a soldier's riffle and opening fire. She was brought to the United States to face charges of attempted murder and assault. Her trial has been delayed by her refusal to submit to the strip search required before she appears in court. Prosecutors 19 say Siddiqui has refused to cooperate with prison doctors and is suffering from mental illness. Siddiqui's competency hearing is scheduled for December 17th. Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News, New York.

Crude oil futures 20 fell $4.56 a barrel today ending the session at $93.97 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.