NPR 2008-04-12

Defense 1 Secretary Robert Gates said today that radical 2 cleric Shiite Muqtada al-Sadr will not be treated as an enemy of the US if he plays a non-threatening role in Iraqi politics. Gates’ comments come at a time the US and Iraqi forces have been fighting with members of Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia 3. “He is a significant political figure. We want him to work within the political process in Iraq. He has a large following. It’s important that he become a part of the process, if he is not already.” Gates made his remarks at the Pentagon on the same day a top aide to the cleric was the victim of an assassination 4 in the holy city of Najaf. The aide Riyadh al-Nuri was apparently 5 gunned down as he drove home after attending prayers. Al-Sadr’s office issued a statement today, blaming the US and Iraq for the aide’s death.

Frontier Airlines unexpectedly filed for bankruptcy 6. The company says the restructuring process could take up to a year and a half. From Rocky Mountain Community Radio, Bente Birkeland reports from Denver.

An official of Frontier says the bankruptcy was a disappointment because the airline had been doing well with record revenues in traffic last month. But Frontier’s credit card processor cut back how much money it gave the airline from ticket sales. Frontier’s president and CEO says that change left the airline with little choice but to file for Chapter 11. He says Frontier is prepared to take the credit card processor to court over what he calls “an illegal change in the holdback”. About 12 million passengers fly Frontier each year; it has 6,000 employees. The airline says it will continue to operate normally during the restructuring period. For NPR News, I’m Bente Birkeland in Denver.

More troubling news on the economy today: consumer confidence in April slumped 7 to a 26-year low. That’s according to a closely-watched University of Michigan’s survey. NPR’s Chris Arnold reports.

Consumer spending is at the heart of what keeps the economy going. So seeing the lowest reading on consumer confidence since 1982 is not a terribly good sign. Sara Johnson is an economist 8 with Global Insight. “It’s very concerning, confidence dropped into the recession range in late 2007 and then this spring, it has tumbled further.” Still, most Americans, even if they are nervous, tend to keep spending if they have money in their pockets, but Johnson says inflation is now cramping 9 their spending. “Year-on-year consumer price inflation is in the range of four percent while wage growth is around three and a half percent.” That’s one reason Johnson thinks we will be in a recession at least throughout the first half of this year. Chris Arnold, NPR News.

Surprise drop in earnings 10 by one of the bluest of the blue chip companies, giant General Electric, a major stock on the Dow and the second biggest US company by market capitalization, announced an unexpected six percent drop in its first quarter earnings today.

Wall Street fell sharply today. The Dow was down 256 points.

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Police searching a polygamous compound in Texas have now seized documents including marriage and birth records. That’s according to copies of search warrants that were released today. According to the information, more than 80 pages of items have been taken from the compound owned by a breakaway Mormon group known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. That includes what was referred to as a cyanide poisoning document. Police raid of the religious retreat followed complaints from a 16-year-old girl. She’d been abused by her 50-year-old husband. More than 400 children have been taken into custody 11 by authorities on the suspicion some had been sexually or physically 12 abused.

Major League Baseball and the player’s union today announced changes to the game’s anti-drug program in response to last year’s Mitchell report on doping in baseball. The changes include increased testing and the decision not to punish players named in the report. NPR’s Tom Goldman has more.

This is the third time since 2002 that Major League players and owners have amended 13 their joint 14 drug agreement. Both sides say the new changes will strengthen the program. The number of drug test will increase by 600 per year. The number of off-season test will double on average. A committee of management and union officials that helped oversee 15 the drug program has been disbanded and its responsibilities have been transferred to the doctor who has been serving as the so-called “independent program administrator”. This move is intended to enhance the program’s independence, although critics will say it doesn’t go far enough by turning over drug testing to an outside body, like the US Anti-Doping Agency. Finally, baseball commissioner 16 Bud Selig has agreed not to punish players named in the Mitchell report, meaning Jay Gibbons and Jose Guillen won’t have to serve their 15-day suspensions handed down last year. Tom Goldman, NPR News.