NPR 2010-03-16

President Obama is seeking to build public pressure on lawmakers in advance of a vote on healthcare overhaul 1 legislation by putting a personal face on the issue. The president speaking at a senior center near the Ohio hometown of Natoma Canfield today. She's a self-employed cleaning woman who wrote to him, saying she had dropped her medical insurance when premiums 2 became unaffordable. Only to discover later, she had leukemia.

"I'm here because of Natoma. I'm here because of the countless 3 others who’ve been forced to face the most terrifying challenges in their lives with the added burden of medical bills they can't pay."

The president calling on lawmakers to show courage and enact 4 the healthcare measure.

Senate Banking 5 Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd says there's another urgent need facing the country, preventing a recurrence 6 of the financial crisis by closing loopholes, shoring up the financial system and protecting consumers from risky 7 lending practices.

"The legislation I present today contains bipartisan ideas and is the result of a bipartisan effort. It does not as of yet enjoy bipartisan support. But we do need to act, and I will act. Every day we delay is a day we are unprepared for what's around the corner."

Dodd notes that negotiators for the two parties were substantially in agreement on nine of the bill's eleven sections, but so far no GOP lawmakers have signed on.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan says the changes President Obama is proposing to make in the No Child Left Behind law are, in Duncan's words, pretty dramatic. The goal, he says, is to broaden the focus of the law beyond math and reading.

"Not only are we focusing just on schools, but we're focusing on school districts, and we're focusing on states. And so there's much more shared responsibility and frankly 8 shared accountability than anything that existed prior."

But the American Federation 9 of Teachers says the proposal puts too much responsibility on teachers for school and students' success.

Thailand's prime minister says he will not give in to the demands of as many as 100,000 anti-government demonstrators who had gathered in the capital. NPR's Michael Sullivan reports the protestors want him to resign and order new elections.

The demonstrators had given Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva until noon to dissolve parliament. It didn't happen. In a nationally televised address, Abhisit rejected their demand but said he was willing to listen to their ideas. He didn't elaborate. Earlier in the day, tens of thousands of Red Shirt protestors converged 10 on a military base on the outskirts 11 of the capital where the prime minister and senior members of the military were set to be gathered. Thai security forces made no effort to stop the procession, nor did the demonstrators try to force their way inside. The protestors are now returning to their staging area near the center of the city; their next move unclear. Michael Sullivan, NPR News, Bangkok.

Stock prices have turned mixed before the closing bell. A slight uptick in industrial production has not been enough to fuel buying on Wall Street today. The Dow is up 13 points.

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Soccer great David Beckham is facing weeks in a cast and more weeks of rehabilitation 12 after surgery in Finland today to repair one of his Achilles tendons. NPR's Rob Gifford reports the surgeon says the tendon was totally torn, and Beckham will not be able to put much strain on that foot for up to three months.

Thirty-four-year-old Beckham who's become one of the world's most recognized sporting stars had been hoping to become the first England player to play in four successive Soccer World Cups. The four-yearly competition starts in South Africa in June. The collective groan 13 of Beckham's injury will no doubt be heard in Los Angles, too, where Beckham is still under contract to the LA Galaxy 14. And he's the highest-paid player in US Major League Soccer. He was temporarily on loan to AC Milan before the US soccer season gets started at the end of this month. Rob Gifford, NPR News, London.

Truckloads of sandbags are being delivered to neighborhoods in Fargo, North Dakota where volunteers are ready to assemble barriers that will hold back the rising waters of the Red River. Pat Zavoral who's the city manager in Fargo says there’s an urgency to the work now because forecasters believe the river will crest 15 sooner than first thought.

"We've had to accelerate all of our planning that we had in place into an implementation 16 mode, and now that's where we're at."

The river is expected to crest to about 20 feet above flood stage on Saturday. Last year, flooding along the Red River forced the evacuation of thousands of people in North Dakota and Minnesota, but communities say they’re better prepared this year. More heavy rain today in New England aggravating 17 flooding there, more than 115,000 homes and businesses are still without electricity in the region.

I'm Craig Windham, NPR News in Washington.