NPR 2010-03-31

From NPR News in Washington, I’m Korva Coleman.

President Obama has signed the last piece of the health care overhaul 1 today. The new law also makes big changes in the federal government’s student loan program. NPR’s Scott Horsley reports.

The new law ends what President Obama called “a sweetheart deal” for commercial banks. That may guarantee profits on student loans backed up by the federal government. From now on, Mr. Obama says the government will make those loans directly.

“By cutting out the middleman, we’ll save American taxpayers 2 $68 billion in the coming years. Sixty-eight billion dollars. That’s real money.”

Much of the savings 3 will go directly to students in the shape of more and bigger pal 4 grants and reduce student debts. Students who take out the new loans won’t have to repay more than 10% of their disposable income. Any remaining debt will be forgiven after 20 years or ten, if graduates go into the public service. Scott Horsley, NPR News, the White House.

Another Michigan man has appeared in court, suspected of planning to attack police officers and of trying to start an armed campaign against the federal government. Joshua Stone is reportedly a member of a Christian 5 militia 6 group called Hutaree that he believed it would fight the anti-Christ. Stone appeared in federal court in Detroit where he was denying bail 7.

Toyota is promising 8 to respond faster to consumer complaints. NPR’s Anthony Kuhn reports from Beijing this is the message coming from the first meeting of a quality control committee established following massive recalls by the world’s largest automaker.

President Akio Toyoda told reporters after the committee meeting that Toyota is setting up a system to respond more quickly to complaints, and that listening to consumer voices will be the key to regaining 9 their trust. The quality control team brings together quality managers from several major markets, including the US. Toyota also plans to put black box data recorders in more cars to analyze 10 a cause of accidents. It will also build four facilities in North America, Europe, China and Southeast Asia to train employees in quality control. In response to slumping 11 sales and consumer lawsuits 12, Toyota is offering 0% financing on some cars to lure 13 customers back to US showrooms. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Beijing.

There’s flooding in Northeast following a second powerful storm this month. The government of Rhode Island is urging state residents to get home early to avoid problems. Rhode Island may experience some of its worst flooding in 100 years. Dozens of people have been evacuated 14 from towns that are inundated 15. A spokesman for the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency says authorities are worried Interstate 95 may be closed. It’s also a major East Coast road.

On Wall Street before the close, the Dow Jones industrials were up 14 points at 10,910; the NASDAQ was up six, it was at 2,410; the S&P 500 was up a fraction.

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A new report on housing shows the price of homes was much more stable at the start of the year than it’s been in some time. The Standard & Poor’s/Case Shiller index tracked home prices in 20 cities from November through January. Prices were 0.7% lower over that three-month span than they were compared to the same time period a year earlier.

It’s something more than learning how to flip 16 burgers. McDonald’s Corporation runs what it calls Hamburger University to train managers. Now the Illinois-based firm’s opened its first Hamburger University in the Republic of China. NPR’s Cheryl Corley reports.

McDonald has been in the Republic of China for 20 years. It’s considered the company’s fastest-growing overseas market. It already has more than 60,000 employees and more than 1,100 restaurants and it plans to expand to 2,000 outlets 17 in three to five years. Each must be headed by a manager trained at McDonald’s Hamburger University or Hamburger U as it’s often called. There is a Hamburger U in Hong Kong and now one in Shanghai which becomes McDonald’s seventh worldwide training facility. Learning how to make hamburgers and fries is not part of the lesson plan. Instead, the focus is on how to run a business better. The move comes as foreign companies in China work to develop local managers and keep them on the job. McDonald’s plans to have 5,000 graduates from its Shanghai school in the next five years. Cheryl Corley, NPR News, Chicago.

Scientists fired up the huge atom smasher today at the International Research Center in Switzerland. They sent proton beams flying into each other with great speed. They’re trying to replicate 18 conditions that may have occurred at the birth of the universe billions of years ago and want to learn more about the makeup 19 of particles and forces within atoms.

I’m Korva Coleman, NPR News in Washington.