NPR 2011-01-19

The House is due to begin debate this hour on a bill to repeal 1 the nation's health care law. A vote is scheduled for tomorrow. Meanwhile, North Dakota's Democratic Senator Kent Conrad announced today he won't seek re-election next year, a move that could help pave the way for a shift in the Senate. As NPR's David Welna reports, Conrad's decision to retire follows the recent departure of North Dakota's two other congressional Democrats 3.

By the time Kent Conrad's fifth term is over next year, the 62-year-old will have spent nearly half his life in the US Senate. Conrad now says in a statement that after months of consideration, he's decided 4 not to seek a sixth term. The Budget Committee chairman adds that with serious challenges such as the 14-trillion-dollar debt, he'd rather spend his remaining time in the Senate, trying to solve problems than be distracted by a re-election campaign. Conrad, who's seen as a centrist, has led efforts in Congress to address growing fiscal 5 deficits 6. But he's also seeing the departure of his two closest friends in Congress with last year's retirement 7 of Byron Dorgan, who'd served as the other Democratic senator for North Dakota, and the defeat of North Dakota House Democrat 2 Earl Pomeroy. Both their seats are now held by Republicans. David Welna, NPR News, the capital.

Turkey and Qatar are working on the diplomatic front to help resolve Lebanon's political crisis. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports some schools are closed and security forces are now on alert to watch for unrest in the streets of Beirut.

Just days after Lebanon's government collapsed 8 in a dispute over the case of the 2005 assassination 9 of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a draft indictment 10 was handed to a pre-trial judge for the UN-backed special tribunal. Prosecutor 11 Daniel Bellemare said the names in the draft indictment will remain under seal unless and until a judge agrees the evidence warrants a trial and decides to unseal the information.

"In the meantime, any speculation 12 about the contents of the indictment would be counter-productive as the pre-trial judge may not agree with me."

Hezbollah fears its members may be implicated 13 in the assassination although it denies any involvement. Lebanese security forces were on alert for unrest in the streets as Turkish and Qatari officials travel to Beirut to explore ways of forming a new government. Peter Kenyon, NPR News.

The LA Unified 14 School District reports two students have been injured when a gun discharged at Gardena High School. There are no further reports about what happened. Police are on the scene.

A rock'n'roll icon 15 has died. Promoter and producer Don Kirshner gave a stage for major rock acts, including Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd, Kiss and The Ramones, with his weekly program "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert". Before that, he was behind the growth of bubblegum music and the rise of classic songwriters such as Neil Sedaka and Carole King.

On Wall Street at this hour, the Dow is up 60 points; the NASDAQ is up six.

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The Federal Communications Commission has given the go-ahead for Comcast to take over NBC Universal. Comcast is the nation's largest cable company. It's been given permission to buy a 51% stake in NBC. Comcast will pay General Electric nearly 14 billion dollars in cash and assets.

Boeing is again postponing 16 the first delivery date for its new fuel-efficient jet airplane, the 787 Dreamliner, this timeuntil the third quarter of this year. NPR's David Schaper reports the announcement of the delay had been expected and is actually good news for the company's stockholders.

Chicago-based Boeing says first delivery of the oft-delayed Dreamliner will now happen some time between July and September instead of next month as had previously 17 been planned. But industry experts and analysts 18 had expected a much more significant delay, following an electrical fire on a test flight in early November that forced an emergency landing. And investors 19 are embracing the news of the new delivery schedule, sending Boeing stock price up. After the November test flight fire, Boeing stock price plummeted 20 nearly 10%. Boeing is implementing 21 a software fix in the plane and resumed limited flight testing for the cutting-edge, lighter-weight, fuel-efficient 787 Dreamliner in December. The much heralded 22 plane is already three years behind the schedule because of supply chain and production delays. David Schaper, NPR News, Chicago.

President Obama has ordered a review of all regulations designed to boost economic growth. He says while some government regulations protect the public, others place unreasonable 23 burdens on business that stifle 24 innovation and job creation.

I'm Barbara Klein, NPR News in Washington.