Presidential Race
3:05 am
Sun March 25, 2012

Another Southern Win Keeps Santorum Optimistic

Credit Jae C. Hong / AP
Rick Santorum won the Louisiana Republican presidential primary Saturday, beating front-runner Mitt Romney in the race to challenge President Obama.

Rick Santorum had been expected to win Louisiana's Republican presidential primary Saturday, but the size of the victory was a surprise. The former Pennsylvania senator captured 49 percent of the GOP vote. Mitt Romney, who is the front-runner nationally, finished a distant second with nearly 27 percent. Santorum sees his win as evidence that the party still has big doubts about Romney.

Among those who voted for Santorum was 54-year-old Curt Thurmon in Shreveport.

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Shots - Health Blog
3:04 am
Sun March 25, 2012

Sunshine State Bets On Sunset For Health Care Act

Credit Greg Allen / NPR
Louisa McQueeney manages a small business in Lantana, Fla., shipping gift food and produce. She believes the new health care law could bring down her employee health care costs, but Florida Gov. Rick Scott disagrees, and he's leading the battle to strike down the law in court.

Originally published on Sun March 25, 2012 8:26 am

No state has worked harder to stop the federal health care overhaul than Florida. Hours after President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law two years ago, Florida led 12 other states in a federal court challenge. Eventually, a total of 26 states signed on.

The Supreme Court will hear the case this week. Meanwhile, Florida's governor, Rick Scott, has rejected more than $35 million in federal grants to help the state prepare for the new federal program.

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Judging The Health Care Law
3:03 am
Sun March 25, 2012

In Health Case, Combustible Mix Of Politics And Law

Credit J. Scott Applewhite / AP
The Supreme Court will hear arguments this week over President Obama's health care overhaul.

Originally published on Mon March 26, 2012 5:33 am

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to begin hearing oral arguments Monday in a Republican-led challenge to the national health care law that has convulsed the country and its political class for more than two years — and may well define President Obama's tenure in the White House.

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Judging The Health Care Law
3:03 am
Sun March 25, 2012

A Legal Guide To The Health Care Arguments

As the Supreme Court prepares to hear oral arguments over President Obama's health care overhaul this week, we take a look at the questions at stake each day.

Monday: Can the courts even rule on the constitutionality of the law right now?

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Monkey See
9:01 pm
Sat March 24, 2012

What Would Joan Harris Do? Eleanor Clift Remembers 'Mad' Times At Newsweek

Credit Frank Ockenfels / AMC
Joan Harris (Christina Hendricks) is one of the women of Mad Men, which returns Sunday night on AMC.

With Sunday's long-awaited fifth-season premiere of Mad Men finally arriving, Eleanor Clift recently wrote a cover story for Newsweek about what it was like for her as a young employee at Newsweek at around the same time, in the late 1960s, that the show is set. On Sunday's Weekend Edition, she talks to Susan Stamberg about what that time was like.

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Sunday Puzzle
5:41 pm
Sat March 24, 2012

Don't Be Lax With Your Answers

Credit NPR Graphic

On-Air Challenge: Every answer today is a word or phrase containing the consecutive letters A-X. You'll be given clues and anagrams to the answers.

Last Week's Challenge: Take the phrase "no sweat." Using only these seven letters, and repeating them as often as necessary, can you make a familiar four-word phrase? It's 15 letters long. What is it?

Answer: The phrase is "waste not, want not."

Winner: Alison Haskins of Oxford, Ohio

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U.S.
5:32 pm
Sat March 24, 2012

Former VP Cheney Undergoes Heart Transplant

Originally published on Sat March 24, 2012 8:32 pm

Dick Cheney, 71, was in a Virginia hospital following a heart transplant Saturday. Host Laura Sullivan talks with NPR's Rob Stein about the former vice president's health.

Presidential Race
2:13 pm
Sat March 24, 2012

The GOP Contest: Louisiana And Beyond

Transcript

LAURA SULLIVAN, HOST:

It's WEEKENDS on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Laura Sullivan, in for Guy Raz.

The Republican nominating contest is back in the South today as primary voters cast their ballots in Louisiana. A little earlier, we caught up with NPR's national political correspondent Don Gonyea who's on the road in Louisiana. Don, where are you now?

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Books
2:08 pm
Sat March 24, 2012

Three-Minute Fiction: The Deadline Approaches

In Round 8 of our Three-Minute Fiction contest, listeners were given this challenge: Begin a story with this sentence: "She closed the book, placed it on the table, and finally decided to walk through the door." And, as always, the story must be 600 words or less. The deadline is 11:59 p.m. ET Sunday.

Presidential Race
1:57 pm
Sat March 24, 2012

Dissecting Santorum's Ominous 'Obamaville' Ad

Originally published on Sat March 24, 2012 8:32 pm

Transcript

LAURA SULLIVAN, HOST:

A new online ad from Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum sketches out a dire threat.

(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL AD)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Imagine a small American town two years from now if Obama is re-elected. The wait to see a doctor is ever increasing. Gas prices through the roof, and the freedom of religion under attack.

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