Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who wants to the the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, during a campaign event in Camp Hill, Pa., on Saturday (March 24, 2012).
As he slashes his campaign schedule and lays off about one-third of his staff, 2012 Republican presidential Newt Gingrich is mounting a "big-choice convention strategy" that he hopes will end with Republicans turning to him to be their nominee, NPR's Don Gonyea tells our Newscast Desk.
Comedian Bill Maher's $1 million check to the superPAC supporting President Obama's re-election is the first seven-figure donation to the group since Obama tacitly endorsed the fundraising strategy in early February.
And it has brought new focus to some of Maher's statements about women — specifically Republican women — and led to calls for the White House to disavow the HBO host and his money.
NPR's business news starts with new owners for the L.A. Dodgers.
One of the more legendary athletes here in Los Angeles, basketball's Magic Johnson is leading a consortium of investors to buy the Major League baseball team.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
This is a $2 billion deal. And that shatters the record for the most money paid for a North American sports franchise. The NFL's Miami Dolphins went for $1.1 billion three years ago.
And our last word in business today is lost and found.
For nearly 60 years, the whereabouts of a painting by Paul Cezanne remained a mystery. Some art experts feared his 19th century painting was lost forever. The watercolor is a study for a famous series of oil paintings Cezanne called "The Card Players."
The nation's capital is focused on the Supreme Court this week, and that includes members of Congress. Wednesday is the third day justices will hear arguments considering the constitutionality of President Obama's health care overhaul.
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning, I'm David Greene.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And I'm Renee Montagne.
It's the third and final day for the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the Obama health care overhaul. The justices hear arguments today on what parts could remain in effect if the court rules the individual mandate of the health care law is unconstitutional. After yesterday's arguments, that seemed more likely than most experts had expected.
Backed by the federal government, doctors in Michigan are trying to expand the use of a controversial form of organ donation that raises disturbing ethical concerns, including questions about whether the donors are really dead. Defining dead turns out to be pretty complicated. There are two ways to declare someone dead.
Kenya strikes oil - that was the headline in Nairobi's Daily Nation newspaper this week. It's the first time such a discovery has been made in the East African nation. Kenya's energy minister quickly held a press conference with oil company executives. Holding up a glass bottle of crude oil, he pledged to make sure that oil is a blessing for the people and not a curse.
And we're joined now by the BBC's Will Ross in Nairobi to talk about this discovery. Well, good morning.
And the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, whose construction has been delayed over environmental concerns, could now face some competition.
As NPR's John Ydstie reports, two companies have announced plans to build pipelines that would carry out the same service as the XL, channeling oil from Canada's tar sands to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico.
