Looking Up: Pockets of Economic Strength
12:01 am
Tue March 13, 2012

Record-High Food Prices Boost Farmers' Bottom Lines

Part of a series

Thanks to high commodity prices and surging productivity, U.S. farmers earned a net income of nearly $98 billion last year — a record, according to the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute.

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Election 2012
6:10 pm
Mon March 12, 2012

Even For Romney, Delegate Math Still A Problem

Credit Win McNamee / Getty Images
Mitt Romney waits to speak while being introduced Monday during a campaign stop in Mobile, Ala.

For many following the Republican presidential contest, the big question is who's winning.

That's not easily answered if you go only by who has won each state's primary or caucus. But if you measure who's won the most pledged convention delegates, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is clearly in the lead.

So much so, in fact, that Romney's campaign insists there's no way his rivals can catch up or keep him from getting the 1,144 delegates needed for securing the nomination in Tampa this summer during the Republican National Convention.

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Middle East
6:04 pm
Mon March 12, 2012

Israel: Rocket Shield Is Deflecting Gaza Attacks

Originally published on Sun March 18, 2012 8:30 am

In the Gaza Strip on Monday, Palestinian families mourned their dead.

Those killed included a 65-year-old farmer who was watering his tomatoes and checking on his greenhouses, his 35-year-old daughter, and a 15-year-old boy.

Israel says Palestinian militants were hiding among the local population and firing rockets from northern Gaza into southern Israel. Palestinians in one Gaza community told NPR that militants had been operating in the area but said the civilians were innocent.

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The Two-Way
5:55 pm
Mon March 12, 2012

Journalist Marie Colvin Laid To Rest In New York

Credit Stan Honda / AFP/Getty Images
Rosemarie Colvin, mother of slain Times of London correspondent Marie Colvin, walks behind the casket of her daughter after a funeral at St. Dominic's Catholic Church on Monday in Oyster Bay, New York.

The American journalist killed while on assignment in Syria was laid to rest in New York today.

At a ceremony in Oyster Bay, New York, Marie Colvin, who worked for the British paper The Sunday Times, was remembered as an "outstanding reporter" who took risks because she thought what she did was important.

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The Two-Way
5:21 pm
Mon March 12, 2012

The Talk Of SXSW: The Mobile Location App 'Highlight'

Credit Jack Plunkett / AP
Jessica Weaver, center, hands out trinkets advertising the new mobile app "Highlight" to passers-by outside the SXSW Interactive Festival and Conference in Austin, Texas on Saturday.
Shots - Health Blog
5:13 pm
Mon March 12, 2012

Romney Says No Thanks To Medicare

Credit Win McNamee / Getty Images
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney greets supporters at the Whistle Stop cafe in Mobile, Ala., on Monday, his birthday.

So Mitt Romney is turning 65. And on his landmark birthday, he's doing the exact opposite of what roughly 99 percent of Americans do at that age: He's not signing up for Medicare.

The news was broken by the blog Buzzfeed, and quickly confirmed by the Romney campaign.

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Looking Up: Pockets of Economic Strength
4:35 pm
Mon March 12, 2012

On Utah's 'Silicon Slopes,' Tech Jobs Get A Lift

Last year, Utah created jobs at a faster pace than any other state in the country — with the single exception of North Dakota. While the boom in North Dakota is being driven by oil and gas, the hot job market in Utah is being powered by technology companies.

Computer-system-design jobs in Utah shot up nearly 12 percent in 2011. Scientific and technical jobs jumped 9.7 percent. With job opportunities expanding, the state is having little trouble attracting new residents.

For Jill Layfield, the decision to move here from Silicon Valley was not a tough call.

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Presidential Race
4:29 pm
Mon March 12, 2012

Hey, Y'all: Why Romney Might Just Win In The South

Credit Dan Anderson / Reuters /Landov
Carla Castorina of Hurley, Miss. holds a sign supporting former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney after a campaign rally at the Port of Pascagoula in Pascagoula, Miss. on March 8. Polls show a tight race in the state, which holds its primary on Tuesday.

Mitt Romney's stilted efforts to relate to Dixie voters by tossing off a few "y'alls" and references to grits have been roundly mocked as awkward pandering.

And rightfully so, says political scientist Marvin King, who cringed at the GOP candidate's sprinkling of vernacular and Southern stereotypes into his patter during appearances in Mississippi and Alabama. The two states hold their Republican presidential primaries Tuesday.

"You can tell Romney wasn't expecting to campaign down here, and it shows," says King of the University of Mississippi.

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Shots - Health Blog
4:21 pm
Mon March 12, 2012

Circumcision May Lower Risk For Prostate Cancer

Originally published on Mon March 12, 2012 5:18 pm

Circumcision might reduce a man's risk of cancer.

Really?

It's possible, though not yet proved.

But the latest evidence in favor of protection comes from a study just published in the journal Cancer.

University of Washington researchers found a 15 percent lower risk of prostate cancer in men who'd been circumcised before they first had intercourse compared to men who hadn't been.

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The Two-Way
4:12 pm
Mon March 12, 2012

British High Court Will Hear Right-To-Die Case

Credit Jane Nicklinson / AP
In this family photo released in Jan. 2012 by Tony and Jane Nicklinson, former corporate manager, rugby player, skydiving sports enthusiast Tony Nicklinson sits at his home in Wiltshire, England.

Tony Nicklinson wants to die.

Except he can't commit suicide because he has "locked-in syndrome," which means his mind works fine but everything below his neck is paralyzed. A 2005 stroke left the 57-year-old unable to speak and he communicates largely by blinking. His case has been making headlines in Britain because the man wants a court to OK a doctor to end what he calls his "dull, miserable, demeaning, undignified and intolerable" life.

Today, the country's high court said it would hear his case.

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