The Two-Way
6:54 am
Fri September 28, 2012

Income And Spending Both Basically Flat In August

Credit Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images
Higher prices at the pump meant the amount of money consumers spent went up last month.

Americans' personal income grew by just 0.1 percent in August from July and consumer spending would have been basically flat as well if it hadn't been for higher gasoline prices, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported this morning.

Read more
Asia
6:29 am
Fri September 28, 2012

China's Communist Party Expells Disgraced Politician

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

A sensational political scandal in China involves murder, abuse of power, and an attempted defection. And the case of senior politician Bo Xilai took another twist today. After months of speculation, it has just been announced that he has been expelled from the Communist Party and will face criminal charges. NPR's Louisa Lim is on the line with us from Beijing, and Louisa, what kind of charges is Bo Xilai going to face?

Read more
The Two-Way
6:22 am
Fri September 28, 2012

After Further Review, Having Regular Refs Back Made It 'A Real NFL Game'

Credit Larry French / Getty Images
In Baltimore, fans made their feelings clear Thursday night.

Friday morning quarterbacks seem to be unanimous in saying that having a "regular" crew of officials back on the field for Thursday night's NFL game between the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns made an immediate — and positive — difference.

"It felt like a real NFL game because the real NFL refs were back," writes ESPN's Jamison Hensley.

Read more
The Two-Way
5:48 am
Fri September 28, 2012

Once Prominent Politician Bo Xilai Expelled From China's Communist Party

Credit Jim Watson / AFP/Getty Images
Bo Xilai in 2004.

Originally published on Fri September 28, 2012 12:34 pm

Citing "severe disciplinary violations" connected to his wife's murder of a British businessman and other allegations of corruption, the Communist Party of China today expelled once prominent politician Bo Xilai and turned him over to "judicial organs" for prosecution, the state-controlled Xinhua News Agency reports.

Read more
The Two-Way
5:14 am
Fri September 28, 2012

'It's Insane. It's Crazy:' Gunman Kills Four, Then Himself, In Minneapolis

Credit Richard Tsong-Taatarii / Minneapolis Star Tribune/MCT /Landov
In shock: The scene outside a Minneapolis business Thursday. A gunman killed four people, wounded four others and then killed himself.

Originally published on Fri September 28, 2012 7:03 am

"This is something we see on the news in other parts of the country, not here," Minneapolis Deputy Police Chief Kris Arneson said Thursday night as her department began investigating why a man apparently walked into a sign company, killed at least four people and then took his own life.

Read more
World
4:48 am
Fri September 28, 2012

Briton Walks On Water In Human Hampster Wheel

Originally published on Fri September 28, 2012 6:29 am

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Read more
Around the Nation
4:27 am
Fri September 28, 2012

Candidate's Wife Douses Reporter With Water

Originally published on Fri September 28, 2012 6:29 am

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Read more
NPR Story
3:14 am
Fri September 28, 2012

Spain's Budget Cuts Likely To Provoke Protests

Originally published on Fri September 28, 2012 6:29 am

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

European finance ministers have asked Spain if it might need a few bucks to tide it over - in particular, $125 billion to prop up failing banks. The Spanish government is expected to announce today how much of that sum it will need.

Shoring up banks is one step Spain is taking to prevent economic collapse. Another step is to slash more than $50 billion dollars in spending.

Lauren Frayer reports from Madrid on Spain's new budget, unveiled last night.

Read more

David Schaper is a NPR National Desk reporter based in Chicago.

In this role, he covers news in Chicago and around the Midwest. Additionally he reports on a broad range of important social, cultural, political, and business issues in the region.

The range of Schaper's reporting has included profiles of service members killed in Iraq, and members of a reserve unit returning home to Wisconsin. He produced reports on the important political issues in key Midwest battleground states, education issues related to "No Child Left Behind," the bankruptcy of United Airlines as well as other aviation and transportation issues, and the devastation left by tornadoes, storms, blizzards, and floods in the Midwest.

Prior to joining NPR, Schaper spent nine years working as an award-winning reporter and editor for Chicago Public Radio's WBEZ-FM. For three years he covered education issues, reporting in-depth on the problems, financial and otherwise, plaguing Chicago's public schools.

In 1996, Schaper was named assistant news editor, managing the station's daily news coverage and editing a staff of six. He continued general assignment reporting, covering breaking news, politics, transportation, housing, sports, and business.

When he left WBEZ, Schaper was the station's political reporter, editor, and a frequent fill-in news anchor and program host. Additionally, he served as a frequent guest panelist on public television's Chicago Tonight and Chicago Week in Review.

Since beginning his career at Wisconsin Public Radio's WLSU-FM, Schaper worked in Chicago as a writer and editor for WBBM-AM and as a reporter and anchor for WXRT-FM. He worked at commercial stations WMAY-AM in Springfield, IL; and WIZM-AM and FM in La Crosse, WI; and at public stations WSSU-FM (now WUIS) and WDCB-FM in in Illinois.

Schaper earned a Bachelor of Science at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and an Master of Arts from the University of Illinois-Springfield.

NPR Story
2:49 am
Fri September 28, 2012

Mining For Swing Votes In Battleground Ohio

Credit Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Coal miners listened as GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney spoke during a rally last month in Beallsville, Ohio. Both Romney and President Obama have made the state a focal point of their campaigns.

Originally published on Fri September 28, 2012 9:15 am

Undecided voters in Ohio got a lot of attention this week from President Obama and GOP rival Mitt Romney. Coal may be the key to many swing voters in the Buckeye State, which remains a top coal producer.

It's an issue weighing on coal miner Rick Carpenter's mind at the Barnesville Pumpkin Festival in southeastern Ohio.

"Save coal — fire Obama. Yeah, I've got one of those signs in my yard," he says.

Read more

Pages