Lead Stories

Shots - Health News
10:28 am
Wed January 23, 2013

Painkiller Paradox: Feds Struggle To Control Drugs That Help And Harm

Originally published on Wed January 23, 2013 1:38 pm

A few years ago, a doctor started prescribing Michael Israel painkillers for bad cramps in his gut. Israel had been struggling with Crohn's disease, a chronic digestive disorder, since he was a teenager.

"So he was prescribed, you know, Lortab, or Vicodin or whatever. You know, they would flip-flop it from one to another," says Avi Israel, Michael's father.

Then one day, Michael confessed that something was wrong.

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The Two-Way
9:34 am
Wed January 23, 2013

Secretary Clinton On Benghazi Attack: 'I Take Responsibility'

Credit Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testifies Wednesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya.

Originally published on Wed January 23, 2013 3:34 pm

  • On 'Morning Edition': Michele Kelemen reports

Update at 3:30 p.m. ET. Clinton Testifies Before House Committee:

One of the defining moments of Hillary Clinton's tenure as secretary of state was her strong advocacy for U.S. military intervention that helped oust Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

But as she prepared to step down from the post, she faced a grilling from Republicans in both the House and the Senate over what went wrong in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012, when four Americans were killed, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.

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National Security
7:58 am
Wed January 23, 2013

Obama's Promise To Close Guantanamo Prison Falls Short

Originally published on Wed January 23, 2013 8:13 am

In one of his first acts as commander in chief, President Obama in 2009 signed an executive order to close the U.S. detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

It was part of a campaign promise the president made, to close the camp and "determine how to deal with those who have been held there." But four years on, the controversial prison remains open.

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Shots - Health News
6:53 am
Wed January 23, 2013

Rules Would Retire Most Research Chimps

Credit Save the Chimps
Two chimps groom each other at the Save the Chimps facility in Florida. The National Institutes of Health owns about 360 chimpanzees that aren't yet retired and that are living at research facilities; new guidelines say most of its chimps should be retired.

Originally published on Wed January 23, 2013 3:56 pm

The National Institutes of Health should retire most of its chimps that are currently living in research facilities, according to a working group put together by the NIH to look at the future need for biomedical research on chimps.

The group did recommend keeping a small number of chimps in reserve in case they are needed for studies later on. But it also laid out a detailed description of the kind of living conditions that would be needed for those chimps, and said any proposed research should go through a review committee that includes members of the public.

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Local News
6:50 am
Wed January 23, 2013

Former Chinese Political Prisoner Harry Wu: U.S. Companies Too Cozy with Communist China

Credit University of Louisville
Harry Wu

Communism in China brought mixed reactions for a young Harry Wu.

When he visited poorer regions of the country, Wu could see some benefits for the poor. But Wu's father was a banker, among the capitalist class who were being persecuted in Mao's China. He considered leaving — maybe going to the then-British controlled Hong Kong — but he decided to stay in China and study. 

His family's past wealth caused him harassment until, in 1960, he was shipped off to a labor camp. And in labor camps he'd stay for the next 19 years.

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Environment
6:30 am
Wed January 23, 2013

Interstate Traffic Makes Air Quality in Rubbertown Worse

Start your car. See that puff from the tailpipe in your rearview mirror? Benzene, butadiene, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide.

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Local News
10:00 pm
Tue January 22, 2013

Baptist Minister Bojangles Blanchard Arrested After Applying for Marriage License

Credit File photo

 Reverend Maurice "Bojangles" Blanchard was arrested Tuesday evening after applying for a marriage license at Louisville's County Clerk's office. The arrest followed a protest and sit-in Blanchard called the Southern Satyagraha, which happened on West Jefferson Street near the Hall of Justice. 

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Politics
8:20 pm
Tue January 22, 2013

Pence Pushes for Tax Cut in State of State Speech

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence used his first State of the State address to lobby for a personal income tax cut, an expansion of Indiana's school voucher system and improved vocational training.

The Republican's speech tonight didn’t reveal much new information about what he wants to accomplish. Instead, he's used it to push for a handful of priorities he's laid out since taking office last week.

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Politics
5:29 pm
Tue January 22, 2013

Libertarian Super PAC Pounces on Mitch McConnell Following Kentucky Tea Party Warning

Credit Liberty For All
Liberty For All Super PAC

Piggybacking on a warning from more than a dozen Kentucky Tea Party groups, the head of a libertarian-leaning Super PAC says Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is everything that is wrong with politics.

Preston Bates is executive director of Liberty For All, which is a Texas-based group founded by 22-year-old millionaire John Ramsey.

In a series of statements, Bates says McConnell is unpopular enough to unite independents, libertarians and Democrats alike.

From Liberty for All:

On a Primary Challenge

“Mitch McConnell can’t afford a conversation with primary voters on his record, so his only prayer is an Ashley Judd candidacy so he can side-step the primary.”

Is Mitch Tea Party?

“Mitch McConnell is a poster-boy for everything that’s wrong with politics: a career politician who’s made tens of millions while Kentucky families suffer. He’s raised the debt ceiling, called TARP a success, and is fresh of raising taxes on Kentucky’s families. Simply put, he’s anything but a tea partier.”

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Politics
4:34 pm
Tue January 22, 2013

Massie Having "A Lot of Reservations" With Debt Ceiling Proposal

Credit Wikipedia

Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky says he isn’t sure he can support a plan to raise the nation’s debt ceiling until May, even though his party’s leaders are backing the idea.

Massie was among a group of GOP lawmakers who participated in a press conference in Washington today called “Conversations With Conservatives.”

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