NPR News 2011-08-29 加文本

NPR News 2011-08-29

From NPR News in Washington, I’m Louise Schiavone.

Irene continues its northern track, now at tropical storm strength, having spent the weekend tearing a path from North Carolina to New England.  At least 18 people have reportedly died across eight states in the storm. Flooding and loss of power are Irene’s main stories. The storm is now in Vermont, where rivers are expected to crest late tonight or early tomorrow. Along the East Coast, more than four million have lost power, and many people who were evacuated ahead of the storm are beginning to return home. NPR’s Larry Abramson has more.

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano briefed President Obama on the storm Sunday morning. She warned people to stay off the roads.       

“We are not out of the woods yet. Irene remains a large and potentially dangerous storm. Hazards still persist in communities that have already seen the storm pass.”

Officials remain concerned about the risk of flooding in coming days as swollen rivers continue to rise. Larry Abramson, NPR News, Washington.

In New York City, where Irene seemed to have spared the city a more severe lashing, Councilman Vincent Gentile says the cleanup is about to start.

“I’ve told that, you know, I’ve told that the Parks Department now that the wind has subsided, we’ll begin the cleanup sometime this evening, and I would imagine over the next few days should take the charge of that cleanup.”

Craig Carper with member station WCVE reports that the state of Virginia is now experiencing the second largest power outage in its history.

The area of the state most affected by the storm was Richmond, where 75% of the city is without power. Dominion Virginia Power says it will be days, possibly longer before power is fully restored to their service area. A forth fatality due to a falling tree has been reported. State officials are warning people not to take chances or overexert themselves during storm cleanup. Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Services Dr. Karen Remley.

“If you’re not used to chopping down trees, today is not the day to learn how. It’s better to let somebody else come in and do it for you. So I think it’s a day we should all kinda take a deep breath and say we’re lucky, that we’re all here and think about planning to clean up in a thoughtful way rather than trying to jump into it.”

One positive effect of the hurricane is that it has extinguished fires in the Great Dismal Swamp. For NPR News, I’m Craig Carper in Richmond.

Libyan rebels appear to be solidifying control of Tripoli. We get more from NPR’s Jason Beaubien.

There are roadblocks all over the city at the moment. It’s very hard to move around. The rebels have also been making advances. They say they’ve pretty much cleared the road entirely from Tripoli to west to the Tunisian border. They’re also moving closer to Sirte, the hometown of Gaddafi where loyalists are still in control there. So the rebels are rapidly controlling more and more of the country. It is very clear that they do completely control Tripoli.

NPR’s Jason Beaubien in Tripoli.

This is NPR.

US officials say they have killed a key al-Qaeda operative in Pakistan as NPR’s Dina Temple-Raston reports if the report’s true, the group has lost its new second-in-command.

Officials say that Atiyah al-Rahman was killed last week in Waziristan, Pakistan in a CIA drone strike. There are often reports about drone strikes that have killed core al-Qaeda leaders only to have the targeted terrorists surface later in escaped. In fact, that happened last year in Rahman’s case, but this time officials seem convinced they got their man. Rahman is more than just al-Qaeda’s NO.2. He’s one of the hardcore fighters who fought the Soviets in Afghanistan alongside Osama bin Laden. He became bin Laden’s trusted aide-de-camp. He was in charge of communicating to other al-Qaeda leaders and other al-Qaeda affiliate groups. He was also in charge of getting bin Laden’s many audio and video tapes out to the media. If he is dead, officials say it’s another body blow to al-Qaeda. Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News.

The state of California is considering legislation to ban Styrofoam food containers, starting by 2015. More than 50 California cities and counties already have a similar ban. Supporters of the ban say Styrofoam is not compostable or biodegradable and can last for thousands of years.

The-blockbuster-novel-turned-blockbuster-movie “The Help” was in first place at the box office this weekend with 14.3 million dollars in sales.

“I wanna interview you about what it's like to work as a maid. I'd like to do a book of interviews about working for white families.”

Hurricane Irene made a slow summer weekend, and the movie’s even slower.

I’m Louise Schiavone, NPR News, Washington.