NPR News 2012-03-31 加文本

NPR News 2012-03-31

From NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh.

The US Supreme Court’s justices are done with a closed-door meeting during which they were expected to cast a preliminary vote on the nation's contentious health care law. But NPR's Nina Totenberg reports however, each of the nine justices leans on the law's constitutionality; the picture could look much different when the ruling’s out by June.

The first vote is just the beginning in a long process. After the vote, the chief justice said he’s in the majority assigned who will write the majority opinion; if he’s not, then the senior justice makes the assignment. In the following weeks even months, drafts fly back and forth among the justices. And in the course of that process, justices can sometimes change their minds. Justice Anthony Kennedy, for instance, changed his mind in 1992 when he was assigned to write the court's opinion, upholding the practice of having preyers at public school graduation ceremonies. But he later wrote colleagues that the opinion as he put it just won't write, and he ended up writing the court's 5-4 opinion for the opposite result. Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.

More reports are surfacing about military shelling in Homs, Syria, though we cannot verify the contents of this amateur video (that) supposedly captures images of random strikes on neighborhoods. This comes just days after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad toured devastating sections of Homs and promised to rebuild, but so far there’s no sign that Assad is following through with the UN-backed plan for a ceasefire and political talks to end the year-old crisis.

Palestinians’ annual day of protests against Israeli land policies has turned deadly. One Palestinian in Gaza was killed by Israeli army gunfire in one of the many demonstrations staged in the Palestinian territories neighboring Arab countries and Israel, as Daniel Estrin reports from Jerusalem.

Israeli forces shot a 21-year-old man who was demonstrating with about 1,000 Palestinians in Gaza. Israel's army says he had approached the border and soldiers fired warning shots before firing at him directly. A Palestinian medical official says four in the West Bank and one in Jerusalem suffered serious head injuries. Arab citizens in Israel also protested. Israeli forces were deployed along Israel's borders today. They were preparing for a repeat of last year, when protesters in Syria and Lebanon stormed the Israeli border and at least 38 were killed, but today demonstrators in Jordan and Lebanon stayed away from the Israeli border. For NPR News, I'm Daniel Estrin in Jerusalem.

Mastercard is investigating a possible security breach of cardholders’ accounts. The company would not say how many people or institutions are affected, but it says law enforcement agencies have been notified. 

At last check on Wall Street, the Dow was up 74 points at 13,220.

This is NPR News.

The man tasked with leading the debt-settled city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania out of its financial crisis has unexpectedly walked away. As Craig Layne of member station WYTF tells us, activists and city leaders see the resignation as a major setback.

David Unkovic, the financial custodian handpicked by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett, had created a plan to help Harrisburg recover from its more than 300 million dollars of debt. Earlier this week, Unkovic complained local elected leaders were creating a hostile environment for his work, and he called for state and federal investigations into activities that led to the debt crisis. Lawyer Neil Grover with the community group called Debt Watch Harrisburg says that tension likely led to the resignation.

“He was going to do an open and fair process, and they didn't want to have any of that.”

Unkovic is a municipal bond attorney who came to Harrisburg in December. Neither his office nor the State Department that oversaw him were immediately available for comment. For NPR News, I'm Craig Layne in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

A desperate fight to control a wildfire continues in areas west of Denver. It was caused by what was supposed to be a controlled burn. Instead, strong winds sent the flames spreading to dozens of homes, damaging or destroying them and taking at least two lives along the way. A third person is missing. A search is underway.

Six hundred forty million dollars, that is the new record jackpot of Mega Millions lottery that's being played in 42 states and the District of Colombia. Chances of winning — one in 176 million. The drawing is tonight.

US stocks gaining ground, with the Dow up 66 points at 13,212.

I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News.