Shots - Health Blog
10:55 am
Tue July 24, 2012

When Going Back To The Hospital Is Good News

Credit Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has higher rates of readmissions for Medicare patients for some conditions. But its mortality rates for the same conditions is lower than at many hospitals.

No one wants to be readmitted to a hospital, but it does beat one alternative: death.

As Medicare prepares to start punishing hospitals with higher than expected readmission rates, new government data show that some hospitals with high readmissions are actually doing a better job than most in keeping Medicare patients alive.

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The Two-Way
10:41 am
Tue July 24, 2012

Gun Sales Are Up Sharply In Colorado Since Theater Shootings

Credit iStockphoto.com

Originally published on Tue July 24, 2012 1:04 pm

Sales of guns have risen strongly in Colorado since the early Friday shootings at a movie theater near Denver that left 12 people dead and 58 wounded.

The Denver Post reports that:

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The Two-Way
10:03 am
Tue July 24, 2012

Nothing To Report Yet, 'Disappointed' Amelia Earhart Searchers Say

Credit Google.com
Google honors Amelia Earhart today, on her 115th birthday.

The team of searchers and scientists who were hoping to find pieces of aviator Amelia Earhart's plane off an island in the mid-Pacific report being "disappointed that we did not make a dramatic and conclusive discovery."

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The Torch
9:51 am
Tue July 24, 2012

Let's Catch Up: Olympic Coaches Won't March; North Korea Wants Games On TV

Credit LOCOG
London Underground employee John Light (!) carries the Olympic torch onto a train at Wimbledon Station.

Good morning. With three days until the official opener of the 2012 London Games, here's a summary of the news coming out of the Olympics:

  • U.S. (and other) coaches will not be walking in Friday's Opening Ceremonies, because Olympic honchos wanted to shorten the ceremony. Some don't even have tickets.
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Shots - Health Blog
9:41 am
Tue July 24, 2012

HIV Testing Goes Mobile In Rural South Africa

Credit Jason Beaubien / NPR
A Doctors Without Borders counselor tests a South African woman for HIV.

Originally published on Tue July 24, 2012 11:16 am

Across South Africa there's a push to get more people tested for HIV.

Nationwide, roughly 18 percent of adults are infected with the virus, but many of them don't know it. And that information gap enables the spread of HIV.

In a rural part of the province of KwaZulu-Natal, Doctors Without Borders is setting up mobile testing centers in tents. Teams are also going door to door offering HIV tests on the spot.

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Philip Reeves is an award-winning veteran foreign correspondent who covers Europe out of NPR's bureau in London.

Reeves has spent two decades working as a journalist overseas, reporting from a wide range of places including the former Soviet Union, the Middle East and Asia.

A member of the NPR team that won highly prestigious Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University and George Foster Peabody awards for coverage of the conflict in Iraq, Reeves has been honored several times by the South Asian Journalists Association.

In 2010, Reeves moved to London from New Delhi after a stint of more than seven years working in and around South Asia. He traveled widely in India, taking listeners on voyages along the Ganges River and the ancient Grand Trunk Road. He also made numerous trips to cover unrest and political turmoil in Pakistan.

Reeves joined NPR in 2004, after spending 17 years as a correspondent for the British daily newspaper, The Independent. During the early stages of his career, he worked for BBC radio and television after training on the Bath Chronicle newspaper in western Britain.

Over the years, Reeves has covered a wide range of stories - from the Waco siege, to the growth of the Internet, Boris Yeltsin's erratic presidency, the economic rise of India, and conflicts in Gaza and the West Bank, Chechnya, Iraq, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.

Graduating from Cambridge University, Reeves earned a degree in English literature. He and his wife have one daughter. His family originates from New Zealand.

The Two-Way
9:19 am
Tue July 24, 2012

Post-Hinckley Changes Make Insanity Defense Hard For Colo. Suspect

Credit Arapahoe County Sheriff
James Holmes in a photograph taken by police during his booking.

Originally published on Tue July 24, 2012 10:30 am

Whether James Holmes, the man accused of killing 12 people and wounding 58 at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater will mount an insanity defense isn't yet known.

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Business
9:08 am
Tue July 24, 2012

'News Of The World' Editors Charged In Hacking

Originally published on Wed July 25, 2012 10:30 am

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

We've been following some big developments today in the News of the World phone-hacking scandal in Britain. Prosecutors are charging eight people - including a former top aide to Prime Minister David Cameron - and a woman who was Rupert Murdoch's top lieutenant. NPR's Philip Reeves reports.

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The Two-Way
8:01 am
Tue July 24, 2012

VIDEO: After Trade, Ichiro Says Sayonara To Seattle With Hit As A Yankee

Credit Otto Greule Jr. / Getty Images
Now batting for the Yankees, Ichiro Suzuki.

Baseball fans love perfect moments.

-- Babe Ruth hitting his "called shot."

-- Ted Williams homering in his last at-bat (and not tipping his cap).

-- Willie Mays and "the catch."

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The Two-Way
7:22 am
Tue July 24, 2012

Former Murdoch Editors Face Criminal Charges In U.K. Phone Hacking Scandal

Credit Leon Neal / AFP/Getty Images
Rebekah Brooks, who has now been charged in the phone hacking scandal.

Originally published on Tue July 24, 2012 8:05 am

Two former top editors at News Corp.'s now defunct News of the World tabloid in the U.K., including a man who later became a spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron, now face criminal charges related to the so-called hacking scandal.

The BBC writes that "eight people, including Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, will face a total of 19 charges relating to phone hacking, the Crown Prosecution Service" announced today. Coulson, after leaving Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., worked for Cameron.

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