A Month of Oil; Mexican President Calderon in DC; Attacks in Afghanistan; Too Much Information; Summer TV

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Thursday, May 20, 2010

Next steps after a month of gushing oil in the Gulf of Mexico; Mexican President Felipe Calderon visits Washington amidst immigration debate; Taliban attacks in Afghanistan; the dangers (and benefits) of having lots of personal information online; summer television schedule; tobacco farmers scrambling as domestic demand drops.

Top of the Hour: Oil Spill Update, Morning Headlines

We get an update on the oil spill in the Gulf; headlines.

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A Month After Deepwater Horizon Explosion, Oil Keeps Flowing

Today marks one month since the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The accident caused a massive fire that killed eleven workers. And days later, the rig capsized and sank. Ever since, an estimated 210,000 gallons of oil have been gushing into the Gulf every day. (That's a minimum, according to BP: Many observers think the rate is much, much higher.) Three companies are being held responsible: BP owns the well, Transocean owned the rig and Halliburton was contracted to run certain rig services. Over the past month, we've seen the executives from those three companies pass the blame around on Capitol Hill, we've heard leading politicians change their stance on offshore drilling, and we've learned of innovative technologies that have been used to try to plug the leak and clean up the spill (with little success).

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Takeouts: Making Money Off of Whistle-Blowers, Listeners Respond to the Primaries, TMI Online

  • Financial Takeout: A recently expanded IRA program encourages private actors to alert the agency to tax evaders. In return informants receive a share of the recovered tax dollars. The New York Times finance reporter Louise Story explains this emerging market for hedge fund and private equity firms.
  • Listeners Respond: Takeaway listeners text, call, email and facebook their responses on the shifting political winds here at home.
  • Online Privacy: We're doing an experiment to find out how web users feel about having so much private information online. Here's how you've been responding.

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Afghanistan Still Needs Political Security Despite Military Successes

Gen. Stanley McChrystal said that NATO forces have stopped the Taliban's momentum, but no one is winning the war. And as attacks this week on U.S. and NATO forces in Kabul and at Bagram Air Base indicate, there are still tremendous challenges ahead. We look specifically at the offensive in Marjah to see if the U.S. strategy is working.

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No Tweeting at White House's Second State Dinner

Following last year's debacle where a pair of Washington D.C. socialites snuck in and hobnobbed with Obama's top brass, the Obama White House was on high alert at last night's state dinner for Mexican president, Felipe Calderon and his wife Margarita Zavala. However, the leaders were still having fun, according to Latoya Peterson, editor of the blog Racialicious.

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Overwhelming Evidence Finds North Korean Torpedo Sunk South Korean Warship

An international investigation has concluded that there's overwhelming evidence that a North Korean torpedo sunk a South Korean warship in March, killing 46 sailors. North Korea denies the charge and is threatening war if new sanctions are imposed. We hear more from the BBC's John Sudworth on the incident and whether we should take alarming threats of "all out war" from the North seriously.

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Privacy in the Time of Facebook

Facebook executives are preparing for a ‘privacy summit’ to discuss the site’s controversial new default privacy settings (which do little to protect users’ privacy). But in a world of over-sharing online, does privacy even matter anymore? And have our notions of public and private changed so dramatically that we couldn’t reverse things if we wanted to?

Talk to someone sharing their information. Take part in our "TMI" experiment!

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Top of the Hour: Felipe Calderon's US Visit, Morning Headlines

Franc Contreras, a journalist based in Mexico City describes how Mexicans feel about U.S. immigration policy; headlines.

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Mexico Reacts to America's Immigration Policies

Mexican President Felipe Calderon will address a joint session of Congress today, as he continues his visit to the United States. Yesterday he joined President Obama at the White House and spoke out against Arizona's recent immigration law.

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Takeouts: Financial Reform Hits a Snag, NBA Playoffs

  • Washington Takeout: Washington correspondent Todd Zwillich joins us with the latest on the financial reform bill, which seems to be termporarily delayed on Capitol Hill.
  • Sports Takeout: Sports contributor Ibrahim Abdul-Matin recaps Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals between the Phoenix Suns and the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Playoffs. He also looks at yesterday's NBA draft lottery and who the lucky winner was.

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Decline in Smoking Takes Toll on Tobacco Farmers

Smoking is in decline. This is good news for the CDC, but bad news for tobacco farmers. This month, Washington State increased their cigarette tax to more than three dollars a pack. And two new smoking bans will take effect this summer in Kansas and Wisconsin, making a total of 26 states that say no to smokers.

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Closed GM Plants May Get a Facelift

During the decline of the American auto industry, thousands of people lost their jobs and the plants they once worked in were left abandoned. On Tuesday, President Obama announced a plan to spend over $800 million to clean up closed GM plants. 

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Summer TV Schedule Holds More Than Just 'Simpsons' Reruns

How long has summer been the time for TV networks to just kick up their feet, hit play on the reruns and maybe stage some low budget, easy-to-produce reality TV shows? Looking at the upcoming program schedules, it's clear: this summer you’re going to have more to watch than reruns of "The Simpsons" and "30 Rock" as the networks take a lesson from cable channels like the USA Network and HBO. 

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Cyclist Floyd Landis Accuses Lance Armstrong of Doping

American cyclist Floyd Landis, who won the Tour de France and was then stripped of the title because he tested positive for performance enhancing drugs has accused other top American cyclists of blood doping, including Lance Armstrong. In a letter to cycling officials, Landis outlines an extensive doping ring that involvd illegal drugs, testosterone and blood transfusions.

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