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The Two-Way
2:02 pm
Thu February 9, 2012

Fun, Fun, Fun 'Til Council Takes The Frisbee Away

Credit Reed Saxon / AP
A surfer watches the waves just before sunset at Will Rogers State Beach in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles.

Throwing a frisbee or a football on a Los Angeles County beach in the summer could cost you $1,000.

As NPR member station KPCC reports, the L.A. Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a revision of a 37-page ordinance that outlines acceptable behavior on county beaches.

KPCC reports:

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Shots - Health Blog
1:58 pm
Thu February 9, 2012

Feds Find Wide Variation In Serious Infections Linked To Catheters

Credit iStockphoto.com
Inattention to catheters used often in ICUs can lead to serious infections.

Across the country, 1 in 6 hospitals has high rates of one of the most serious kinds of preventable infections — those caused by catheters inserted into large veins, according to new data published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

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The Two-Way
1:09 pm
Thu February 9, 2012

U.S. Regulators Approve First Nuclear Power Plant In A Generation

Credit Southern Company
The containment vessel of Vogtle Unit 3 is already being assembled.

Originally published on Thu February 9, 2012 1:33 pm

The National Regulatory Agency announced it had given Southern Co. the OK to build two nuclear reactors in Georgia, making it the first new nuclear power plant approved in a generation.

The AP, which reported earlier today that the NRC was poised to give its approval, reports that one of the $14 billion reactors could be ready as soon as 2016. The second reactor could begin operating in 2017. The AP adds:

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Book Reviews
12:37 pm
Thu February 9, 2012

Scrappy 'Girlchild' Forms A Girl Scout Troop Of One

You'd think that, by now, the news that Americans are spoiling their children would be as attention-getting as the fabled headline, "dog bites man," but, apparently, we never weary of hearing about how bad we're doing as parents. Last year, it was the Tiger Mom; this year, a hot new book called Bringing Up Bebe, tells us that the French have us beat by an indifferent shrug when it comes to the art of raising independent kids.

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The Two-Way
12:35 pm
Thu February 9, 2012

Ban On Insider Trading By Lawmakers Passes House, Heads To Obama's Desk

By a nearly unanimous vote this morning the House passed the STOCK Act, which as NPR's Tamara Keith has reported, "would, among other things, explicitly ban insider trading for members of Congress and their staffs."

The vote was 417-2, with 14 members absent. The two nay votes were from Rep. John Campbell, R-Calif., and Rep. Rob Woodall, R-Ga.

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Anti-Government Protests Roil Egypt
12:24 pm
Thu February 9, 2012

Wael Ghonim: Creating A 'Revolution 2.0' In Egypt

Credit Khaled Desouki / AFP/Getty Images
Wael Ghonim talks with reporters in Cairo's Tahrir Square pn Feb. 8, 2011, as protests there continued.

The protests that led to the Egyptian revolution last year were organized in part by an anonymous Facebook page administrator. When the police found out who he was, they arrested and interrogated him. After his release, Wael Ghonim became the public face of the Egyptian revolution.

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Fresh Air Weekend
12:22 pm
Thu February 9, 2012

Fresh Air Weekend: Meryl Streep, Yoga

Credit The Weinstein Company
Meryl Streep stars as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in Phyllida Lloyd's The Iron Lady.

Fresh Air Weekend highlights some of the best interviews and reviews from past weeks, and new program elements specially paced for weekends. Our weekend show emphasizes interviews with writers, filmmakers, actors, and musicians, and often includes excerpts from live in-studio concerts. This week:

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The Two-Way
12:21 pm
Thu February 9, 2012

Gorbachev: Russia's Putin Has 'Exhausted' Himself

The former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev says if things don't change in Russia after it holds presidential elections, there will be more protests.

In a lecture at Moscow's International University on Thursday, Gorbachev also had some harsh words for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

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Movie Reviews
12:11 pm
Thu February 9, 2012

'Safe House,' 'Haywire': Watch Them Back To Back

The flashy Denzel Washington thriller Safe House will probably gross in a few hours what Steven Soderbergh's Haywire has made in several weeks, but if you like action you ought to catch both back to back. Soderbergh's film is a reaction to the jangled, high-impact style of Safe House and its ilk.

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Election 2012
12:00 pm
Thu February 9, 2012

Conservatives Hope To Reach Hard-Pressed Youth

Young conservatives are bringing new energy to this year's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) with a panel called, "Why Am I Living in My Parent's Basement?" Host Michel Martin talks with two young people attending, about how they hope to bring under-30 voters to their side of the aisle.

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