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The Two-Way
9:03 am
Mon May 20, 2013

Pledging Not To 'Screw It Up,' Yahoo Seals Deal For Tumblr

Credit Fred Dufour / AFP/Getty Images
They're coming together: Yahoo will pay $1.1 billion to acquire Tumblr.

Originally published on Mon May 20, 2013 9:06 am

The news that broke Sunday is now official.

Yahoo confirmed early Monday morning that it is buying Tumblr in a deal worth about $1.1 billion. "Per the agreement and our promise not to screw it up, Tumblr will be independently operated as a separate business," Yahoo added.

In its statement announcing the deal, Yahoo says that:

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Monkey See
8:57 am
Mon May 20, 2013

Reaction Saturation And Sunday Night Television

Credit iStockphoto.com

Consider what goes on in your brain when you, for instance, you watch an episode of Mad Men.

First, you have a reaction. "That's weird" is a reaction. So is "yuck." So is "wow." "This doesn't make sense" is a reaction, "that's a great dress" is a reaction, and "WHAT?" is a reaction.

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The Two-Way
8:08 am
Mon May 20, 2013

FBI Agents Killed In Training Accident Worked In Elite Unit

Credit FBI.gov
Members of the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team during a training exercise in Quantico, Va. Two FBI agents who were part of the unit died Friday during a training exercise offshore near Virginia Beach, Va.
The Two-Way
7:22 am
Mon May 20, 2013

Book News: J.K. Rowling Tells 'Harry Potter' Backstories

Credit Ben Pruchnie / Getty Images
J.K. Rowling.

The daily lowdown on books, publishing, and the occasional author behaving badly.

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Europe
7:00 am
Mon May 20, 2013

Germany May Have Paid A Price For Its Financial Power

Germans had to finance bailouts for countries like Greece, and imposed austerity measures in return. Those who disapprove may have struck back. People across the continent and beyond watched the Eurovision song contest. The German entry finished near the bottom, with countries giving the Germans no points at all

Around the Nation
6:55 am
Mon May 20, 2013

Right Lottery Numbers, Wrong Date

A California woman turned on the TV last week and saw she had the winning numbers in Wednesday's drawing. She thought she had won $360 million. It turns out she bought her ticket an hour after Wednesday's drawing.

The Two-Way
6:52 am
Mon May 20, 2013

Nation's Midsection Braces For More Severe Storms

Originally published on Mon May 20, 2013 11:14 am

There's no relief today for folks in the nation's midsection.

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Television
5:06 am
Mon May 20, 2013

Show Abandonment: When Once Popular Shows Nose Dive In The Ratings

Originally published on Mon May 20, 2013 6:48 am

What happens when fans stop talking about a show that used to be their favorite? Take American Idol, for example. Last week's finale was way down from last year's finale. It was the first time a finale did not reach the 20-million mark.

Television
5:06 am
Mon May 20, 2013

TV Shows Still Rely On Word Of Mouth

Originally published on Mon May 20, 2013 6:01 am

TV is still a huge topic of conversation on and offline, according to recent research. In fact, conversation about TV is growing in the last few years. And face-to-face word of mouth still has tremendous power when it comes to attracting new viewers to a show. TV still seems to be the most influential medium when it comes to shaping American culture.

Around the Nation
5:06 am
Mon May 20, 2013

Con. Train Travelers Going To New York Brace For Chaos

Originally published on Mon May 20, 2013 5:27 am

Officials in Connecticut are warning commuters to be prepared for travel chaos Monday and throughout the week. They say lengthy detours and hours of backups are likely as workers repair damage caused by the collision of two passenger trains on a portion of the New York-New Haven line on Friday.

Law
5:06 am
Mon May 20, 2013

Court Case Winds Down In New York's Stop-And-Frisk Challenge

Credit Seth Wenig / AP
Protesters participate in a rally near the federal courthouse March 18 in New York. Lawyers for four men who say they were illegally stopped said many of the 5 million people stopped, questioned and sometimes frisked by police in the past decade were wrongly targeted because of their race.

Originally published on Mon May 20, 2013 10:11 am

Closing arguments are set to take place Monday in the federal class action trial involving New York City's stop-and-frisk policy. The trial has been going on for two months in Manhattan.

Plaintiffs in Floyd v. City of New York claim the New York Police Department, its supervisors and its union pressured police officers to stop, question and frisk hundreds of thousands of people each year, even establishing quotas. They argue that 88 percent of the stops involved blacks and Hispanics, mostly men, and were in fact a form of racial profiling.

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Politics
5:06 am
Mon May 20, 2013

Why Congress Has Reasons Not To Be Bipartsan

Originally published on Mon May 20, 2013 5:19 am

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Now let's look little more deeply at this narrative of scandal. NPR's Scott Horsley has more.

SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: When President Obama gets frustrated with the gridlock in Washington, he sometimes looks back wistfully to the decades after World War II. Back then, he suggests Republicans and Democrats managed to work together, despite their differences, building highways, protecting consumers, and educating generations of workers.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)

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Around the Nation
5:06 am
Mon May 20, 2013

Seeds Are An Economical Choice For Vegetable Gardeners

Originally published on Mon May 20, 2013 5:20 pm

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

It's planting season, at least for those growing things like summer squash, beans and cherry tomatoes. And we're seeing a change. Rather than buy already developed seedlings, which are more expensive, many gardeners are buying seed packets. It's a sign they want to start their gardens from scratch. And seed companies say they've seen an increase in orders since the economic downturn.

Reporter Sasa Woodruff reports that it's easy to read the directions on these seed envelopes, the hard part is following them.

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Energy
5:06 am
Mon May 20, 2013

Calif. Law To Require Ships To Cut Pollution

Originally published on Mon May 20, 2013 5:28 am

California is about to become the first state to require shore power at its ports. A new law mandates at least half of a shipping line's fleet to shut down their diesel engines and plug into shore-side electric power when they unload their cargo. It's part of a larger effort to cut pollution at the state's busiest ports, but costs have been a sticking point.

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