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The comedians I love most tend to be the ones whose work is funny and strange and sometimes dark, and yet shot through with a real richness of ... humanity, for lack of a better term. Tig Notaro is exactly like that, and while it's sad that she's in the news in part because she's been diagnosed with cancer, it's great to see her doing what she does in a way that seems to be meaningful to both her and everybody else. [Vulture]

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

We are covering other news today, including news out of Syria, where there have been some high-level defections. The prime minister of Syria fled to neighboring Jordan just two months after he was appointed. He says he has joined the opposition. Syrian rebels say that three other cabinet members also defected. These are the highest level departures from the government of Bashar al-Assad since the uprising began well over a year ago.

Good morning.

Our early headlines:

-- Syrian Prime Minister Defects In Major Blow To Assad Regime.

-- Sikh Temple Shooting Suspect Said To Be 'White Man In His 40s'.

Syria's recently appointed prime minister has defected to Jordan and joined the opposition to President Bashar Assad, the highest-level departure to date from the embattled regime.

Prime Minister Riyad Hijab fled with his family just two months after assuming his post in the Cabinet. In a statement read to Al-Jazeera television, Hijab rejected a claim from Syrian state media that he had been fired.

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This month we are collecting your stories about the good things Americans are doing to make their community a better place. Some of your contributions will become blog posts and the project will end with a story that weaves together submissions to make a story of Americans by Americans for Americans.

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And we're also following news from the Middle East, particularly from Egypt. In the Sinai Desert that borders Israel, masked gunmen attacked Egyptian soldiers there. At least 15 soldiers are dead. Security has deteriorated sharply in that area since longtime President Hosni Mubarak's ouster last year.

NPR'S Leila Fadel has the story.

PRESIDENT MOHAMED MORSI: (Foreign language spoken)

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Now, as it should be clear by now, we do not know the motive of this shooter. We do know, though, that a religious site was targeted and we're going to talk more, this morning, about the Sikh religion with Kavneet Singh, he is the managing director of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Welcome to the program, sir.

KAVNEET SINGH: Good morning. Thank you for your time.

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It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep, on another morning when we try to make sense of the senseless. Gunshots tore through a Sunday prayer service at a Sikh temple yesterday in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. That's a suburb just south of Milwaukee. Seven people have been confirmed dead, and that includes the gunman, whose identity has not been released. A police officer and two more people were wounded. From member station WUWM, LaToya Dennis has more.

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Jamaica's Usain Bolt ran the 100 meters in 9.63 seconds last night. That is an Olympic record. It will take just a bit more than 9.63 seconds to talk about what it means. And NPR's Mike Pesca, the Usain Bolt of sports reporters is on the line.

Mike, good morning.

MIKE PESCA, BYLINE: Yes. If you saw me in person you'd know how untrue that was.

(LAUGHTER)

INSKEEP: Well, Usain Bolt said he was only 95 percent healthy when he ran this race. What does it mean to be 95 percent healthy?

When Missourians go to the polls Tuesday to vote on a number of candidates to compete in the November general election, they'll also be asked to decide on an amendment to the state's constitution. Amendment 2 is better known as the "right to pray" ballot measure.