After Devasting Twisters, Tornado Threat Continues Through Monday

Credit Norman Forecast Office / National Weather Service

The Storm Prediction Center in Norman says the tornado threat over central Oklahoma will continue for several more hours and possibly into Monday.

Television images showed a mobile home park near Shawnee almost entirely leveled by a tornado that tore through the area early Sunday evening.

Tornado warnings were in effect for nearly four uninterrupted hours as two strong twisters moved through Northern Oklahoma and Lincoln Counties, and Cleveland and Pottawatomie Counties south of the Oklahoma City metro.

Thousands of Oklahoma Gas & Electric Customers remain without power, according to OG&E's System Watch.

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Politics
4:16 am
Fri March 1, 2013

There's Still A Chance To Avoid Sequester Cuts

Originally published on Fri March 1, 2013 5:49 am

President Obama meets with bipartisan congressional leaders at the White House Friday. Deep budget cuts could start taking effect Friday unless there's a last minute agreement.

Business
4:16 am
Fri March 1, 2013

The Last Word In Business

Originally published on Fri March 1, 2013 6:10 am

Todd Duffey is suing the publisher Perseus which sells a book and a collection of buttons called the Office Space Box of Flair, inspired by the 1999 movie. Duffey doesn't like that his face appears on the cover of the book and on one of the buttons in the collection.

Television
4:16 am
Fri March 1, 2013

Spanish-Language Network Univision Ranks 3rd In U.S. Ratings

Originally published on Fri March 1, 2013 4:41 am

The latest TV ratings are out and CBS captured the top spot with help from its Super Bowl broadcast. Last fall, NBC was No. 1 but now it's fourth. What's surprising is that Spanish-language network Univision has surpassed NBC's ratings.

Economy
4:16 am
Fri March 1, 2013

Economists Debate Sequestration's Effect On Economy

Originally published on Fri March 1, 2013 12:47 pm

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the automatic budget cuts that go into effect Friday will shave 0.6 percent from the economy's annual growth rate. That might not be a big worry if the economy were growing at 3 or 4 percent. But growth is a paltry 2 percent, so the impact may be noticeable.

Science
4:16 am
Fri March 1, 2013

Energy Start-Up Banks On Compressed Air Over Batteries

Originally published on Mon March 4, 2013 8:34 am

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Many states want to increase the amount of electricity that comes from wind and solar energy. One challenge is that renewables are not reliable. The wind doesn't always blow, the sun doesn't always shine. So companies are now trying to develop better ways to store energy.

New Hampshire Public Radio's Sam Evans-Brown reports on a company that is working on a storage system that uses compressed air.

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Afghanistan
2:24 am
Fri March 1, 2013

New Afghan Challenge For U.S.: Shipping Stuff Out

Originally published on Fri March 1, 2013 7:12 am

In addition to training and equipping Afghan soldiers, U.S. forces in Afghanistan have another critical mission: packing up more than 11 years worth of equipment and sending it home. The number of containers to move out is in the six figures, and some question whether everything can be shipped out by the end of 2014.

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Planet Money
2:01 am
Fri March 1, 2013

Sales Are Like Drugs. What Happens When A Store Wants Customers To Quit?

Credit Scott Olson / Getty Images
Formerly known as "clearance."

Originally published on Fri March 8, 2013 11:27 am

Last year, J.C. Penney saw what every big retailer had been seeing for years: the threat of Amazon and other new competitors rising to destroy their business.

So J.C. Penney brought in a bold new CEO. Ron Johnson had already created Apple Store, a chain of physical stores where people flocked to shop. Before that, he had revamped Target.

And Johnson had a plan for J.C. Penney: Tell customers they don't have to spend time anymore clipping coupons or waiting for sales to happen. Instead, the store would offer fair prices on its merchandise every day.

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Law
2:00 am
Fri March 1, 2013

Administration Asks Supreme Court To End Calif. Gay-Marriage Ban

Originally published on Fri March 1, 2013 7:47 am

The Obama administration has filed a friend of the court brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down California's ban on gay marriage as a denial of "equal protection under the law." But the brief does not call for the abolition of all state bans on same-sex marriage.

The case now before the high court tests the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8, a referendum narrowly passed by voters in 2008 that reinstituted a ban on gay marriage.

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Business
1:59 am
Fri March 1, 2013

Stay-At-Home Workers Defend Choice After Yahoo Ban

Originally published on Fri March 1, 2013 12:51 pm

Yahoo's sweeping edict against telecommuting has been felt as a personal attack by some of the two-thirds of Americans who regularly work from home.

Lawyer Shannan Higgins of Washington, D.C., finds one line of the company memo outlining the policy change particularly offensive: "Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home."

For nearly a decade, Higgins has worked one day a week from the basement office in her rowhouse, where she takes pride in her work and is obsessed with efficiency.

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The Salt
1:58 am
Fri March 1, 2013

Wild Bees Are Good For Crops, But Crops Are Bad For Bees

Originally published on Tue March 5, 2013 11:13 am

Some of the most healthful foods you can think of — blueberries, cranberries, apples, almonds and squash — would never get to your plate without the help of insects. No insects, no pollination. No pollination, no fruit.

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