NPR News

1,569: S&P 500 Closes At All Time High, Rising Above Oct. 2007 Mark

Credit Richard Drew / AP

A trader on floor of the New York Stock Exchange on March 25, 2013. U

By Eyder Peralta

The Standard & Poor's 500 stock index broke new ground today, closing at 1,569, an all-time high that erased the record set on Oct. 9, 2007.

The S&P joins the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which broke its 2007 record earlier this month.

Both indices have now recovered all the losses they suffered during the Great Recession.

4:15 pm

Thu March 28, 2013

Algae Bloom Kills Record Number Of Florida Manatees

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Credit Steve Nesius / Reuters/Landov

A rescued manatee suffering from exposure to an algae bloom called red tide in southwest Florida comes up for air as it swims into a critical care tank at Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo.

Credit Steve Nesius / Reuters/Landov

A rehab care team at a manatee hospital holds down a rescued manatee as it is treated for exposure to an algae bloom called red tide

By Ashley Lopez

Originally published on Thu March 28, 2013 6:38 pm

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More than 200 manatees have died in Florida's waterways since January from an algae bloom called red tide, just as wildlife officials try to remove the marine mammal from the endangered species list.

It used to be boat propellers that were the biggest killer of manatees, but red tide has been especially bad this year.

Florida Fish and Wildlife officer Steve Rice routinely scours the Caloosahatchee River in southwest Florida for dead manatees. He has found more than 20 in the past few weeks.

3:59 pm

Thu March 28, 2013

From The Stone Age To The Digital Age In One Big Leap

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Credit Vanderlei Almeida / AFP/Getty Images

Chief Almir of Brazil's Surui tribe attends a press conference with Google representatives in Rio de Janeiro last year. Chief Almir has brought technology to his previously isolated people, who now use smartphones to send photos of illegal logging in the Amazon.

Credit Juan Forero for NPR

Chief Almir still knows how to handle a bow and arrow, the traditional weapon of choice of the Surui people.

By editor

Originally published on Thu March 28, 2013 6:38 pm

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3:54 pm

Thu March 28, 2013

Obama Forms Presidential Commission To Study Voting Problems

Credit Wilfredo Lee / AP

Voters line up into the night outside a Miami polling station, some waiting for hours to vote in the 2012 presidential election.

By Pam Fessler

Originally published on Thu March 28, 2013 4:30 pm

President Obama has established a new bipartisan commission on election administration, something he promised to do in his Feb. 12 State of the Union address. He signed an executive order Thursday making it official.

3:42 pm

Thu March 28, 2013

In Ritual, Pope Francis Washes The Feet Of Young Inmates, Women

Credit L'Osservatore Romano / Getty Images

Pope Francis washes the feet of a prisoner at the Casal Del Marmo Youth Detention Centre during the mass of the Lord's Supper on Thursday in Rome.

By editor

Originally published on Thu March 28, 2013 7:47 pm

During a Holy Thursday ritual, Pope Francis continued to break the traditions at the Vatican.

Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of 12 young people at a youth prison. Among them were two women and two Muslims. The act was a break with tradition. As The Guardian reports, all modern popes have partaken in the ritual by washing the feet of fellow priests at either St Peter's or the Basilica of St John in Lateran.

3:29 pm

Thu March 28, 2013

Pennsylvania Tightens Abortion Rules Following Clinic Deaths

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Credit Matt Rourke / AP

A police car is posted outside the Women's Medical Society in Philadelphia, on Jan. 20, 2011. Dr. Kermit Gosnell, accused of murder, performed abortions in the clinic.

Credit AP

An undated photo of Gosnell released by the Philadelphia District Attorney's office. Gosnell, who catered to minorities, immigrants and poor women at the Women's Medical Society, was charged with murder in the deaths of a patient and seven babies.

By Jeff Brady

Originally published on Thu March 28, 2013 6:38 pm

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A Philadelphia doctor who performed abortions is on trial for murder. Kermit Gosnell, 72, is accused in the deaths of a female patient and seven babies who the prosecutor says were born alive. District Attorney R. Seth Williams laid out the case in disturbing detail in a grand jury report last year.

When authorities raided Gosnell's clinic in 2010 they found squalid conditions: blood on the floor, the stench of urine and a flea-infested cat wandering through the facility.