Morning Edition

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LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

Pre-school is one example of how President Obama says the government can play a constructive role in the U.S. economy. In his State of the Union speech, President Obama tried to refocus a debate that, for two years, has been all about cutting. The president is highlighting government programs that even many Republicans support.

Here's NPR's Scott Horsley.

SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: The U.S. economy is slowly recovering from the Great Recession, but President Obama says the government could be doing more to help.

The boards of American Airlines and US Airways just approved a merger of the two airlines. But the deal still has to win the approval of antitrust regulators at the Justice Department — regulators who last month sued to stop a merger between the beer giants Anheuser-Busch InBev and Grupo Modelo, which brews Corona.

The antitrust division has dozens of economists on staff. Their job, essentially, is to figure out whether a merger would reduce competition so much that a company could raise prices without losing business to competitors.

Throughout his career, English musician Bryan Ferry has been one of popular music's most forward-looking performers. His band Roxy Music remodeled rock into an artsy, cosmopolitan sound in the early '70s and spearheaded the New Romantic style of the '80s.

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LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Linda Wertheimer. Republican Senator Marco Rubio delivered the Republican reply to the State of the Union. In mid-critique, Rubio wanted water but water was out of reach. The senator ducked down, reached off screen, found it, sipped it and resumed. But the Twittersphere had left the building. Water tweets flooded the nation. Rubio tweeted too - a picture of his water bottle. You're listening to MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne.

In New York, it's hard to get a dinner reservation to a trendy restaurant on Valentine's Day. And apparently, for hipsters in Brooklyn's Greenpoint neighborhood, it can be tough to get a spot on a romantic tour of a sewage treatment plant. New York's Department of Environmental Protection says this Valentine's Day, it had to add an extra tour because of the demand. Why the sewage plant tour is so trendy? Hmm, maybe the pheromones.

There may have been only a half dozen times all night when both sides of the aisle all stood and clapped in approval. One of those moments was when President Obama called for overhauling immigration.

Renee Montagne talks to writer Josh Dean about Banana Joe, named best in show at the Westminster Kennel Club. Dean is author of the book Show Dog.