4:58pm

Tue February 28, 2012
Shots - Health Blog

Popular Cholesterol Drugs Get New Warnings About Memory, Blood Sugar

Credit Paul Sakuma / AP

If you take a cholesterol-lowering drug called a statin, there's some new safety information you should know about.

A statin might be why you're having trouble remembering things or have been feeling confused, or at least that's what quite a few people taking the drugs have been saying.

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4:33pm

Tue February 28, 2012
The Two-Way

Airline Trade Group: The Business Of Flying Is Tough

For airlines, it ain't easy making a buck. In fact, even a penny is out of reach.

Airlines for America, a trade association for major U.S. carriers, says the industry earned less than half a penny in profits for every $1 of revenue generated during 2011.

The poor financial performance wasn't a fluke. Over the past decade, airlines have lost a collective $50 billion.

On Tuesday, the trade group said something has got to change. Association CEO Nicholas Calio sat down with journalists to explain a new industry push for a "National Airline Policy."

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4:29pm

Tue February 28, 2012
Law

Wash. Lawmakers Fight For DNA Sampling At Arrest

Credit Martin Kaste / NPR

Mandatory DNA collection is fast becoming routine in the American criminal justice system. In many jurisdictions, just being arrested can mean having to submit a genetic sample to the national database. Federal law enforcement and 26 states now permit various forms of pre-conviction DNA sampling and more states are poised to follow suit.

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4:15pm

Tue February 28, 2012
Reporter's Notebook

Sailing On Ice? Yeah, That's A Sport.

The minute I learned that ice sailing was an actual sport, I wanted to give it a try. I watched YouTube videos of wooden boats with big white sails zooming across the ice on steel runners. It seemed like such a rush — imagine racing over a frozen lake on a wind-powered sled, hitting speeds that top 40 miles an hour.

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4:06pm

Tue February 28, 2012
The Two-Way

Dow Does It: Closes Above 13,000

Originally published on Tue February 28, 2012 4:47 pm

For the first time since the 2008 financial crisis, the Dow Jones Industrial average has closed above the 13,000 mark.

It didn't do it by much — about 5 points.

We'll have more in a moment.

Update at 4:15 p.m. ET:

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4:04pm

Tue February 28, 2012
CD Reviews

Heartless Bastards: Rousing Songs, Born On The Road

Originally published on Thu March 1, 2012 3:00 pm

Credit Nathan Presley

It's true that you can still get by in rock 'n' roll on the strength of a unique voice. But it helps if said voice has something interesting to work with.

On the first three records by Heartless Bastards, that wasn't always the case. The Mountain, from 2008, had some terrific songs about a breakup, and a few that got bogged down in a rut. But on the band's latest release, Arrow, every song has a powerful, almost magnetic melody.

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4:03pm

Tue February 28, 2012
The Two-Way

IMF Chief Christine Legarde: The European Union Is 'A Work In Progress'

Credit Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

On tonight's All Things Considered, NPR's Robert Siegel talks to the chief of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde.

Naturally, Robert focused his interview on Greece, which has been engulfed in a debt crisis that has threatened its membership in the European monetary union. Robert asked Lagarde about the tough austerity measures Greece has agreed to and whether those measures could promote a shrinking economy as opposed to getting Greece back to prosperity.

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3:58pm

Tue February 28, 2012
Asia

How Far Will The Changes In Myanmar Go?

Once an international pariah ruled by a repressive military regime, Myanmar has in recent months become one of Southeast Asia's hottest destinations.

Last year, a nominally civilian government took over and began political changes in the country also known as Burma. Now, foreign investors and tourists are flooding in, and foreign governments are considering lifting their sanctions.

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3:55pm

Tue February 28, 2012
The Two-Way

Virginia Senate OKs Abortion Measure Requiring Ultrasounds

Virginia's state Senate this afternoon passed legislation that would "force women to have an ultrasound before having an abortion," the Richmond Times Dispatch reports. The vote was 21-19.

Senators made two changes to the controversial measure that had already been OK'd by the state House:

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Martina Castro is the Managing Editor of KALW News.  She started her career in journalism as an intern at National Public Radio in Washington D.C., and worked with NPR as a producer, trainer, and freelancer before coming to KALW.  Martina's independent work has been featured nationally on NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Day to Day, as well as the online radio magazine The [Un]Observed.

On KALW’s Crosscurrents, Martina has produced stories gauging the impact of the recession on the Bay Area, and also has focused on the arts like in her series The Audiophiles, a wide-range of conversations with creative people working in sound around the Bay.  She also edited and produced The Fault Lines, an award-winning series about the roots and solutions to violence in Oakland.  Martina likes to work in audio even in her free time – she makes radio in Spanish as senior producer of the new podcast Radio Ambulante, is a sound artist and designer for local art installations, and she sings with the San Francisco Latin rumba reggae band Makrú.  She’s also known to go out for an occasional surf. 

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