Mark Memmott

Credit Doby Photography / NPR

Mark Memmott is one of the hosts of NPR's "The Two-Way" news blog.

"The Two-Way," which Memmott helped to launched when he came to NPR in 2009, focuses on breaking news, analysis, and the most compelling stories being reported by NPR News and other news media.

Before joining NPR, Memmott worked for nearly 25 years as a reporter and editor at USA Today. He focused on a range of coverage from politics, foreign affairs, economics, and the media. He's reported from places across the Unites States and the world, including half a dozen trips to Afghanistan in 2002-2003.

During his time at USA Today, Memmott, helped launch and lead three USAToday.com news blogs: "On Deadline;" "The Oval;" and "On Politics," the site's 2008 presidential campaign blog.

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7:51am

Tue June 19, 2012
The Two-Way

Should Roger Clemens Go Into Baseball's Hall Of Fame?

Originally published on Tue June 19, 2012 8:31 am

Credit Otto Greule Jr / Getty Images

Now that Roger Clemens has been found not guilty of lying to Congress and obstructing its investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs by Major League Baseball players, the debate resumes about whether one of baseball's greatest pitchers should or shouldn't get into the sport's hall of fame.

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7:10am

Tue June 19, 2012
The Two-Way

Spain's Borrowing Costs Soar; Latest 'Ominous Sign' In Europe

Originally published on Tue June 19, 2012 8:32 am

Credit Pablo Blazquez Dominguez / Getty Images

Today's developments in Europe's financial crisis focus mainly on Spain:

-- The Wall Street Journal writes that "Spain, on the edge of losing debt market access, paid around 2 percentage points more in interest rates Tuesday than a month ago to lure investors to its Treasury bill sale, an ominous sign ahead of a critical government bond auction Thursday."

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3:17pm

Mon June 18, 2012
The Two-Way

Ban The Buckeye For Being Bisexual? We Now Have Hoax No. 3

Credit Jamie Sabau / Getty Images

Heard about the letter to the editor of a newspaper in Ohio demanding that the state find another tree to serve at its symbol because buckeyes are bisexual? It's starting to get some attention on the Web.

Well, it's a real letter to The Courier in Findlay.

But it's also our third hoax in as many blogging weekdays — or in this case, more accurately, a piece of social satire.

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1:01pm

Mon June 18, 2012
The Two-Way

Trayvon Martin Case: Jailhouse Calls From Zimmerman To Wife Released

"In a half dozen phone calls between a locked-up George Zimmerman and his wife, the couple talk about their love for each other, their confidence in the future and how to move around money," the Orlando Sentinel writes.

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11:20am

Mon June 18, 2012
The Two-Way

Obama's Played 100 Rounds Of Golf; Which Presidents Beat That?

Credit Chris Kleponis-Pool / Getty Images

On Sunday, President Obama played his 100th round of golf since taking office, according to CBS News' Mark Knoller — the White House press corps' keeper of all sorts of presidential factoids.

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9:41am

Mon June 18, 2012
The Two-Way

Rodney King: 'What I Had To Do Was Make It Better'

Originally published on Mon June 18, 2012 10:38 am

Credit Matt Sayles / AP

The death Sunday of Rodney King, the victim of a 1991 police beating in Los Angeles who became a "reluctant symbol of race relations," as the Los Angeles Times says, is prompting many looks back at what happened to him and the Los Angeles riots that followed the 1992 acquittal of the officers involved.

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8:55am

Mon June 18, 2012

8:24am

Mon June 18, 2012
The Two-Way

Reminder: Supreme Court's Decision On Health Care Law Due

Originally published on Mon June 18, 2012 10:19 am

Update at 10:20 a.m. ET. No Decision Yet:

The court just finished issuing its opinions and other orders for the day. Neither the health care nor campaign finance cases were among them.

So we'll repeat this process on Thursday.

Our original post; "Reminder: Supreme Court's Decision On Health Care Law Due":

What we said last Monday applies again today:

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8:06am

Mon June 18, 2012
The Two-Way

Webb Simpson Wins U.S. Open; Miami Heat Takes 2-1 Lead In NBA Finals

Credit Don Emmert / AFP/Getty Images

The two sports stories that matter the most this morning:

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7:36am

Mon June 18, 2012
The Two-Way

In Egypt, Generals Will Be In Control 'Until October, At Least'

Originally published on Mon June 18, 2012 8:26 am

Credit Patrick Baz / AFP/Getty Images
  • NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson on 'Morning Edition'

In Egypt, "it's quite confusing at the moment," as NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson said earlier on Morning Edition.

But she says one things seems clear: Based on the decree they issued this weekend the generals who have effectively been running things since Hosni Mubarak's regime was toppled in early 2011 will be "around and in charge until October, at least."

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7:09am

Mon June 18, 2012
The Two-Way

Market Rally Fades As Investors Turn Attention From Greece To Spain

Originally published on Mon June 18, 2012 1:19 pm

Credit Daniel Roland / AFP/Getty Images

At midday in New York, Bloomberg News' headline pretty much sums up the story for the markets so far today and their reaction to the news about Sunday's vote in Greece:

"U.S. Stocks Swing Between Gains, Losses Amid Europe Woes."

And this paragraph from Bloomberg's account seems to capture what traders are thinking:

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1:07pm

Fri June 15, 2012
The Two-Way

Hoax No. 2: 'Kindness In America' Memoir Writer Shot Himself

We were very tempted earlier this week to post about the guy who said he's writing a memoir called Kindness in America and had gotten shot while hitchhiking across the country. Many sites picked up that oh-so-ironic story.

Then we got distracted. Probably by our shoes.

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12:10pm

Fri June 15, 2012
The Two-Way

Rajat Gupta Guilty In Insider Trading Case

Credit Emmanuel Dunand / AFP/Getty Images

"Rajat Gupta, who reached the pinnacle of corporate America as managing partner of McKinsey & Co. and was a director at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Procter & Gamble, was convicted by a federal jury of leaking inside information to hedge-fund manager Raj Rajaratnam," Bloomberg News writes.

The Associated Press recaps the case:

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10:52am

Fri June 15, 2012
The Two-Way

Deportations Of Law-Abiding, Younger Illegal Immigrants To Stop

Originally published on Fri June 15, 2012 4:56 pm

Credit Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images

The Obama administration announced today that it will stop deporting younger illegal immigrants who came to the country as children and have no criminal history.

"It is not immunity; it is not amnesty. It is an exercise of discretion," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said during a press briefing.

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10:30am

Fri June 15, 2012
The Two-Way

Secret Service Releases Data On Accusations Against Its Personnel

Originally published on Fri June 15, 2012 3:44 pm

More than 200 pages worth of details about accusations made against Secret Service personnel since 2004 has been released. The accusations concern "claims of involvement with prostitutes, leaking sensitive information, publishing pornography, sexual assault, illegal wiretaps, improper use of weapons and drunken behavior," The Associated Press reports.

Important note: the list apparently deals with accusations, not confirmed cases of misconduct.

We'll pass along more about this as the story develops.

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