Energy
2:19 pm
Fri September 9, 2011

Electric Grid Was Designed To Prevent Arizona Outage

Originally published on Wed May 23, 2012 10:26 am

If you thought that the nation's electrical grid was designed to prevent a single, localized malfunction from triggering a blackout for millions of people, you'd be right.

But that didn't prevent that exact event from happening Thursday in San Diego, parts of Arizona, and Mexico's Baja peninsula. Phoenix-based Arizona Public Service Co. said the blackout started when a piece of monitoring equipment was removed at a substation in Yuma, along the border with Mexico.

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The Two-Way
2:15 pm
Fri September 9, 2011

New Mexico Governor Reveals Her Grandparents Entered Country Illegally

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez has fought hard to repeal a law in her state that gives undocumented immigrants driver's licenses. But in an interview with KLUZ-TV, the Univision affiliate in Albuquerque, the Republican governor said her paternal grandparents came into the country illegally.

In the interview, she said her grandmother died when her father was about 1, but she knows they "arrived without documents."

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KETR Podcasts
2:11 pm
Fri September 9, 2011

Movie Picks with Alice Reese

Alice previews "Contagion," "Warrior" and "Higher Ground."

Alice previews "Contagion," "Warrior" and "Higher Ground."

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Economy
2:04 pm
Fri September 9, 2011

Economists Weigh Effectiveness Of Obama Job Plan

Economists have been looking over the $447 billion job-creation package President Obama proposed to Congress Thursday night. Predictably, the reaction was mixed, with most economists giving it a thumbs up, and many conservatives turning thumbs down.

Here are a few of the economists' opinions that were blogged, tweeted, reported or emailed around.

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Sports
2:00 pm
Fri September 9, 2011

MLB Division Titles Sewn Up Early

Summer is just about over. That usually means Major League Baseball fans are feverishly checking the standings as the playoff races tighten up in the last weeks of the season. But this year, virtually every division title and wild card slot have been sewn up. Could an unexciting September lead to a dramatic October? Robert Siegel talks to sportswriter Stefan Fatsis.

Around the Nation
2:00 pm
Fri September 9, 2011

Susquehanna River Drenches Small Pa. Towns

Pennsylvania's Susquehanna River is spilling over its banks, leaving serious flooding in its wake. The city of Wilkes-Barre's levies have held up, sparing it from a worst-case scenario flood. But small towns throughout south-central Pennsylvania are covered in water.

Politics
2:00 pm
Fri September 9, 2011

Journalist Explores Perry's Electoral Successes

Scientists analyze patterns in all areas of life, from weather to health, to help predict outcomes. Journalist Sasha Issenberg examines how political scientists employed by the Texas gubernatorial campaign of Rick Perry in 2006 helped him strategize through testing random samples of voters. Robert Siegel talks with Issenberg about this approach — and how it shaped Perry's subsequent campaigns.

Sports
2:00 pm
Fri September 9, 2011

Australian Wins Surfing Competition

Australian Owen Wright won the first pro-surfing competition held in New York. Wright beat out Kelly Slater, a ten-time world champion surfer, for the $300,000 prize.

NPR Story
2:00 pm
Fri September 9, 2011

How One Mistake Can Leave Millions Without Power

San Diego's power company has restored power to all of its customers. Thursday afternoon, more than 4 million people in the Southwestern U.S. and parts of Mexico lost electricity. Arizona Public Service Company says the outage occurred after an electrical worker mistakenly removed a piece of monitoring equipment at a substation in southwest Arizona.

Economy
2:00 pm
Fri September 9, 2011

Obama's Jobs Plan Versus GOP Rivals' Plans

President Obama and two of his GOP opponents in next year's election have laid out their ideas to turn the economy around. NPR's Scott Horsley joins Robert Siegel to compare and contrast the plans.

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