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Politics
3:50 pm
Fri February 10, 2012

On The Trail, Romney Avoids His French Connection

Credit JH / AP
Mitt Romney with his then fiancee, Ann (right), and Romney's parents, in Washington, D.C., in 1969. Romney had returned from Mormon missionary work in France the previous year.

Mitt Romney waxed eloquent in French as he promoted the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, calling the two years he spent as a young man in France an "enriching experience."

But now that he's running for president of the United States, Romney doesn't talk a lot about his time as a Mormon missionary in France.

"Voilà," says Philippe Brillaut, as he points to the site of what would be France's first Mormon temple.

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Business
3:49 pm
Fri February 10, 2012

Angel Investors And Startups Mingle In Milwaukee

Credit Jeff Fitzsimmons / HarQen
HarQen CEO Kelly Fitzsimmons delivers a presentation to Silicon Pastures, a Milwaukee-based angel investment group that has already put more than $1 million into her company.

Originally published on Fri February 10, 2012 5:03 pm

Thirty-five well-dressed men and women are sipping wine and chatting in the lounge of one of Milwaukee's oldest and most exclusive social clubs. A century ago, this is where the city's beer and banking giants mixed and mingled. Tonight's crowd isn't all that different — many of these men and women are worth at least a million dollars. Once a month, they pool their money to invest in high-tech, fast-growth startups. They call themselves the Silicon Pastures Angel Investment Network.

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Religion
3:44 pm
Fri February 10, 2012

Catholics Split On Obama's Birth Control Decision

Originally published on Fri February 10, 2012 9:21 pm

Reaction from the Catholic community to the Obama administration's decision to revise its birth control policy was swift and mixed.

Under the new rule, employers with a religious objection to offering contraceptive coverage as part of their health care plans wouldn't have to provide it directly. Instead, the requirement to provide that coverage free of charge would fall on the insurance companies.

Some Catholics believe the president's new rule resolves the religious liberty issues. But others, including key bishops, say it is smoke and mirrors.

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Religion
3:36 pm
Fri February 10, 2012

With Vatican's Backing, Catholics Address Sex Abuse

Credit Andreas Solaro / AFP/Getty Images
Cardinal Marc Ouellet presides over a penitential mass at St. Ignatius Church in Rome, Feb. 7, 2012. The mass, which asked the forgiveness of victims of clerical sexual abuse, was part of a Vatican-backed symposium addressing the scandal of pedophile priests and the church culture that enabled such abuse to take place.

A decade after the clerical sex abuse scandal erupted in the United Sates, Catholic religious officials from all over the world met in Rome this week to tackle the painful topic.

The Vatican endorsed the symposium — called "Toward Healing and Renewal" — the aim of which was changing the culture of how the church deals with cases of pedophile priests.

One of the highlights was a late-afternoon penitential mass on Feb. 7 — apparently the first time a senior Vatican official conducted a service to ask the forgiveness of abuse victims.

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Shots - Health Blog
3:21 pm
Fri February 10, 2012

C-Sections May Be Risky For Smaller Preemies

Credit Matthew Scherf / iStockphoto.com
A cesarean section may not be risky for a small preemie than a vaginal birth.

When a fetus isn't growing as expected, doctors get worried. Often they decide to deliver a baby like that early by cesarean section, figuring it's the safer way to go.

But C-sections aren't always best for baby, according to new research.

Preemies who were small for their gestational age did better when they were delivered vaginally, researchers found. The babies delivered by C-section were 30 percent more likely to have trouble breathing, a big problem in preemies.

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Animals
3:13 pm
Fri February 10, 2012

Saved From Extinction, Darwin's Crocs Are Now King

It's appropriate that Darwin, the tropical capital of Australia's Northern Territory, is named for the English naturalist.

The massive, powerful and deadly saltwater crocodile — the world's largest living reptile — is the evolutionary triumph of 50 million years of natural selection. And in Darwin, the crocodile is equally dreaded and beloved.

Crocodylus porosus was hunted to near extinction in the last century. But in 1974, the Australian government put the species, known affectionately as the "Australian salty," under federal protection.

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The Two-Way
2:40 pm
Fri February 10, 2012

Judge Sets Trial Date For Jerry Sandusky In Abuse Case

Credit Alex Brandon / AP
Jerry Sandusky, a former Penn State assistant football coach charged with sexually abusing boys, pauses while speaking to the media at the Centre County Courthouse.

A Pennsylvania judge set a tentative trial date of May 14 for Jerry Sandusky, who is facing 50 counts of sex abuse of 10 boys.

Sandusky was in court in part to ask Judge John Cleland for greater freedom while he awaits a trial.

The AP reports:

"The attorney general's office wants him confined to the inside of his home while on house arrest awaiting trial, while the defense asked that he be allowed out occasionally to help with the case.

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It's All Politics
2:37 pm
Fri February 10, 2012

In Plea To The Right, Romney Bills Himself As 'Severely Conservative'

Credit Jim Bourg / Reuters/Landov
Hoping to inspire the conservative base that hasn't warmed to him, Mitt Romney made his case to the American Conservative Union's annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington on Friday.

Originally published on Fri February 10, 2012 2:49 pm

They may not be ready to accept GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's invitation to stand with him "shoulder to shoulder," but conservatives at their biggest annual gathering gave him a reception Friday that at times rose to rousing.

Tacitly acknowledging that his past positions on abortion rights and health care mandates have made him suspect with a swath of his party's base, Romney used his speech to describe his "path to conservatism" as a mix of family values, faith and his "life's work" in business.

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The Salt
2:36 pm
Fri February 10, 2012

Wilderness On A Plate: A California Chef On His Foraged Feasts

We at The Salt did our fair share of foraging last year: Allison Aubrey gathered pawpaws in Maryland, and Nancy Shute scavenged nutritious greens in the abandoned lots right near our office.

As the trend attracts more enthusiasts, home cooks are learning local botany, and high-end chefs are turning this most traditional method of gathering food into a glamorous sport.

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NPR Story
2:00 pm
Fri February 10, 2012

Republican Contenders Make Pitches At CPAC

Originally published on Fri February 10, 2012 5:03 pm

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

And I'm Audie Cornish.

The Republican presidential race came here to Washington today. Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Mitt Romney all spoke at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. The gathering brings thousands of activists across the conservative spectrum together for three days.

NPR's Ari Shapiro joins us now from the conference. Hey there, Ari.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Hi, Audie. How are you?

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