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NPR Story
3:00 am
Wed April 4, 2012

Business News

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

NPR's business news starts with a Silicon Valley lawsuit.

Facebook has fired back in its patent dispute with Yahoo. The social networking site says Yahoo products, including the photo-sharing site Flicker, are infringing on 10 of Facebook's patents. Facebook's legal action is a counter-claim to a suit filed by Yahoo last month, also claiming 10 patent infringements. The pending court battle is a distraction for Facebook as it prepares to go public - a move that could see the company valued at up to $100 billion.

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Law
2:19 am
Wed April 4, 2012

Gay Marriage Lawsuit Presses For Survivor Benefits

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Credit Courtesy of Herbert Burtis
Herbert Burtis' spouse, John Ferris (left), died four years ago. When Burtis went to the Social Security office to apply for survivor benefits, the clerk told him the federal government did not recognize his marriage.
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Credit Courtesy of GLAD
Herbert Burtis is one of 17 gay men and lesbians who are part of a lawsuit on whether the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional.
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Herbert Burtis met the person he wanted to marry in college, in 1948. But since the object of his affection was another man, they had to wait until 2004 for the ceremony, when Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriages.

"It's a long engagement," Burtis says, laughing. "We thought it was time that we made each other honest people."

His spouse, John Ferris, died four years ago. When Burtis went to the Social Security office to apply for survivor benefits, the clerk told him the federal government did not recognize his marriage.

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Around the Nation
2:18 am
Wed April 4, 2012

College Student Pieces His Way To Lego Mastery

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Credit Rick West / The Daily Herald
Andrew Johnson, 23, of Bartlett, Ill. has been named the new master model builder of Legoland Discovery Center Chicago after competing for the job against seven other finalists.
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Credit Legoland Discovery Center Chicago
Andrew Johnson with one of his Lego creations.
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By Susie An

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Europe
2:06 am
Wed April 4, 2012

The Secret To Germany's Low Youth Unemployment

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Credit Waltraud Grubitzsch / DPA/Landov
Metal-working apprentices train in Leipzig, Germany, in 2010. Germany has Europe's lowest youth unemployment rate, thanks in part to its ancient apprentice system, which trains about 1.5 million people each year.
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Credit Eric Westervelt / NPR
Robin Dittmar, 18, works at the Lufthansa Technik training center in Hamburg. He is about a third of the way through his apprenticeship as an aircraft mechanic and is confident his training will translate into a full-time job.
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Credit Eric Westervelt / NPR
Apprentices are trained at the Lufthansa Technik training center in Hamburg last month. About 60 percent of German high school students opt for vocational training over further academic education.
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Originally published on Wed April 4, 2012 1:47 pm

For as long as he can remember, German teenager Robin Dittmar has been obsessed with airplanes. As a little boy, the sound of a plane overhead would send him into the backyard to peer into the sky. Toys had to have wings. Even today, Dittmar sees his car as a kind of ersatz Boeing.

"I've got the number 747 as the number plate of my car. I'm really in love with this airplane," the 18-year-old says.

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U.S.
2:05 am
Wed April 4, 2012

Activist Puts Albany Neighborhood On The Bus Map

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Credit Marie Cusick for NPR
Willie White pushed for the creation of a new bus route for his previously underserved neighborhood in Albany, N.Y.
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Originally published on Wed April 4, 2012 1:47 pm

The New York state capital, Albany, is a gathering place for the state's most powerful people.

But in the city's poor and predominately black South End neighborhood, many residents once felt powerless.

They had repeatedly asked for better public transit for South End, an area plagued with poverty and crime not far from New York's gated governor's mansion.

Today, the city's Route 100 bus glides easily up Morton Avenue, a steep hill in the South End neighborhood. Many feel there would be no Route 100 if not for the efforts of local resident Willie White.

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Sports
2:04 am
Wed April 4, 2012

U.S. Rhythmic Gymnastics Star Readies For London

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Credit Martin Bernetti / AFP/Getty Images
Rhythmic gymnast Julie Zetlin, seen here during last October's Pan-American Games, hopes to win a medal for the United States at the Summer Olympics in London.
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Credit Marisa Penaloza / NPR
Julie Zetlin, who won a U.S. national title in 2010, trains with her rhythmic gymnastics coach Olga Kutuzova in Maryland.
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Latin America
2:03 am
Wed April 4, 2012

An Upgrade, And Bigger Ships, For The Panama Canal

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Credit Arnulfo Franco / AP
The Panama Canal is undergoing its biggest overhaul since it was opened nearly a century ago. A third channel is being built, which will allow more and larger ships to pass through.
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Credit Juan Jose Rodriguez / AFP/Getty Images
The construction to build a third channel for the Panama Canal began in 2007 and is scheduled to be completed in 2014. This photo shows the state of the construction in December.
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Originally published on Wed April 4, 2012 7:17 pm

Two giant ships move through the Panama Canal's two parallel channels at the Miraflores locks, heading toward the Pacific Ocean.

The orange and white Bow Summer is a tanker. The deck of the Ever Dynamic is stacked high with burgundy and blue shipping containers. More boats like these are backed up in both the Pacific and the Atlantic waiting to enter the narrow waterway.

Global trade has grown dramatically, but the Panama Canal — one of the most vital transit routes — hasn't changed its basic structure since it opened in 1914.

But that is about to change.

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Starting Up: Silicon Valley's Origins
2:00 am
Wed April 4, 2012

A Rare Mix Created Silicon Valley's Startup Culture

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Credit Courtesy of Intel
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Credit Courtesy of Intel
William Shockley (at head of table) celebrates winning a share of the 1956 Nobel Prize. Gordon Moore (seated far left), Sheldon Roberts (next to Moore), Robert Noyce (middle standing), and Jay Last (far right) are half of the "Traitorous Eight."
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Credit Cindy Carpien / NPR
The list of more than 40 firms Arthur Rock asked to invest in the Traitorous 8. He was asking for $1.5 million and a share in the business for each of the founders. "None of the companies would do it," Rock says.
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Credit Cindy Carpien / NPR
A plaque commemorating where Shockley set up in a lab in 1956. Shockley wanted to make better silicon-based transistors, but soon abandoned the pursuit. The building now houses an international produce market.
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The first in a 3-part series airing this week on Morning Edition.

When Facebook goes public later this spring, its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, will be following in the footsteps of a long line of Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs that includes Steve Jobs and Google's Larry Page and Sergey Brin. But there was a time when the idea of an engineer or scientist starting his or her own company was rare.

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It's All Politics
1:58 am
Wed April 4, 2012

Once Again, Santorum Keeps It Close But Falls Further Behind

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Credit Jeff Swensen / Getty Images
Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum speaks at a campaign rally at Four Seasons Sheraton in Mars, Pa., Monday night. Rival Mitt Romney won the Washington, D.C., Maryland and Wisconsin primaries.
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Originally published on Wed April 4, 2012 12:50 pm

Rick Santorum came surprisingly close to an upset in Wisconsin this week, losing to Mitt Romney by less than 5 percentage points. It was not as heartbreakingly close as his previous losses in Michigan and Ohio, but it was one more reminder of what might have been.

With a win in Wisconsin, Santorum would have confounded the ruling media narrative of the moment, which wants to turn from the primary season of spring to the autumnal matchup of Romney and President Obama.

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Sweetness And Light
1:30 am
Wed April 4, 2012

Is It Time To Tone Down The Tiger Woods Coverage?

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Credit Streeter Lecka / Getty Images
Tiger Woods at a practice round ahead of the 2012 Masters Tournament, which begins Thursday in Augusta, Ga. Woods receives the lion's share of press coverage despite his poor record over the past several years.
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Originally published on Wed April 4, 2012 1:47 pm

Hearing about golf these past couple of years has turned into some sort of dual universe. On the one hand there is the real world, like: "Smith and Jones Tied for Lead in Cat Food Open."

But then, in more detail, the larger shadow story reads: "Tiger's Putter Falters, Trails By 12 Strokes."

Golf has become like fantasy football or Rotisserie Baseball. Only, imagine if everybody has the same guy — Tiger Woods — on his team. No other golfers seem to exist, except possibly The Ghost of Jack Nicklaus.

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