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The Two-Way
2:42 pm
Thu August 16, 2012

Facebook Shares Battered As Insiders Are Allowed To Sell

Credit Karen Bleier / AFP/Getty Images
An illustration of an Apple iPhone displaying the Facebook app's splash screen in front of the login page.
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At one point today, Facebook's stock price sunk to a new low. At about $19.69, it was worth about half of what it was initially sold for in May.

Bloomberg explains that what is happening is that early investors in the company — including founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg — were allowed to sell some of their stocks for the first time today.

Bloomberg adds:

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The Two-Way
2:21 pm
Thu August 16, 2012

News Media's Credibility Ratings Have Slipped Sharply, Survey Says

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"Believability ratings have fallen significantly for nine of 13 news organizations tested," the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press reports today.

Its latest national survey signals that "the falloff in credibility affects news organizations in most sectors: national newspapers, such as The New York Times and USA Today, all three cable news outlets, as well as the broadcast TV networks and NPR."

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Environment
2:10 pm
Thu August 16, 2012

When This Oil Spills, It's 'A Whole New Monster'

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Credit John W. Poole / NPR
An oil sheen appears along the shore of the Kalamazoo. More than 800,000 gallons of oil entered Talmadge Creek and flowed into the Kalamazoo River, a Lake Michigan tributary. Heavy rains caused the river to overtop existing dams and carried oil 30 miles downstream.
Credit John W. Poole / NPR
Bolenbaugh holds up a hand coated with oil sludge he has found in the Kalamazoo River two years after the spill, and two weeks after the state and EPA reopened the river to recreational use.
Credit John W. Poole / NPR
A culvert carries Talmadge Creek under a road in Marshall, Mich. After the spill, this small creek was flooded with oil, carrying it to the Kalamazoo River in the distance. Enbridge cleaned this area of oil twice. The second cleaning occurred after Bolenbaugh appeared on a local news channel falling through winter ice into a pool of oil in an area the company had declared free of oil.
Credit John W. Poole / NPR
Children fish at a newly opened recreational area built by Enbridge on the Kalamazoo River. Posted signs warn that most of the fish is not safe to eat. These children were not aware of the oil spill and were not area residents.
Credit John W. Poole / NPR
One of dozens of houses along the Kalamazoo River sits empty since the spill. Enbridge offered to buy up most of the property along the river immediately after the spill, and most residents sold at deflated prices to escape the area.
Credit John W. Poole / NPR
Whistle-blower John Bolenbaugh wades through thick mud in the Kalamazoo River looking for leftover traces of oil from the July 2010 Enbridge tar sands pipeline spill.
Credit John W. Poole / NPR
John Bolenbaugh stands in a forested stretch of the Kalamazoo River that borders a mobile home community in Battle Creek, Mich.
Credit John W. Poole / NPR
Oil rings on trees only 50 feet from the nearest home show the height of the oil and water, and its proximity to the Baker Estates Mobile Home Park in Battle Creek.
Credit John W. Poole / NPR
Michelle BarlondSmith and her husband lived in a riverfront trailer park. BarlondSmith says the sickening fumes from the oil lasted for months.
Credit John W. Poole / NPR
Whistle-blower John Bolenbaugh wades through thick mud in the Kalamazoo River looking for leftover traces of oil from the July 2010 Enbridge oil sands pipeline spill.
Credit Katie Hayes Luke for NPR
David Daniel stands on his property in Winnsboro, Texas, where the Keystone XL pipeline is slated to be installed. Daniel is opposed to the pipeline, which will carry oil from Canada's tar sands.
Credit John W. Poole / NPR
Professor Steve Hamilton of Michigan State University has studied the cleanup along the Kalamazoo River.
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Originally published on Thu August 16, 2012 5:19 pm

Sometime in the next few months, David Daniel probably will have to stand by and watch as bulldozers knock down his thick forest and dig up the streams he loves.

His East Texas property is one of more than 1,000 in the path of a new pipeline, the southern stretch of what is known as the Keystone XL system.

For years, Daniel has tried to avoid this fate — or at least figure out what risks will come with it. But it has been difficult for him to get straight answers about the tar sands oil the pipeline will carry, and what happens when it spills.

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Shots - Health Blog
1:36 pm
Thu August 16, 2012

CDC Recommends Hepatitis C Testing For All Boomers

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Originally published on Thu August 16, 2012 5:19 pm

Listen up, baby boomers. The government wants every one of you to get tested for the hepatitis C virus.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made a sweeping recommendation official amid growing concern about the estimated 2 million boomers infected with the virus, which can cause cirrhosis and liver cancer. The advice was published in the latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

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Television
1:18 pm
Thu August 16, 2012

Jaws, Teeth And Fins! Oh My! 'Shark Week' At 25

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Credit Chris Fallows / Discovery Channel
In a scene from the "Shark Week" show Air Jaws Apocalypse, a great white shark goes after a seal.
Credit Discovery Communications / PR Newswire
Chompie, a giant inflatable shark that measures 446 feet long, peeks out of the global headquarters building of Discovery Communications.
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Originally published on Fri August 17, 2012 12:06 pm

The Discovery Channel's annual "Shark Week" is one of the longest running events on cable television. After 25 years on the air, the weeklong series of programming dedicated solely to sharks has become an American icon. Comedian Stephen Colbert has called it his second favorite time of year.

Legend has it that it all began as an idea scribbled down on a napkin during a brainstorming meeting.

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Religion
1:10 pm
Thu August 16, 2012

What Lies Ahead For America's Nuns

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Originally published on Thu August 16, 2012 1:57 pm

After the Vatican accused the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, America's largest organization of Catholic nuns, of failing to follow Church doctrine on several controversial issues, the group's president suggested they will not backing down.

On Aging
1:05 pm
Thu August 16, 2012

Fact-Checking The Future Of Aging In America

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Originally published on Thu August 16, 2012 1:57 pm

Overall, baby boomers are optimistic about their health and future, according to a 2012 survey by The National Council on Aging, United Health Care and USA Today. But many are unsure about how to pay for long-term care, medical bills and other health costs.

NPR Story
1:00 pm
Thu August 16, 2012

'American Gypsy': A Road From Siberia To Hollywood

Credit Courtesy FSG Books
Oksana Marafioti moved to the U.S. with her family when she was 15.
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Originally published on Fri August 17, 2012 11:54 am

Oksana Marafioti spent her childhood touring the Soviet Union with the family band. She is a Gypsy — from an ethnic group dispersed throughout Europe and linked by a language called Roma, or Romani.

In their travels — from the deserts of Mongolia to the Siberian tundra — her family endured intense racism.

"In the USSR ... people would just ... spit on you or hit you as soon as you said you were a Gypsy," she tells NPR's John Donvan.

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The Two-Way
12:40 pm
Thu August 16, 2012

More Of The Nation Is Getting The Worst Of The Drought

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Credit National Drought Mitigation Center
This week's drought map.
Credit National Drought Mitigation Center
Last week's drought map.
Credit National Drought Mitigation Center
This week's drought map.
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The drought gripping much of the nation is "exceptional" — the most severe classification — in an area covering 6.26 percent of the lower 48 states, according to the latest data from the National Drought Mitigation Center.

That's up from 4.21 percent the week before.

The center's latest map shows increases in size of the areas in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Missouri that are experiencing exceptional drought conditions.

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The Two-Way
12:39 pm
Thu August 16, 2012

A Gift From The Interwebs: A Brilliant Auto-Tuned Burger Review

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A screenshot from a YouTube video.
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Originally published on Fri August 17, 2012 12:42 pm

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