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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9:55am

Thu March 15, 2012
The Two-Way

'Star Rabbit' Dies When Photographer Takes Wrong Step

Credit Uwe Meinhold / AP

He's "like James Dean, a star dead before his time," according to The Local.

Spiegel Online says "the future had looked so bright for tiny Til."

Global Post somberly says that "an attempt to show a rare rabbit on TV took a tragic turn."

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9:15am

Thu March 15, 2012
The Two-Way

Report Slams Sen. Stevens' Prosecutors

Credit Alex Wong / Getty Images

In a "blistering" 500-page report released this morning a special prosecutor concludes that Justice Department lawyers "intentionally withheld" information that could have bolstered then-Sen. Ted Stevens' defense during the Alaska Republican's 2008 trial on corruption charges, NPR's Carrie Johnson tells us.

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7:38am

Thu March 15, 2012
The Two-Way

Jobless Claims Fell By 15,000 Last Week

There was a 14,000 decline in the number of people filing first-time claims for unemployment insurance last week, the Employment and Training Administration just reported:

"In the week ending March 10, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 351,000, a decrease of 14,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 365,000. The 4-week moving average was 355,750, unchanged from the previous week's revised average of 355,750."

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7:25am

Thu March 15, 2012
The Two-Way

Priest Defends Denying Communion To Lesbian Mourner

Credit Saeed Khan / AFP/Getty Images

The priest who was put on administrative leave by the Archdiocese of Washington following a much-talked-about incident in which he denied communion to a lesbian woman attending her mother's funeral, has issued a long defense of his action and has said the church isn't being candid about the reason for its decision to put him on leave.

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6:25am

Thu March 15, 2012
The Two-Way

Afghans Object, U.S. Officials Defend Decision To Move Massacre Suspect

Originally published on Thu March 15, 2012 9:35 am

Credit Scott Olson / Getty Images
  • Tom Bowman
  • Larry Abramson speaks with Renee Montagne

The news that the U.S. Army staff sergeant who is suspected of murdering 16 Afghan civilians has been moved to a detention facility in Kuwait is sparking some small protests in Afghanistan.

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10:50am

Wed March 14, 2012
The Two-Way

Goldman Sachs Starts To Fire Back At Exec Who Quit In Scathing Op-Ed

Originally published on Wed March 14, 2012 1:25 pm

Credit Chris Hondros / Getty Images

Greg Smith is a fairly ordinary name — but it's now one that's all the talk of Wall Street after he quit his position at Goldman Sachs today in one of the most amazingly public ways:

With an essay in The New York Times that accuses Goldman Sachs of having a money-is-everything culture that is "toxic and destructive."

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10:10am

Wed March 14, 2012
The Two-Way

Coming Up: Obama-Cameron News Conference

President Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron are due to hold a news conference at the White House just after noon ET.

We'll live blog as they speak, so check back as the time approaches and hit your "refresh" button every once in a while after they get started.

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10:00am

Wed March 14, 2012
The Two-Way

Obama Picks North Carolina To Win Men's Basketball Championship

Credit Gregory Shamus / Getty Images

After two years of going with the wrong team to win it all, President Obama is counting on North Carolina — the team he correctly picked to win the 2009 NCAA men's basketball championship — to end up No. 1 this year.

As he has each year since taking office, the president spent time with ESPN going over his bracket for the tournament.

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8:50am

Wed March 14, 2012
The Two-Way

Editor's Obituary Takes Tawdry Twist

Originally published on Wed March 14, 2012 8:51 am

After Oregonian editorial page editor Bob Caldwell died Saturday, the report from the newspaper on Sunday said he had suffered a heart attack.

That does appear to be the 63-year-old journalist's cause of death. But the circumstances surrounding his last moments were considerably more complicated.

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8:00am

Wed March 14, 2012

7:40am

Wed March 14, 2012
The Two-Way

Boston's Back Bay Slowly Recovering After Smoky Fire Causes Chaos

Credit Bianca Vazquez Toness / WBUR
  • WBUR's Bianca Vazquez Toness
  • NPR's Tovia Smith

Repair crews are working this morning to restore power to thousands of homes and businesses in Boston's Back Bay district, "after two transformers caught fire Tuesday night, knocking out power" and sending think black smoke billowing over the area, our colleagues at WBUR report.

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7:05am

Wed March 14, 2012
The Two-Way

'Tragic Day For All Of Belgium': 24 Children Killed In Bus Crash

Credit Sebastien Feval / AFP/Getty Images

There's been a horrible traffic accident inside a Swiss tunnel. At least 28 people — 22 of them children mostly around the age of 12 — were killed Tuesday night when the bus they were in crashed.

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6:45am

Wed March 14, 2012
The Two-Way

In Afghanistan, Panetta Says Mission Continues

  • Larry Abramson, reporting from Afghanistan

At Camp Leatherneck in southern Afghanistan today, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta urged U.S. military personnel to not be deterred from their mission and continue "to make life difficult" for the Taliban and al-Qaida, says NPR's Larry Abramson, who is travelling with Panetta.

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6:15am

Wed March 14, 2012
The Two-Way

6.8 Magnitude Quake Shakes Japan, But Tsunami Warning Canceled

The same general area of Japan that was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami almost exactly one year ago was rattled today by a 6.9 magnitude temblor that led authorities to warn of another possible tsunami along the nation's northeast coast. (Note at 7:42 a.m. ET: The U.S.

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6:00am

Wed March 14, 2012
The Two-Way

Santorum Wins In Dixie, Romney Takes Hawaii And American Samoa

Credit Sean Gardner / Getty Images
  • Mara Liasson on 'Morning Edition'

After another set of presidential contests the story remains much the same — pundits say former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney remains the front runner in the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, but former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum continues his strong challenge.

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