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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8:47am

Thu May 16, 2013
The Two-Way

Reports: Note Found In Boat Where Boston Suspect Hid

Originally published on Thu May 16, 2013 11:10 am

Credit Darren McCollester / Getty Images

In a message written on a wall of the boat where he was found hiding, Boston bombings suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev claimed responsibility for the attack and said it was motivated by anger over the Afghan and Iraq wars, sources familiar with what was found have told CBS News correspondent John Miller.

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7:57am

Thu May 16, 2013
The Two-Way

Conflicting Signals From Latest Economic Indicators

Thursday morning's economic news:

-- There were 360,000 first-time claims for unemployment insurance last week, up 32,000 from the week before, the Employment and Training Administration says. At 360,000, the pace was the fastest since the last week of March. But it remained well below the 400,000-and-higher rate that lasted from mid-2008 into 2011.

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7:35am

Thu May 16, 2013
The Two-Way

Twitter Users Risk Damnation, Say Saudi Religious Police

Originally published on Thu May 16, 2013 8:57 am

Credit Fayez Nureldine / AFP/Getty Images

"The head of Saudi Arabia's religious police has warned citizens against using Twitter, which is rising in popularity among Saudis," the BBC reports. "Sheikh Abdul Latif Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh said anyone using social media sites — and especially Twitter — 'has lost this world and his afterlife.' "

International Digital Times notes that:

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7:08am

Thu May 16, 2013
The Two-Way

Suspect Apprehended In New Orleans Second-Line Shooting

Originally published on Thu May 16, 2013 3:30 pm

Credit New Orleans Police Department / EPA /LANDOV

"CAPTURED!"

That's how the New Orleans Police Department spread the word on Facebook early Thursday that its officers had "arrested 19-year-old Akein Scott in connection with the shooting of 19 people on Mother's Day."

Update at 4:05 p.m. ET. Second Suspect Arrested:

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6:27am

Thu May 16, 2013
The Two-Way

At Least 13 Dead, Including Americans, After Attack In Kabul

Originally published on Thu May 16, 2013 7:46 am

Credit Zhao Yishen / Xinhua /Landov

Early casualty reports indicate that a powerful suicide car bombing Thursday in Kabul killed at least seven Afghan civilians, four foreign civilian contractors who were working for international forces and two members of the international military force.

Dozens more people were reportedly injured by the blast in Afghanistan's capital city.

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6:08am

Thu May 16, 2013
The Two-Way

Texas Tornado Leaves 6 Dead, Dozens Hurt, Hundreds Homeless

Originally published on Thu May 16, 2013 7:38 am

Credit Joyce Marshall / Fort Worth Star-Telegram / MCT / Landov

"A massive emergency response" is underway in North Texas, where tornadoes blew through Wednesday night, The Dallas Morning News says. A twister that hit Granbury, about 35 miles southwest of Fort Worth, left at least six people dead, more than 100 injured and even more homeless, The Associated Press adds.

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12:25pm

Wed May 15, 2013
The Two-Way

Source May Have Misled Media About Key Benghazi Email

Originally published on Mon May 20, 2013 11:49 am

Credit / AFP/Getty Images

Update at 6:42 p.m. ET: Reaction From Boehner's Office

In a statement, Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, said the emails "contradict statements made by the White House that it and the State Department only changed one word in the talking points."

Here's the statement in full:

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10:09am

Wed May 15, 2013
The Two-Way

Pffff: Hong Kong's Six-Story Rubber Ducky's Been Deflated

Originally published on Wed May 15, 2013 12:52 pm

That giant rubber duck floating in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor, which we posted about on May 6, is down for maintenance.

And when we say down, we mean it. It's been deflated.

But fans shouldn't despair. Ducky's hosts say it just "needs to freshen up" and will return. It's set to be in Hong Kong until sometime next month.

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9:57am

Wed May 15, 2013
The Two-Way

Boehner: Who's Going To Jail For What IRS Did?

Originally published on Wed May 15, 2013 8:34 pm

Credit Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA /LANDOV

He doesn't want to know who's going to resign, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters Wednesday morning.

He wants to know: "Who's going to jail" for what IRS personnel did to some conservative groups?

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8:29am

Wed May 15, 2013
The Two-Way

Military Recruiters, Sex Assault Responders To Be Retrained

Originally published on Wed May 15, 2013 1:59 pm

Credit Jason Reed/pool / Getty Images

All branches of the U.S. military have been ordered "to retrain, re-credential and rescreen all sexual assault prevention and response personnel and military recruiters," the Pentagon confirmed Wednesday morning.

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8:06am

Wed May 15, 2013
The Two-Way

Cleveland Kidnaps Suspect Will Plead Not Guilty, Lawyer Says

Originally published on Wed May 15, 2013 1:09 pm

Credit / Getty Images

Saying that their client is not a "monster," attorneys for Ariel Castro have told Cleveland's WKYC-TV that the man accused of kidnapping three young women, holding them captive and repeatedly raping them over the course of about a decade will plead not guilty to all charges if he is indicted by a grand jury.

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6:58am

Wed May 15, 2013
The Two-Way

Read The Report On IRS's 'Inappropriate' Scrutiny Of Groups

Originally published on Wed May 15, 2013 12:58 pm

The language is not dramatic, but the message is clear: A much-anticipated report from the Treasury Department's inspector general for tax administration is straightforward about how Internal Revenue Service personnel unfairly singled out some conservative groups for unnecessary scrutiny during the 2012 campaign cycle.

As the report's summary says:

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6:14am

Wed May 15, 2013
The Two-Way

Holder Isn't Sure How Often Reporters' Records Are Seized

Originally published on Thu May 16, 2013 5:10 am

Credit Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

As his Justice Department faces bipartisan outrage for searching phone records of Associated Press reporters and editors, Attorney Gen. Eric Holder says he is not sure how many times such information has been seized by government investigators in the four years he's led Justice.

During an interview with NPR's Carrie Johnson on Tuesday, Holder was asked how often his department has obtained such records of journalists' work.

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1:19pm

Tue May 14, 2013
The Two-Way

Justice Department To Open Probe Of IRS's Actions

Originally published on Wed May 15, 2013 7:17 am

Attorney Gen. Eric Holder has ordered the Justice Department to open an investigation into whether any laws were broken when the Internal Revenue Service singled out some conservative groups for extra scrutiny, he told reporters Tuesday.

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1:09pm

Tue May 14, 2013
The Two-Way

It's True: 'Mistakes Were Made' Is The King Of Non-Apologies

Originally published on Tue May 14, 2013 2:01 pm

Make no mistake, the acting commissioner of the IRS put himself in historic company Tuesday by writing in USA Today that "mistakes were made" when his agency singled out for extra scrut

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