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White House spokesman Jay Carney put an end to intense speculation Thursday about whether President Obama would do an end run around Congress with one simple line: "This administration does not believe the 14th Amendment gives the president the power to ignore the debt ceiling — period."

The dB's, led by singer-songwriter-guitarists Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey, hasn't made an album with the original line-up in 30 years. Rock critic Ken Tucker says the band's new album, Falling Off the Sky, sweeps aside decades and nostalgia to achieve a vital sound for today.

Scientists have developed a computer model that breaks through a key test used to tell a human from a bot. Text-based CAPTCHAs, a rough acronym for Completely Automated Public Turing Test To Tell Computers and Humans Apart, are groups of jumbled characters along with squiggly lines and other background noise.

Sgt. Cody Wolf died in World War II on Jan. 11, 1944, when his plane was shot down. Weeks before his death, he contributed to a Christmas broadcast recorded on the front lines. His daughter, Margaret Ann Wolf Harris, heard that recording for the first time in December.

Very few insurers around the country are offering top-of-the-line platinum insurance plans. Policymakers predicted less expensive but more restrictive bronze and silver plans would prove more popular than high-end options, and it looks like insurance companies think so, too.

Traders who made calamitous bets on corporate debt have cost JPMorgan Chase nearly $6 billion so far. The bank announced the losses on Friday but said the firm still managed to earn $5 billion in the second quarter. But the impact of the trading loss goes far beyond the bottom line.

As of Tuesday, the newly drawn congressional districts keep the 7th in western Minnesota and extend the 8th west to take in all the state’s northern Native American reservations and south to the northeast metro area. Minnesota kept eight congressional districts, but the lines shifted because of population changes within them.

Daniel talks with Nobel Laureate Leon Lederman about plans for a new television drama about scientists. Lederman says it would be a great way to teach the public about science without losing their interest. He's not sure what the steamy scenes would entail, but fills Daniel in on some possible story lines.

The new budget details released by the administration today did not cause much stir on Capitol Hill, with the House and Senate on recess and most of the halls of Congress deserted. But there were a few leaders on hand from both parties to parse the stack of bound blue volumes and search for a bottom line. NPR's David Welna reports.

NPR's John McChesney reports that a group of computer experts have succeeded in cracking the digital code that protects numbers transmitted over cellular telephone lines. These are not the first flaws found in cellular telphone security, but industry backers say that technology can address these issues, and that there are other layers of security that have not been cracked.

NPR's Julie McCarthy reports from London that the worst storm in more than a decade struck Britain. The rain and gale-force winds brought the south of England to a virtual standstill. Fallen trees and floods closed roads and rail lines. At least four people were reported killed in storm-related accidents.

Hans Japp Melisson of Radio Netherlands reports on tomorrow's planned ice skating marathon. 16,000 skaters are to follow a course 125-miles long through eleven Dutch towns. A million spectators are expected to line the canals and inland waterways. Another 10 million Dutch are expected to watch the event on TV.

Linda talks with Mike Shatzkin, CEO and Founder of the Idea Logical Company, about Stephen King's decision to suspend on-line publication of his book, The Plant. He says King's decision to stop publishing the book came as no surprise. The interest for the book has dwindled, and customers were no longer willing to pay.

Guitarist Lonnie Donegan inspired John Lennon and Pete Townshend with his "skiffle" sound. He wrote such memorable hits as "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor (on the Bedpost Overnight)," and "Rock Island Line." Lonnie Donegan died yesterday at the age of 71. Robert Siegel has this remembrance.

Massachusetts will make history Monday, when it becomes the first state in the nation to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry. Couples formed a line Sunday night at the City Hall building in Cambridge, Mass., waiting for one minute past midnight, when clerks will begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Attorney General John Ashcroft said the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and the FBI will encrypt the video of Timothy McVeigh's execution. It's part of the effort to prevent any one to hack into the line and broadcast the images. Linda Wertheimer talks with Mark Rasch, Vice President of Cyberlaw at Predictive Systems in Washington D.C.

The iPhone went on sale Friday, after much hype. But by Saturday, the long lines were for people who wanted to try the phones, not buy them. Everybody was curious but slow to buy as there were concerns about the carrier; No. 3 AT&T. Sentiments are mixed as to whether it has lived up to its promise.

Originally released in 1961, electric guitarist Grant Green's first album with Blue Note Records, Grant's First Stand, has been reissued. Green has a solid swinger's knack for skippy, airborne jazz rhythms, but some of his lines wouldn't sound out of place in a Chicago blues bar.

Gray has kept busy since her audacious 2001 debut. She's put out three albums, and she's acted in a number of films. She's also established a music school, The M. Gray Music Academy, in Hollywood, and is about to launch a line of clothes called Humps, designed for full-figured women.

The rescue plan for giant mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac promises credit and possible stock purchases. It might cost the U.S. nothing — or it might cost $25 billion. Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd says balancing investor confidence and taxpayer exposure is a fine line, but "doing nothing is not an option."