News from NPR

The cities of New York and Los Angeles grade their restaurants on cleanliness and the precautions they take to avoid making customers sick.

Now hospitals are getting similar assessments for their patient safety records from the Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit that's looking to improve the quality and safety of health care.

Author Ray Bradbury has died, his daughter tells The Associated Press. The wire service says Bradbury passed away Tuesday night.

"Our team is currently looking into reports of stolen passwords," the business networking website LinkedIn confirms, after word of a Russian hacker's claim to have stolen nearly 6.5 million users' passwords.

The Associated Press takes a traditional view of the news that American workers' productivity fell more than first thought in the first quarter.

Boring, Ore., took not-so-bold action Tuesday night.

The town in Clackamas County is now in an "unofficially official pairing" with tiny Dull, Scotland.

Yes, Dull and Boring have joined forces. As they were destined to.

According to The Oregonian, there was a unanimous vote — of the 38 residents who attended a Boring planning board meeting — to form this "Pair for the Ages," as T-shirts on sale in Boring declare.

Midway through a Wall Street Journal story today about whether the Federal Reserve will do something in coming weeks to give the economy a boost is this eye-catching line:

"There is little worry at the Fed of a new recession."

For weeks now, we in the news business have been telling you how much the Scott Walker recall election in Wisconsin matters to the country as a whole.

At least 22 people were killed and another 50 wounded in southern Afghanistan today when three suicide bombers blew themselves up in a market near the Kandahar Air Field used by U.S. and coalition forces.

Most of the victims were Afghan civlians, officials tell the BBC.

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. Eight thousand people will carry the Olympic torch before it reaches London to open the summer games, though one would-be torch barer isn't even human. He's a small red fuzzy monster.

KEVIN CLASH: (As Elmo) Elmo's ready to start training to be a monster torch-bearer. Yay. Oh, oh, Cramp, cramp.

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Now that it's over and Republican Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin has easily defeated a recall attempt, the morning-after analyses are in. There's a common theme:

-- Walker's win "is a stinging blow" to President Obama's re-election chances, says National Journal's 2012 Decoded blog.

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

So far this year, 25 states have ended the Extended Benefits program. That program made sure people out of work for long periods of time continued receiving financial assistance. But there was a catch: if a state's unemployment rate improved, the money would stop flowing. The fact that some states are seeing lower unemployment may seem like a good sign for the economy. It's no comfort to the people who are still out of work.

Susie An from WBEZ in Chicago has that story.

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And our last word in business this morning is: litigious days.

(SOUNDBITE OF "HAPPY DAYS" THEME SONG)

MONTAGNE: That, of course, is the theme from "Happy Days," the hit sitcom from the 1970s and '80s. These days, not everyone is so happy. Several cast members from the show are battling with CBS and Paramount, for unpaid royalties.

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

This is MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. Good morning. I'm David Greene.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And I'm Renee Montagne.

Here a couple of the more alarming warnings coming out of the eurozone this week. Greece says it could go broke by July. Spain says it probably can't raise money from investors because they're demanding interest rates that are too high.

Despite all these troubles, one country is still eager to join the eurozone: Latvia. In fact, all three Baltic States remain supportive of the euro.

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

NPR's business news starts with yet another setback for Spain.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

London is having a lot of fun this summer. This past few days, it brought parades, concerts and a 1,000-boat flotilla down the Thames, celebrating the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Next month, the Olympic Games begin.

From time to time, NPR's Philip Reeves sends us a letter about the preparations for the games. This is his latest.

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And I'm Renee Montagne.

Wisconsin's combative Governor Scott Walker has survived an attempt to remove him from office. Labor unions, angry over the Republican governor's successful push to strip them of most collective bargaining rights, had battled Scott Walker and hoped Wisconsin voters would oust him.

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Tiny bags of pretzels followed by some kind of rubber mystery meat - for those who fly, you know exactly what I'm talking about: the joys of airplane food. Well, some airlines are now trying to shake things up. They're showcasing some new cuisine in hopes of luring more passengers. But producing food that actually tastes great at cruising altitude is not easy, as NPR's Wendy Kaufman reports.

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And the U.S. bailout of General Motors and the auto industry in 2009 has worked its way into the presidential campaign. Republican Mitt Romney says he'd sell the government stock in GM quickly if he wins the White House. A White House spokesman counters that Romney isn't credible on the issue, since he opposed the bailout that rescued the industry.

NPR's Sonari Glinton has the story.