3:00pm

Sun January 8, 2012
Around the Nation

Newark, N.J., Seeks To Revamp Shopping District

The city plans to revitalize its once-glitzy downtown shopping district. New Jersey News Service reporter Nancy Solomon tours Broad Street with Newark's head of economic development, and reports on plans to lure back high-end shoppers.

3:00pm

Sun January 8, 2012
Sports

Preview Of BCS Bowl Game

Originally published on Sun January 8, 2012 6:06 pm

Transcript

GUY RAZ, HOST:

So tomorrow night for the first time in the history of the Bowl Championship Series, two teams from the same conference, the Southeastern Conference, the two best teams in college football, Louisiana State University and the University of Alabama, will face off in the BCS National Championship in New Orleans. Who's going to win? Well, to help us answer that question, Mike Pesca joins me now.

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2:46pm

Sun January 8, 2012
Author Interviews

A Self-Published Author's $2-Million Cinderella Story

Credit Mariah Paaverud / St. Martin's Griffin

Best-selling e-author Amanda Hocking grew up in the small town of Austin, Minn., which, she says, is known for Spam. Spam as in the food, not the e-mail spam.

"We invented Spam," the 27-year-old novelist tells weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz.

Hocking's dad was a truck driver. Her mom was a waitress. Even as a very young child, she had always been a kind of natural storyteller — especially when it came to fantasy stories. Stories about dragons, unicorns, pirates and more.

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Credit Jake Holt

Elise Hu is a digital editorial specialist at NPR who reports for on-air, online and multimedia platforms. She joined NPR in 2011 to coordinate the digital development and editorial vision for the StateImpact network, a state government reporting project focused on member stations.

Before joining NPR, she was one of the founding reporters who helped launch The Texas Tribune, a non-profit digital news startup devoted to politics and public policy. While at the Tribune, Hu oversaw television partnerships and multimedia projects; contributed to The New York Times' expanded Texas coverage and pushed for editorial innovation across platforms.

An honors graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia's School of Journalism, she previously worked as the state political reporter for KVUE-TV in Austin, WYFF-TV in Greenville, SC, and reported from Asia for the Taipei Times.

Her work has earned a Gannett Foundation Award for Innovation in Watchdog Journalism, a National Edward R. Murrow award for best online video, beat reporting awards from the Texas Associated Press and The Austin Chronicle once dubiously named her the "Best TV Reporter Who Can Write."

Outside of work, Hu is an adviser to the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, where she keeps up with emerging media and technology as a panelist for the Knight News Challenge.

Follow her on Twitter @elisewho.

1:21pm

Sun January 8, 2012
It's All Politics

Days Before Primary, N.H. Restaurant Bans Presidential Candidates

During this final sprint toward Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, candidate stops will be full of local diners and doughnut shops where the presidential hopefuls can chat up "real" voters — locals who stop in for a meal or a coffee.

But customers in one New Hampshire restaurant are over it. In response, a Portsmouth breakfast spot has banned candidates completely, reports Seacoast Online:

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11:53am

Sun January 8, 2012
It's All Politics

Finally, Romney's Opponents Take Aim

Credit Alex Wong / Getty Images

At last, the rivals who were supposed to savage front-runner Mitt Romney in the final weekend before Tuesday's primary in New Hampshire got down to business.

In the opening minutes of their debate Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press, several of those chasing Romney in the polls let fly the roundhouse punches they'd been pulling through weeks and months of TV debates.

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10:44am

Sun January 8, 2012
Music Interviews

Deathbed Music: The Final Works of Famous Composers

Credit Hulton Archive / Getty Images

When it comes to last words, there's a kind of poetry in even the oddest ones. Oscar Wilde hated the wallpaper in the room where he died: "One of us has to go," he muttered. Salvador Dali: "Where is my clock?" Steve Jobs: "Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow," according to his sister, who was in the room.

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9:55am

Sun January 8, 2012
Remembrances

Letters To Tucson, One Year After The Shooting

Originally published on Sun January 8, 2012 10:16 am

Transcript

(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE OF PEOPLE SAYING "DEAR TUCSON")

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

It's been a year since a gunman opened fire at a Tucson grocery store. Six people were killed and 13 injured, including Representative Gabrielle Giffords. NPR's State of the Re:Union asked people who were present that day at the shooting to write letters to Tucson, reflecting on their city and the year since the tragedy.

RON BARBER: Unlike most places, Tucson is green in the dead of winter.

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8:00am

Sun January 8, 2012
Politics

On The (Political) Ground In New Hampshire

New Hampshire Republican Congressman Frank Guinta is a veteran of New Hampshire politics. The former state representative and mayor of Manchester gives host Rachel Martin a sense of the state's mood just two days before the primary.

8:00am

Sun January 8, 2012
Politics

Candidates Turn Against All But One At Debate

There were lots of attacks and counter-attacks at the Republican candidates debate in New Hampshire Saturday night. Mostly the candidates fought among themselves, while front-runner Mitt Romney stuck to his talking points on President Obama. Host Rachel Martin talks with NPR's Mara Liasson about the takeaways from the event.

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