Morning Edition

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. It seemed like an odd move. An Ohio police chief publicly directed his officers to target a certain group for ticketing. He set a quota for the officers of Brimfield Township: at least one ticket per shift. And the targeted group? Kids under the age of 12 riding their bikes wearing helmets. Ah, but the fine was a free ice cream cone. Just bicycle safely over to Frank's Drive-In. Tickets good for the summer. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

Good morning, I'm Linda Wertheimer with an archeological expedition to recover ancient relics from the '80s.

The Fuel entertainment company plans to sift through a New Mexico landfill in search of Atari video games. According ancient legend, that's where Atari dumped millions of copies of "E.T." The movie-based video game did not sell well in 1982. But now folks are ready to pay for Atari's remains.

It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

For Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of slain NAACP leader Medgar Evers, the memories of 1963 are still raw.

Her family lived in terror behind the locked doors of their Jackson, Miss., home — a modest, three-bedroom, ranch-style house in one of the first new subdivisions built for African-Americans in Mississippi's segregated capital city. A back window in the tiny kitchen frames the backyard where Evers-Williams once grew rose bushes and a plum tree.

Blockbuster console game franchise Halo is going to have a new installment for mobile phones. Microsoft made the announcement Tuesday. It's a confirmation of the way the gaming industry is going, away from relying on $60 console games and closer to mobile and micropayments.

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The Obama administration is expressing deep concern about guilty verdicts in Egypt against 43 people who were working on democracy programs in the country. Sixteen of them are Americans, though most left Egypt when the charges were brought against them. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports that issue is one of many complicating Washington's relations with Cairo.

MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: Charles Dunne wasn't even in Egypt when he first heard about the charges against him and he never received anything official from the court.

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Apple could face problems with some of its older models of iPhones and iPads in the U.S. This, after the U.S. Trade Commission ruled yesterday that the devices violated a patent owned by Apple's archrival, Samsung.

The ruling is unlikely to have a big impact on Apple's earnings. But as NPR's Steve Henn reports, the decision raises more questions about how the U.S. patent system can be used.

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Now we turn to a scathing report on expensive conferences held by the IRS. The report by the agency's own inspector general noted the IRS spent about $50 million on employee meetings between 2010 and 2012.

NPR's Wendy Kaufman reports.

WENDY KAUFMAN, BYLINE: Some of the most egregious examples of questionable spending occurred at a 2010 gathering in Southern California. The IRS paid dearly for some lavish hotel rooms, and spent $34,000 for lodging and related expenses for employees who lived nearby.

The comedian in question is Marc Maron. He does a popular podcast, called WTF, out of his garage in California. It's an interview show, with other comedians and artists. Maron recently found an extraordinary letter in his mailbox. This letter said, basically, that by doing his podcast, out of his garage, he was violating a technology patent. His podcast was, according to the letter, illegal.

"They sent a copy of the patent with this letter," Maron says, "which looks like a large bunch of legal gibberish."

With Spain's economy in shreds, the country is doing a lot of finger-pointing about who was at fault and where all the money has gone. The latest suspects: the Spanish royal family.

The reputation of the current Spanish king, Juan Carlos, was seemingly cemented one day 32 years ago when armed civil guard officers stormed the Spanish Parliament, holding lawmakers hostage in an attempted coup.

The king went on live TV, denouncing the officers.

"The crown cannot tolerate any action that interrupts the strength of the democratic process," he said.

NPR's Uri Berliner is taking $5,000 of his own savings and putting it to work. Though he's no financial whiz or guru, he's exploring different types of investments — alternatives that may fare better than staying in a savings account that's not keeping up with inflation.

When my old pal the Sports Curmudgeon had some mildly churlish things to say about golf a few weeks ago, both he and I were upbraided by loyal linksters. As one snapped at me, "You don't know anything about golf."

Perhaps.

But I know all about golf propaganda.

The American combat mission in Afghanistan will end in 2014. One concern for U.S. officials is the possibility that Afghan security forces will splinter along ethnic lines. The worry then is that those troops will start taking orders from warlords.

Friday is National Doughnut Day. You might want to try Dunkin' Donuts latest creation: bacon and egg between a glazed doughnut.

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Good morning, I'm Renee Montagne.

German spelling bees are about to get easier. The language's longest word has been retired. Its 63 letters long so we'll let YouTube's words German channel say it.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Rindfleischetikettierungsuberwachungsaufgabenubertragungsgesetz.

MONTAGNE: One word, the definition: A law concerning the delegation of duties for the supervision of cattle marking and the labeling of beef. The law is outdated, so officials are saying auf wiedersehen.

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Jell-O is jiggling up the Twitter-verse.

NPR's Travis Larchuk reports the wholesome brand has an edgy new social media campaign.

TRAVIS LARCHUK, BYLINE: Jell-O's classic commercials end on these five letters...

(SOUNDBITE OF JINGLE)

UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Singing) J-E-L-L-O!

LARCHUK: But on Twitter, the company's pared it down to just three letters, F-M-L.

A divided Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Monday that it's constitutional for police to take DNA swabs from suspects who are arrested but not yet convicted of a crime. The court compared such DNA sampling to fingerprinting when a suspect is booked.

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President Obama will nominate three new judges this morning to the powerful Federal Appeals Court in Washington D.C. The announcement is expected to come in the White House Rose Garden, and as NPR's Scott Horsley reports, there could be a few thorns.

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Things are not going do well for the online game maker Zynga. The once high-flying gaming company has been struggling and now plans to lay off almost 20 percent of its staff; that's more than 500 employees.

NPR's Wendy Kaufman reports.

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Lawyers for Apple will be back in court today, defending the company against government charges that it conspired with publishers to fix eBook prices. All the major publishing houses settled months ago with the Justice Department.

But as NPR's Laura Sydell reports, Apple's lawyer told the court the company won't settle because it did nothing wrong.

There's just a sliver of light in the eastern sky as the patrol leaves the American compound through a thick metal door.

They scamper across Highway 2, a narrow asphalt road that leads to Kabul, just an hour's drive away — if not for the war. They cross an old graveyard and head toward the silhouette of a tree line, all seen through the eerie green glow of night-vision goggles.