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The Two-Way
7:16 am
Tue May 21, 2013

Book News: Stephen King's New Bogeyman? Digital Publishing

Credit Mario Tama / Getty Images
Stephen King holds a special pink Kindle given to him at a 2009 unveiling event for the Amazon Kindle 2.

The daily lowdown on books, publishing, and the occasional author behaving badly.

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The Two-Way
7:11 am
Tue May 21, 2013

IRS Officials To Be On Hot Seat

Credit Dennis Brack / Landov

Both the former IRS commissioner who was in charge when the agency singled out some conservative groups for extra scrutiny and the man who replaced him will be appearing at a Senate Finance Committee hearing Tuesday morning.

Douglas Shulman, an appointee of President George W. Bush who left the IRS last November, and acting commissioner Steven Miller (who is losing his job because of the scandal) are due at the 10 a.m. ET hearing.

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Business
6:23 am
Tue May 21, 2013

CEO Cook To Defend Apple Before Senate Committee Hearing

Giant technology firm Apple is paying billions of dollars less than it should in U.S. taxes each year, according to a report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The panel will hold a hearing on the matter Tuesday in Washington, D.C. Apple CEO Tim Cook will be there to defend the company.

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The Two-Way
6:20 am
Tue May 21, 2013

Death Toll Climbing In Oklahoma Tornado Tragedy

Credit RIchard Rowe / Reuters /Landov
The destruction was wide and devastating in Moore, Okla., on Monday after a tornado roared through.

Originally published on Tue May 21, 2013 7:33 am

(We're following the news from Oklahoma, where a tornado devastated the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore on Monday. Most recent update: 7:25 a.m. ET.)

As Tuesday dawned, the official death toll from the monster tornado that roared through Moore, Okla., on Monday stood at 51.

But Amy Elliott, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma state medical examiner's office, was warning that officials believe at least another 40 people had been killed. Some of those are thought to be children in one of the schools that was destroyed by the powerful storm.

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The Record
3:15 am
Tue May 21, 2013

The Doors' Keyboard Counterpoint Goes Silent: Remembering Ray Manzarek

Credit Express / Getty Images
Ray Manzarek (far right) stands with fellow members of The Doors Jim Morrison (from right), Robby Krieger and John Densmore in 1968. Manzarek died Monday in Germany. He was 74.

Originally published on Tue May 21, 2013 5:52 am

Shots - Health News
3:01 am
Tue May 21, 2013

Texas Medicaid Debate Complicated By Politics And Poverty

Credit Courtesy of the Brownsville Community Health Center
Paula Gomez is the executive director of the Brownsville Community Health Center.

Originally published on Tue May 21, 2013 7:46 am

When the sun rises over the Rio Grande Valley, the cries of the urracas – black birds – perched on the tops of palm trees swell to a noisy, unavoidable cacophony. That is also the strategy, it could be said, that local officials, health care providers and frustrated Valley residents are trying to use to convince Governor Rick Perry and state Republican lawmakers to set aside their opposition and expand Medicaid, a key provision of the federal health law.

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Parallels
2:59 am
Tue May 21, 2013

The Global Afterlife Of Your Donated Clothes

Originally published on Tue May 21, 2013 5:52 am

On a bright and warm Saturday morning, there's a steady flow of people dropping off donations at Martha's Table, a charity in downtown Washington, D.C. A mountain of plastic and paper bags stuffed with used dresses, scarves, skirts and footwear expands in one corner of the room. Volunteers sort and put clothes on hangers. They'll go on sale next door, the proceeds of which will help the needy in the area.

It's a scene played out across the U.S.: people donating their old clothes, whether through collection bins or through large charities, to help others.

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The Two-Way
7:15 pm
Mon May 20, 2013

VIDEO: A Time-Lapse Of The Tornado In Oklahoma

Originally published on Tue May 21, 2013 4:57 am

NBC News has put together a time-lapse video of the EF-4 tornado that tore through the southern suburbs of Oklahoma City, Okla.

As we told you in the live blog, the National Weather Service says it was at least an EF-4 tornado with winds in excess of 166 mph. The tornado stayed on the ground for 40 minutes and traveled 20 miles.

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The Two-Way
7:14 pm
Mon May 20, 2013

A Brief History Of Oklahoma Tornadoes

Credit Jerry Laizure / AP
Destruction at Midwest City, Okla., one of the towns hit by the May 5, 1999, tornadoes.

Originally published on Tue May 21, 2013 4:58 am

Although Oklahoma is a state where tornadoes are a fact of life, few days stand out like May 3, 1999.

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The Two-Way
7:11 pm
Mon May 20, 2013

Key Charge Against Ex-BP Official In Spill Case Dismissed

Credit Matthew Hinton / AP
David Rainey, a former BP vice president during the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, leaves federal court after being arraigned on obstruction of a federal investigation in New Orleans on Nov. 28, 2012. A federal judge Monday dismissed the charge that Rainey obstructed a congressional investigation into the 2010 spill.

It's another bad day for the Justice Department.

A federal judge in Louisiana has thrown out the central criminal charge against a former BP executive because prosecutors failed to prove he knew about a pending congressional investigation into oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico three years ago. U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt also ruled that a Democratic House member who inquired about the oil flow rate was acting as head of a subcommittee, not a full congressional committee, as required under the federal Obstruction of Justice statute.

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