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Planet Money
11:30 am
Fri June 15, 2012

An Austerity Wedding, With No Money For A Dress

Credit Nikolia Apostolou / NPR
Elias Tilligadas and Katerina Margeritou are getting married next week.

Originally published on Fri June 15, 2012 5:25 pm

Katerina Margaritou and Elias Tilligadas live in Athens. They're getting married next Wednesday — three days after the Greek election that has the global economy on edge.

Katerina is a chemist, and she works for a company whose main customer is the Greek government. The Greek government, of course, is broke. So Katerina hasn't been paid since last year.

"I'm very happy because I'm getting married," Katerina told me this week. "But I'm very sad because at the moment I cannot buy a dress. My boss promised me that he's going to give money to buy a dress. So I'm waiting."

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'It's All Politics': NPR's Weekly News Roundup
11:16 am
Fri June 15, 2012

It's All Politics, June 14, 2012

Credit David Karp / AP

June already has brought a strong dose of bad news for President Obama, from the monthly jobs report to questions about his Cabinet. So, how much can an incumbent blame on his predecessor?

Plus, Gabby Giffords' annointed successor wins the House seat in Arizona's special election. NPR's Ron Elving and Ken Rudin discuss.

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Monkey See
11:14 am
Fri June 15, 2012

Pop Culture Happy Hour: A Week In Theater And A Day To Appreciate Dads

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The Two-Way
11:10 am
Fri June 15, 2012

Rajat Gupta Guilty In Insider Trading Case

Credit Emmanuel Dunand / AFP/Getty Images
Rajat Gupta on Wednesday as he arrived at the federal courthouse in Manhattan.

"Rajat Gupta, who reached the pinnacle of corporate America as managing partner of McKinsey & Co. and was a director at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Procter & Gamble, was convicted by a federal jury of leaking inside information to hedge-fund manager Raj Rajaratnam," Bloomberg News writes.

The Associated Press recaps the case:

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Shots - Health Blog
11:09 am
Fri June 15, 2012

Insurers Wait For Verdict On Health Care Law And Their Bottom Line

Credit John Rose / NPR
Demonstrators both for and against the health care law turned out on the steps of the Supreme Court on March 27, the second day of oral arguments before the court.

Originally published on Fri June 15, 2012 5:25 pm

All eyes these days are trained on the U.S. Supreme Court, which is expected to rule sometime this month on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.

But some people are waiting more anxiously for the court to rule than others. Among them are those with a major financial stake in whether the law goes forward or not and if so, in what form.

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Hardcover Fiction Bestsellers
11:03 am
Fri June 15, 2012

NPR Bestsellers: Hardcover Fiction, Week Of June 14, 2012

Kiss the Dead, Laurell K. Hamilton's latest "Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter" novel, debuts at No. 13.

NPR Bestseller List
11:03 am
Fri June 15, 2012

NPR Bestsellers: Week Of June 14, 2012

Compiled from weekly surveys of close to 500 independent bookstores nationwide.

Remembrances
10:53 am
Fri June 15, 2012

For 'Wiseguy' Henry Hill, Mobster 'Days Were Over'

Originally published on Fri June 15, 2012 5:29 pm

Henry Hill, the mobster-turned-informant portrayed by Ray Liotta in the film Goodfellas, died Tuesday at age 69. Hill's colorful life — he lived in Cincinnati; Omaha; Butte, Mont.; Independence, Ky.; and Topanga, Calif., among other places — was documented in crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi's 1986 book Wiseguy and then in Martin Scorsese's film Goodfellas, which was based on Pileggi's book.

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Television
10:53 am
Fri June 15, 2012

'Car 54' Re-Release Drives An Old Fan To Reminisce

Originally published on Fri June 15, 2012 5:24 pm

I grew up in New York City, but I didn't watch Car 54, Where Are You? until I got hooked on it in syndication long after it was originally aired. So I was very happy to see the complete series of 60 episodes released on two DVD boxed sets. The episode in Season 2 titled "I Hate Capt. Block," about trying to teach a recalcitrant parrot to talk and the way people are not much smarter than parrots, is one of the most hilarious things I've ever seen on television, maybe as inspired as Sid Caesar's foreign film parodies or Carol Burnett's version of Gone with the Wind.

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Barbershop
10:36 am
Fri June 15, 2012

Will Lebron - Durant Matchup Go Down In History?

Host Michel Martin and the Barbershop guys discuss the trial of Penn State's Jerry Sandusky. The guys also weigh in on the NBA match-up between LeBron James and Kevin Durant. Plus, some boxing fans are fighting mad. They claim judges robbed Manny Pacquiao of the victory he deserved in last week's match. But was it good for boxing?

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