Morning Edition

According to a survey by the National Retail Federation, mothers will be treated to a little more this holiday. All told, American consumers are expected to spend about $18.6 billion on the moms, stepmoms or grandmas in their lives.

More than 250 veterans are expected to attend a job fair Friday at the Pontchartrain Center in Kenner. It’s part of a national campaign designed to help veterans as well as military spouses.

A new study from the Pew Charitable Trusts finds economic mobility differs significantly across the United States. The report finds Americans are more likely to move up the economic ladder if they live in the northeast.

Louisiana health officials have closed an oyster harvesting area in Terrebonne Parish they suspect is contaminated with a virus. Fourteen people have gotten sick.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

And I'm David Greene. There are new developments this morning in the story of the al-Qaida plot to bomb an airplane heading to the United States. It turns out that the man who was thought to be the bomber was actually a double agent - that, according to U.S. officials.

Kimberly Lankford, personal finance writer for Kiplinger.com and Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, talks to David Greene about the shifting market for long-term-care insurance, and if it is still worth buying.

Copyright 2012 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

A man facing the first criminal charges stemming from the BP oil spill has pleaded not guilty to obstructing justice. Federal authorities say he may have been planning to leave the United States permanently.

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

NPR's business news begins with Facebook frenzy.

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GREENE: The world's largest social networking site is going public later this month. And yesterday it set a price range for its stock. It plans to sell share shares for between $28 and $35 each, using the ticker symbol FB. The share sale is expected to raise as much as $12 billion, making it one of the largest initial public offerings ever.

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm David Greene.

Video game fans hear this often. EA Sports, it's in the game. Well, now America's largest game publisher is trying to stay in the game. EA, Electronic Arts, built a gaming empire with a strategy straight out of Hollywood - big names and big budgets. But the market is changing. For one thing, more players now prefer games you can play online. And so the Silicon Valley company has been forced to change as well. KQED's Aarti Shahani reports.