Earlier this month on Morning Edition, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner made the case for President Obama's latest jobs plan, saying it "would have a substantial, powerful effect on strengthening the economy." Click here to read and hear his conversation with host Steve Inskeep.

With the White House and Congress at loggerheads over how best to help the U.S. economy, some have pinned their hopes on the Federal Reserve to help fill the void.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke says the central bank still has a range of tools it can use to prop up the economy. But Greg McBride of the financial website Bankrate.com is not holding his breath.

In Forest Falls, Calif., 12-year-old Kara Jackson walked into her family's kitchen and found a bear had wandered inside. Home alone, and lacking a weapon, Jackson clapped as loudly as she could, and scared off the bear.

Stomper the bear is the mascot for the Lake Erie Crushers, a minor league baseball team in Ohio. Someone stole the bear's head from a storage closet. The mascot missed the Crushers' final home games.

We already delivered the news earlier, but NPR's Robert Smith just delivered it in a more lyrical manner for our Newscast unit.

There's not much more we can add. You just have to listen:

Google Inc. Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt told a Senate panel Wednesday that the company faces tough competition and isn't using its dominance in Internet search to stifle competitors.

Schmidt is testifying at a hearing examining whether Google is abusing its power to thwart competition by placing links to its own content and services at the top of search results to the disadvantage of its rivals' links.

A new survey of admissions officers released today by Inside Higher Ed, a news site for higher education professionals, shows that sometimes your worst thoughts about how colleges make admission decisions are right.

The survey found that in a cash-strapped environment, universities are paying more attention to whether a student can pay their own way and will pay more to attend the school.

COMMERCE - The university flag at A&M-Commerce is at half staff Thursday in memory of Carroll Austin, wife of 8thuniversity President Charles J. Austin. 

University officials learned this week that Mrs. Austin passed away August 19 in Muncie, Indiana.

Carroll was a Reach to Recovery volunteer for twelve years and served on two American Cancer Society Boards in Statesboro, Georgia and in Hunt County. She started the Louise Drake Garden Club in Commerce.

Her husband served as president of East Texas State University from 1982 to 1986.