Morning Edition

One day last year I skipped school to wait for acceptances from colleges. It was the final day that letters or emails were supposed to be sent out.

I sat in front of my laptop by the front door for at least three hours, listening for the mailman while eagerly pressing the refresh button on my inbox. I admit, at one point, I checked my neighbor's mail. Getting my house skipped on the mail route was one of the less crazy hypotheticals I imagined while waiting.

A woman in Montana lost her Christmas money while shopping in J.C. Penney on Black Friday. The store found the envelope, and was able to return it to Carrie McNeese using its surveillance tape.

The paper wrote of horse-drawn carriages in New York's Central Park, calling them "hansom cabs." That's wrong, since the carriages have four wheels. Hansom cabs have two. A Times investigation reveals a reader noted this mistake in a letter to the editor in 1985. The paper published the letter but went on to repeat the error for decades.

Italy's new prime minister is trying to impose a strict austerity plan to rein in runaway debt and reassure the markets. But it's not going down well. Particularly hard to swallow is the announcement that the retirement age will be immediately raised by five or six years.

The French parliament has approved, in a non-binding resolution, a proposal to make using the services of a prostitute a crime punishable by fines and prison.

Attorney General Eric Holder is asking state legislatures to take care not to violate the Voting Rights Act, as the country approaches the 2012 elections. He gave a speech in Austin, Texas, last night about new electoral district boundaries and anti-vote fraud measures.

Steve Inskeep has business news.

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

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

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And I'm Renee Montagne.

Let's get a look, now, at two war-torn countries. One that Americans are leaving, and another that they would like to leave. One is Iraq whereas, we'll hear in a moment, departing U.S. troops leave behind some unresolved conflicts.