NPR News

This interview was originally broadcast on October 27, 2003.

Soul singer Howard Tate, who rose to prominence in 1967 with the hit "Get It While You Can," died on Friday. He was 72.

Doubts have been growing about Yasmin, Yaz and their sister contraceptives for several years now. And those doubts reached full flower at a Food Drug Administration advisory panel on Thursday.

Good morning.

Our early headlines:

-- Slain Virginia Tech Officer's Dash Cam Shows Suspected Shooter.

-- U.K. Isolated As Euro Nations Move Ahead On New Pact.

Horrific news from Kolkata, India:

"A basement fire sent flames and smoke coursing through a seven-story Indian hospital Friday, killing 73 people," The Associated Press reports, "and officials accused hospital staff of abandoning many patients to die of suffocation."

There's been movement today in Brussels, where leaders from the European Union nations are trying to save the euro and restore some faith in the financial markets that they can manage the euro zone's debt crisis. But an important division remains among the 27 nations.

The consensus among news outlets covering the story seems to be:

-- "UK Isolated As Europe Moves Ahead On Fiscal Union." (Reuters)

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Linda Wertheimer. Coca-Cola took its secret recipe out of SunTrust bank this week and drove it over to a new Coca-Cola museum in downtown Atlanta. But should you visit Coca-Cola World, you still won't see it. The 1886 recipe is in a box, and the box is in another vault. Taking the recipe for a ride, Coke says has nothing to do with the fact that the bank is selling millions of dollars of its Coke stock. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Spirit Airlines has launched a new promotion mocking former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was sentenced to 14 years this week for crimes including trying to sell a vacant U.S. Senate Seat. Spirit's "Slammer Sale" features $14 fares in and out of Chicago. The airline is calling this a "seat-selling" sale.

It still isn't known why a man apparently walked up to a campus police officer at Virginia Tech yesterday and fatally shot the 39-year-old father of five. And the identity of the gunman, who authorities believe died of a gunshot wound shortly after the attack, hasn't yet been released.

President Obama lost a couple of economic battles on Capitol Hill on Thursday, but he is hoping to win the political war. The president vows to keep fighting for policies he says will benefit the broad middle class.

As Obama spoke to reporters in the White House briefing room, an electronic clock behind him ticked down the minutes, hours and days until year's end. That's when a payroll tax cut is due to expire, unless Congress votes to extend it.

Economic Skirmishes