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3:38 am
Wed May 23, 2012

Fight Over Flame Retardants In Furniture Heats Up

Credit Steve Mullis/NPR
More than 80 percent of furniture sold in the U.S. is treated with flame-retardant chemicals.

Originally published on Wed May 23, 2012 4:41 am

If you pick up a cushion from any sofa or piece of furniture that has foam, you're likely to find a small white tag that reads: "This article meets all flammability requirements of California Bureau of Home Furnishings technical bulletin 117."

The law, referred to as TB 117, was passed in California in 1975. It says that the foam inside upholstered furniture must be able to resist a flame, such as from a cigarette lighter or a candle. Rather than make different furniture just for California, big furniture makers adhere to those standards in all 50 states and even Canada.

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London 2012: The Summer Olympics
3:37 am
Wed May 23, 2012

Sprinter Speeds Toward London, And Olympic Gold

Credit Adrian Dennis / AFP/Getty Images
Allyson Felix runs in a 200 meter race at the 2011 IAAF World Championships. Felix, who has twice won silver in the race at the Olympics, has not yet announced her event schedule for London this summer.

Originally published on Wed May 23, 2012 4:41 am

The Olympics start in July, but American sprinter Allyson Felix is still deciding which events she'll focus on in London. She's won Olympic silver medals twice in her beloved 200 meters, a distance in which she's also a three–time world champion.

Felix won an Olympic gold in 2008, on the 4x400-meter relay team. But this time around, she wants an individual gold, too.

New Success At 100 Meters

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Business
3:36 am
Wed May 23, 2012

Xerox CEO: 'If You Don't Transform, You're Stuck'

Credit J. Scott Applewhite / AP
Xerox CEO Ursula Burns began her career with the company in 1980 as a summer intern. In 2009, she became the first African-American woman to lead a Fortune 500 company.

Originally published on Wed May 23, 2012 8:14 am

Xerox is one of America's most venerable companies. Founded in 1906, its name is virtually synonymous with "photocopy."

But in recent years, in an era of email and paperless offices, Xerox has struggled to stay relevant. Today, the company is trying to turn itself around and thrive in the digital age.

Leading Xerox through that transformation is Ursula Burns, a woman who has undergone tremendous change in her own life. Burns, 53, grew up in New York City's Lower East Side, an area she has described as a tough, drug-infested ghetto.

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Shots - Health Blog
3:23 am
Wed May 23, 2012

Health Insurance Cutbacks Squeeze The Insured

Originally published on Thu May 24, 2012 11:16 am

Amber Cooper and her husband were doing OK. They had jobs, a healthy 5-year-old son, a house in Riverbank, Calif., and health insurance from her job in the accounting department of a small manufacturing company.

Then one day everything changed.

"We were in a conference room ... and I had heard rumors but didn't know if it was true, and I started crying in front of everyone and actually had to excuse myself to gather myself together and go back in. It was devastating for me," Cooper said.

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The Salt
6:09 pm
Tue May 22, 2012

Judge Sours On POM Wonderful's Erectile Dysfunction & Heart Disease Claims

Credit POM Wonderful

Originally published on Wed May 23, 2012 8:42 am

Pom Wonderful Pomegranate products may be loaded with antioxidants, but there's not sufficient evidence that it can treat, prevent, or reduce the risk of specific conditions such as heart disease or erectile dysfunction according to a ruling handed down by Chief Administrative Law Judge Michael Chappell.

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Shots - Health Blog
6:01 pm
Tue May 22, 2012

Easier Colon Cancer Test Works Well, But Colonoscopy's Still King

A big study of a colon cancer test called flexible sigmoidoscopy may provide a good example of how a cheaper, easier-on-the-patient and possibly better technology isn't always the one American doctors choose to use.

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Shots - Health Blog
5:19 pm
Tue May 22, 2012

Woman Charged In Death Of Fetus Is Out Of Jail

Credit Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Dept. / AP
Bei Bei Shuai, seen in a file photo, was charged with murder in the Jan. 2, 2011, death of her 3-day-old daughter Angel Shuai, after eating rat poison.

Bei Bei Shuai is out of jail for the first time since March 2011.

Shuai, a Chinese immigrant who lives in Indiana, is still facing charges of murder and feticide following a failed suicide attempt in December 2010, when she was 33 weeks pregnant.

She was released today after posting a $5,000 bond.

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Remembrances
4:42 pm
Tue May 22, 2012

School Bus Driver Who Saved Students 'Was A Hero'

Originally published on Tue May 22, 2012 5:50 pm

On Tuesday, family and loved ones in Chowchilla, Calif., remember a school bus driver who many consider an American hero. Thirty-six years ago, Ed Ray was driving his regular school bus route when it was hijacked. Everyone aboard was driven 100 miles, forced into a storage van, and buried alive. Audie Cornish speaks with Lynda Carrejo-Labendeira, who was on the bus that day.

Law
4:42 pm
Tue May 22, 2012

Exoneration List Shows Patterns In False Convictions

Originally published on Tue May 22, 2012 5:50 pm

While we assume our judicial system occasionally makes mistakes, until recently no one had been tracking the number people in this country who are convicted and later exonerated. Now the National Registry of Exonerations has begun compiling these cases. Audie Cornish talks with the registry's editor, Samuel Gross, about some of the group's findings from the over 2,000 exonerations they've compiled.

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