Demystify Things News Today

Dime from the government. in truth it doesnt get much money. just $50 million. local radio stations use that money to buy programming from npr. they dont get that money. no morning edition or all things considered for their listeners. npr got back on the political radar after a conservative activist secretly taped an npr executive slamming the tea party and saying public radio would be better off without federal money. brianna keilar is following the vote on capitol hill. fill us in. >> reporter...

Of radiation with massive particles carried high in the atmosphere, it would make it all the way here. but you got to remember what happens with this stuff is the radiation hits the particles above and those particles have to be carried to the west coast. that is a lot to ask. by the time that happens a lot of disbursement. you think about chernobyl. that radiation got into the atmosphere and traveled the globe a couple times and by the time it got over the u.s. it was nothing and less than a ch...

Military family and dependents in japan. those in the northeast who want to evacuate, the department of defense has announced they will pay for them to get out of the country and, of course, it will be a dod personnel trying to assist them in leaving. >> that makes me feel a lot better. if i had kids over there, id want them out in one millisecond. chris lawrence, many thanks, live at the pentagon. you heard that the u.s. military is handing out potassium iodine pills to troops near the fukush...

Example. you had an expert on last hour that highlighted that fact. that air will get here, but it will be so weak at that point that phoenix on the west coast should -- that folks on the west coast should not be concerned. >> thank you, appreciate it. the growing alarm over japans nuclear crisis has been worrying investors around the world. todays stocks in japan closed lower. cnns alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange. how are things looking? >> reporter: talking about the nikkei av...

Benghazi area. were joined on the phone. what are things looking like there now? >> reporter: it does as peer as if gadhafis forces remain bogged down despite the fact they hold the military upperhan upperhan upperhands. the forces are taking hold of that city. the question is how long can they actually hold out without international help. the sense is that the time has passed for any discussion of a no-fly zone. that has to be implemented immediately. and now people feel is the ti for air strik...

Zone, theyll have radiation suits to protect them. between the boots and the gloves, you do lose a little decks tarmxterity so there will things troops cant do as well. the as a matter of fact a full-face air-purifying respirator which means theres no air supply in there. but these cartridges on the side would filter out any radioactive particles. which brings up yet another problem -- communication. it would be a lot harder for the team to understand what im saying while im wearing this mask. a...

Might go all the way to europe. that never happened. and you also have to remember a couple things. radiation comes from radioactive material. so we have to get that radioactive material, basically particles that are in the air above the plant that get radiated from the stuff thats leaking from the plant. then that stuff has to be carried all the way over to the west coast. we have all sorts of stuff in the atmosphere all the time. thats how rain occurs. condensation happens on salt and other li...

That is sold in the united states? >> its likely not to happen, number one. if it were to happen, theres going to be checks and balances to make sure that fish is safe and is not radioactive. its very likely that this will not happen. i cant overstress that. its not going to happen, but if it were to happen, we would find out first. >> okay. so tell me about a real concern, something we should be worrying about. >> right now, i think that the things that we should worry about, quite honestly, is...

Hydrogen explosions. the problem spreads not only from reactors one, two, three, and four, but also now begin to involve reactors five and six where there is also a nuclear waste stored and then we get into the cycle that we talked about earlier where it gets so radioactive they have to withdrawal the workers and then, at that point, youre crossing your fingers and hoping things work out for the best. >> i hope it doesnt reach that point. they are sure trying. jim walsh, many things. libyan st...

Rising dre ining dramatically. the highest level for the yen since world war ii. that is going to make japanese exports more expensive. also japanese shutdowns. sony and all of the electronics makers are reporting production shutdowns and means higher cost for memory chips and certain kinds of electronics components a lot of things you use like your tablet computer, like your video games and things like that so watch for that. also watching the shutdowns for the car makers. the prius is made in ...