Mark Memmott

Credit Doby Photography / NPR

Mark Memmott is one of the hosts of NPR's "The Two-Way" news blog.

"The Two-Way," which Memmott helped to launched when he came to NPR in 2009, focuses on breaking news, analysis, and the most compelling stories being reported by NPR News and other news media.

Before joining NPR, Memmott worked for nearly 25 years as a reporter and editor at USA Today. He focused on a range of coverage from politics, foreign affairs, economics, and the media. He's reported from places across the Unites States and the world, including half a dozen trips to Afghanistan in 2002-2003.

During his time at USA Today, Memmott, helped launch and lead three USAToday.com news blogs: "On Deadline;" "The Oval;" and "On Politics," the site's 2008 presidential campaign blog.

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7:22am

Tue September 18, 2012
NPR politics

Romney's wrong and right about the '47 percent'

Originally published on Tue September 18, 2012 10:12 am

Credit Nicholas Kamm / AFP/Getty Images

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney told supporters that "there are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what" because they are "dependent upon government ... believe that they are victims ... believe the government has a responsibility to care for them ... these are people who pay no income tax."

Who was he talking about?

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6:42am

Mon September 17, 2012
The Two-Way

Row Over Photos Of Topless Kate Lands In French Courts

Originally published on Mon September 17, 2012 5:12 am

Credit Daniel Munoz / AFP/Getty Images

Buckingham Palace is following up its promise to bring a civil suit against the French magazine that published photos of a topless Duchess of Cambridge (Kate Middleton) with a criminal complaint that's also been filed in a French court.

According to the BBC:

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6:32am

Mon September 17, 2012
The Two-Way

It's A Panda! Cub Is Born At National Zoo

Originally published on Mon September 17, 2012 5:58 am

Credit Fang Zhe / Xinhua /Landov

There's great excitement at Washington's National Zoo this morning, where they're reporting "we have a giant panda cub!"

Officials write that, "according to chief veterinarian Suzan Murray:

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7:48am

Wed September 5, 2012
The Two-Way

Nearly 18 Million U.S. Households Had Trouble Getting Food Last Year

Originally published on Wed September 5, 2012 6:39 am

Credit Spencer Platt / Getty Images

An estimated 14.9 percent of U.S. households — 17.9 million in total — "had difficulty" at some point last year getting food because they just didn't have enough money or other resources, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported this morning.

In 2010, 14.5 percent of households were similarly "food insecure" at some point, USDA says.

Even worse:

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7:34am

Wed September 5, 2012
NPR science

Wow! NASA video shows 'mind-bogglingly gorgeous' solar eruption

Originally published on Wed September 5, 2012 5:23 am

Credit nasa.gov

Before we run through the news of the day, let's pause for something spectactular: a new video from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. It shows a "massive filament" eruption on the sun that occurred last Friday. As Britain's The Register says, it is "mind-bogglingly gorgeous."

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3:03pm

Tue September 4, 2012
The Two-Way

State Must Grant Murder Convict A Sex Change Operation, Judge Rules

Originally published on Tue September 4, 2012 12:15 pm

Credit Lisa Bul / AP

A federal judge in Boston today "ordered state prison officials to provide a taxpayer-funded sex-reassignment surgery to a transgender inmate serving life in prison" for murder, The Associated Press writes.

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11:51pm

Wed August 29, 2012
2012 elections

Five takeaways from Wednesday at the Republican convention

Originally published on Wed September 5, 2012 3:38 am

Credit Brendan Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images

If you missed some of Wednesday's action at the Republican National Convention, when Rep. Paul Ryan accepted his party's vice presidential nomination, we were live blogging here and you can always read through it to see how the day and evening went.

But if you'd like to save some time, here are five things that struck us:

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9:33pm

Tue August 28, 2012
2012 elections

Five takeaways from Tuesday at the Republican convention

Originally published on Wed September 5, 2012 3:38 am

Credit Mladen Antonov / AFP/Getty Images

If you missed some of Tuesday's action at the Republican National Convention, we were live blogging here and you can always read through it to see how the day and evening went.

But if you'd like to save some time, here are five things that struck us:

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7:54am

Thu August 23, 2012
The Two-Way

His Nakedness Should Not Be Shown, Palace Says Of Prince Harry's Photos

Originally published on Thu August 23, 2012 6:43 am

Credit @suttonnick

The fuss over photos of Prince Harry enjoying some billiards-in-the-buff fun with a lady or two in Las Vegas has led the queen's office to contact Britain's Press Complaints Commission to warn that newspapers in the U.K. better not publish them.

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6:32am

Wed August 22, 2012
The Two-Way

Prince Harry Exposed: Photos Show Up Of Naked Royal 'Cavorting' In Vegas

Originally published on Wed August 22, 2012 7:17 am

Credit Pascal Le Segretain / Getty Images

We absolutely, positively will not make a reference to the crown jewels.

Oops, we just did.

It seems that last Friday night in Las Vegas, Prince Harry — third in line to the throne over in England and one of the world's most eligible bachelors — did some "cavorting with two naked women in a Las Vegas hotel room," as the London Evening Standard puts it.

The evening apparently involved some "strip billiards."

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7:04am

Tue August 21, 2012
The Two-Way

Three Year Olds Told To Fight By Delaware Day Care Workers, Police Say

Originally published on Tue August 21, 2012 8:40 am

Credit CBS Philly

It's tempting to make a "fight club" reference (and some news outlets have), but the outrageous nature of the allegations seems to call for a more straight-forward approach:

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11:42am

Mon August 20, 2012
The Two-Way

Obama: Congressman's Rape Remarks 'Don't Make Sense,' Were 'Way Out There'

Originally published on Mon August 20, 2012 6:20 pm

Saying that the comments "don't make sense to the American people" and were "way out there," President Obama just weighed in on the controversial remarks made over the weekend by Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., who said in a television interview that "if it's a legitimate rape," it's rare for a woman to get pregnant and therefore want an abortion.

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6:20am

Fri August 17, 2012
The Two-Way

Women In Russian Punk Band - Pussy Riot - Found Guilty Of Hooliganism

Originally published on Fri August 17, 2012 9:19 am

Credit Andrey Smirnov / AFP/Getty Images

A Russian judge today found three members of the punk rock band Pussy Riot guilty of hooliganism connected to "religious hatred."

Word of the verdict came just before 7:30 a.m ET. Just before 10 a.m. ET, the judge announced that each woman was sentenced to serve two years in jail — the minimum that could be imposed.

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9:23pm

Wed August 15, 2012
The Two-Way

Hypersonic 'WaveRider' Failed

Originally published on Wed August 15, 2012 11:58 am

Credit Pratt & Whitney

An experimental aircraft that designers hoped would hit 3,600 mph in a test flight over the Pacific on Tuesday "suffered a control failure" and failed in its attempt to go hypersonic, The Associated Press writes.

Its report follows earlier word from Wired magazine's Danger Room blog that it had been told by an "insider familiar with the test" that:

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8:16am

Tue August 14, 2012
The Two-Way

'F-Bomb' added to dictionary

Originally published on Tue August 14, 2012 8:45 am

Credit J. Scott Applewhite / AP
  • Vice President Biden's March 23, 2010, f-bomb (we've bleeped it)

We expect that most folks won't need to look up the definition. But just in case, "f-bomb" now has its own entry in the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.

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