Morning Edition

The town of Boring, Oregon, is twinning with the village of Dull, Scotland. The idea came after a Scottish cyclist passed through Boring. She thought Dull would make a great sister community. Scotland's tourism agency says the partnership could attract visitors to Dull.

As part of Morning Edition's Family Matters financial literacy series, Renee Montagne talks to Jane Gross, author of A Bittersweet Season, about caring for her aging mother, and what she wishes she had known before she started.

Copyright 2012 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

Transcript

President Obama on Wednesday visits students at the University of Iowa, where he'll again make a pitch for low-cost college loans. It's the last stop on a trip that's taken Obama to two other battleground states: Colorado and North Carolina. He's primarily reaching out this week to younger voters.

The fledgling U.N. monitoring mission in Syria is under sharp criticism from activists who say the team is failing to enforce the terms of the agreement drafted by special envoy Kofi Annan. Violence is down in some areas but flaring up in others.

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

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

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And I'm Renee Montagne.

The Summer Olympic Games in London start in 93 days. Of the 10,500 athletes, the attention is on at least two of them: swimmer Michael Phelps and Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt.

National Poetry Month may be coming to an end, but poetry lovers still have one big day to look forward to this April. This Thursday is Poem in Your Pocket Day. The idea is to tuck a favorite poem into your back pocket to share with family, friends and co-workers. Poetry lovers across the country have come up with clever ways to celebrate.

At Baggby's Gourmet Sandwiches in Charlottesville, Virginia, customers will find something different in their bag lunches. Owner Jon LaPanta explains.

Apple announced higher-than-expected earnings for the most recent quarter — profits nearly doubled over last year. Apple's stock is back up, after falling in recent weeks over fears of a slowdown in iPhone sales. Those fears proved unfounded. Sales of iPhone and iPads beat company estimates.

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And there were protests and arrests at the Wells Fargo annual shareholders meeting in San Francisco yesterday. The demonstration - led by the Occupy Movement - was over the bank's foreclosure and lending policies. Hundreds of protesters bought bank shares so they could attend the meeting and disrupt proceedings. [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: While hundreds sought to disrupt the meeting, several dozen people representing community groups had purchased stock.]

Wal-Mart's stock price has fallen sharply this week after The New York Times published an investigative story on how the retailer's rapid growth in Mexico involved systematic bribes. Steve Inskeep talks to Mexico-based business journalist Eduardo Garcia about the Wal-Mart bribery story.

On Monday, Disney announced the first of six planned Starbucks locations is scheduled to open at Disney California Adventure park in June. More locations are planned at Disneyland park and Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.

A Canadian cow has made the record book for most milk produced in a lifetime. The Ottawa Citizen reports the cow has produced more than 57,000 gallons. That's more than six times the average.

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

General Motors is making a bigger effort in what's become the world's biggest car market. At the Beijing Auto Show this week, GM said it plans to open 600 new dealerships in China this year. GM is trying to grow Chinese sales while they still can.

NPR's Frank Langfitt reports from Shanghai.

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And let's turn now to the first political leader to be put on trial for his role in the global banking crisis. Yesterday, a special court in Iceland found that country's former prime minister guilty of essentially mishandling the banking bubble that led to Iceland's financial collapse.

Michael Stothard has been covering this trial for The Financial Times. He joined us to talk more about it. Good morning.

MICHAEL STOTHARD: Good morning.

Weeks ahead of its initial public offering, Facebook released its first quarter profits Monday, and they are down 12 percent from a year ago. At the same time, company expenses have nearly doubled. Facebook attributes some of that to market expansion, which requires more employees and infrastructure.