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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9:10am

Mon March 19, 2012
The Two-Way

Three Teams That Could Be This Year's George Mason

Credit Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images

There's somebody like him in every workplace.

The know-it-all who just has to show how smart he is about the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

So, if you're like us and don't have a lot of time to pay attention to March Madness, might we suggest a proactive approach now that the field is down to the "Sweet 16?"

Pick one of these teams — North Carolina State, Ohio or Xavier.

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8:10am

Mon March 19, 2012

7:45am

Mon March 19, 2012
The Two-Way

Apple To Buy Back $10B In Shares; Pay Dividend Of $2.65 Per Share

Credit Emmanuel Dunand / AFP/Getty Images

The Associated Press just moved this alert:

"Apple says it will use its cash to start paying dividend of $2.65, buy back $10B in shares."

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7:30am

Mon March 19, 2012
The Two-Way

Soldier Suspected In Massacre To Meet With Lawyer Today

Credit Spc. Ryan Hallock / AFP/Getty Images

Here are some of the latest developments concerning the March 11 killings of 16 civilians in southern Afghanistan and the U.S. Army staff sergeant, Robert Bales, who is suspected of carrying out the massacre:

-- Defense attorney John Henry Browne will today "have his first face-to-face meeting with the 10-year Army veteran, who is being held in an isolated cell at Fort Leavenworth's military prison in Kansas," The Associated Press reports.

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7:00am

Mon March 19, 2012
The Two-Way

Killing Of Fla. Teen Trayvon Martin Becomes National Story About Race

Credit Change.org

Now that 911 recordings show how a white Florida man continued to follow a 17-year-old black boy even after police advised him not to — and captured the sound of the man killing the unarmed youth with a shot to the chest — Trayvon Martin's family wants the FBI to take over the investigation into his killing.

The gunman says it was an act of self defense during a Neighborhood Watch patrol.

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6:15am

Mon March 19, 2012
The Two-Way

Killings At School In France Follow Earlier Murders Of Soldiers

Credit Remy Gabalda / AFP/Getty Images

There are fears in France today that the killings of at least four people outside a Jewish school in the city of Toulouse are linked to earlier murders of three soldiers and that the victims were targeted because they belonged to ethnic or religious minorities.

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12:30pm

Fri March 16, 2012
The Two-Way

Editor Who Misled 'Oregonian' About Colleague's Death Is Fired

Originally published on Fri March 16, 2012 1:14 pm

The "family friend" who told The Oregonian that its editorial page editor was in his car on Saturday when he died of a heart attack turns out to have been another editor at the newspaper. She says she was trying to protect Caldwell's family from the public embarrassment that would come with the truth: that he had been in the apartment of a young woman with whom he was allegedly having sex.

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11:20am

Fri March 16, 2012
The Two-Way

Report: Bin Laden Tried To Organize Plot To Kill Obama And Petraeus

Some of the documents seized last May after U.S. Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden at his compound in Pakistan show that the al-Qaida leader "boldly commanded his network to organize special cells in Afghanistan and Pakistan to attack the aircraft of President Barack Obama and Gen.

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11:07am

Fri March 16, 2012
The Two-Way

Rutgers Student Convicted In Spying Case Linked To Roommate's Suicide

Credit John O'Boyle / AP

Dharun Ravi, the former Rutgers University student "accused of using a webcam to spy on his gay roommate's love life has been convicted of bias intimidation and invasion of privacy in a case that exploded into the headlines when the victim of the snooping committed suicide" in September, 2010, The Associated Press writes.

The 20-year-old "could face 10 years in prison when he's sentenced," the AP adds.

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10:35am

Fri March 16, 2012
The Two-Way

California Students Push For Removal Of Syrian From Foundation

Credit University of California Irvine Foundation
  • Amy Walters on the NPR Newscast

The student council at the University of California Irvine approved a resolution Thursday demanding that Dr. Hazem Chehabi, Syria's honorary consul in Southern California, be removed from the post of chair at the UC Irving Foundation, which supports the school and is trying to raise $1 billion for it.

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