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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The Two-Way
7:35 am
Fri March 16, 2012

Soldier Accused Of Massacre 'Just Snapped,' Official Says

We're learning more about the U.S. Army staff sergeant accused in Sunday's massacre of 16 Afghan civilians, including women and children:

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The Two-Way
7:00 am
Fri March 16, 2012

Archbishop Of Canterbury Is Stepping Down

Credit Chris Jackson / Getty Images
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams in February.

Rowan Williams, who as archbishop of Canterbury is the spiritual leader for more than 70 million Anglicans around the world, announced today that he will step down at the end of the year to become Master of Magdalene College at Cambridge University.

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The Two-Way
4:00 pm
Thu March 15, 2012

First Neutrino Message Sent Through Rock; Could One Travel Back In Time?

Credit NASA
What if we could shoot a message through the center of the planet and back in time?

"Researchers from the University of Rochester and North Carolina State University have for the first time sent a message using a beam of neutrinos — nearly massless particles that travel at almost the speed of light," U of R reports.

And they pushed the message — which simply spelled out the world "Neutrino" — through "240 meters of stone" (787 feet).

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The Two-Way
12:00 pm
Thu March 15, 2012

On 'Decorah Eagle Cam:' This Year's Hatchings Likely Next Week

Credit Raptor Resource Project
A close up view of mom, on the nest in Decorah, Iowa.

An alert for all those who were caught up in the excitement last year when the Decorah Eagle Cam was streaming as a pair of bald eagles in Iowa watched over their three eggs and as the eaglets hatched:

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The Two-Way
10:55 am
Thu March 15, 2012

'Star Rabbit' Dies When Photographer Takes Wrong Step

Credit Uwe Meinhold / AP
Til, on Wednesday, before his untimely death.

He's "like James Dean, a star dead before his time," according to The Local.

Spiegel Online says "the future had looked so bright for tiny Til."

Global Post somberly says that "an attempt to show a rare rabbit on TV took a tragic turn."

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The Two-Way
10:15 am
Thu March 15, 2012

Report Slams Sen. Stevens' Prosecutors

Credit Alex Wong / Getty Images
Former Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, in 2008.

In a "blistering" 500-page report released this morning a special prosecutor concludes that Justice Department lawyers "intentionally withheld" information that could have bolstered then-Sen. Ted Stevens' defense during the Alaska Republican's 2008 trial on corruption charges, NPR's Carrie Johnson tells us.

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The Two-Way
8:38 am
Thu March 15, 2012

Jobless Claims Fell By 15,000 Last Week

There was a 14,000 decline in the number of people filing first-time claims for unemployment insurance last week, the Employment and Training Administration just reported:

"In the week ending March 10, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 351,000, a decrease of 14,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 365,000. The 4-week moving average was 355,750, unchanged from the previous week's revised average of 355,750."

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The Two-Way
8:25 am
Thu March 15, 2012

Priest Defends Denying Communion To Lesbian Mourner

Credit Saeed Khan / AFP/Getty Images

The priest who was put on administrative leave by the Archdiocese of Washington following a much-talked-about incident in which he denied communion to a lesbian woman attending her mother's funeral, has issued a long defense of his action and has said the church isn't being candid about the reason for its decision to put him on leave.

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The Two-Way
7:25 am
Thu March 15, 2012

Afghans Object, U.S. Officials Defend Decision To Move Massacre Suspect

Credit Scott Olson / Getty Images
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, with Col. John Shafer, at Foward Operating Base Shukvani in Afghanistan on Wednesday.
  • Tom Bowman
  • Larry Abramson speaks with Renee Montagne

The news that the U.S. Army staff sergeant who is suspected of murdering 16 Afghan civilians has been moved to a detention facility in Kuwait is sparking some small protests in Afghanistan.

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The Two-Way
11:50 am
Wed March 14, 2012

Goldman Sachs Starts To Fire Back At Exec Who Quit In Scathing Op-Ed

Credit Chris Hondros / Getty Images

Originally published on Wed March 14, 2012 2:25 pm

Greg Smith is a fairly ordinary name — but it's now one that's all the talk of Wall Street after he quit his position at Goldman Sachs today in one of the most amazingly public ways:

With an essay in The New York Times that accuses Goldman Sachs of having a money-is-everything culture that is "toxic and destructive."

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