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
8:40 am
Tue February 21, 2012

U.S. General Apologizes To 'Noble People Of Afghanistan' For Quran Burnings

Credit Massoud Hossaini / AFP/Getty Images
An Afghan demonstrator holds a copy of a half-burnt Quran, allegedly set on fire by soldiers at Bagram Air Field, during a protest outside the base today.
The Two-Way
7:00 am
Tue February 21, 2012

Back On The Air, Stephen Colbert Gives Nod To Ailing Mom

Credit ColbertNation.com
Stephen Colbert, explaining his absence.

Without directly saying so, Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert all-but-confirmed last night that he was off the air for two days last week because his 91-year-old mother Lorna has been ill.

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The Two-Way
6:35 am
Tue February 21, 2012

Lawyer Says Strauss-Kahn Didn't Know Women At Orgies Were Prostitutes

Credit Francois Guillot / AFP/Getty Images
Dominique Strauss-Kahn in the studio of the French TV network TF1.

Former International Monetary Fund managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who famously faced a sexual assault charge in New York City last year — a charge that was later dropped — is now being questioned by police in France about whether he was a customer of an alleged multinational prostitution ring.

His attorney, though, says Strauss-Kahn has a defense.

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The Two-Way
6:10 am
Tue February 21, 2012

Doubts Linger After Late-Night Deal On Bailout For Greece

Credit Georges Gobet / AFP/Getty Images
Luxembourg Prime Minister and Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker scratches his eyes during a press conference following the meeting of Eurozone nations earlier today in Brussels.
  • NPR's Eric Westervelt, reporting on 'Morning Edition'

The top of the news today about the ongoing financial crisis in Europe is that:

"Greece won a second massive financial bailout early Tuesday morning when its partners in the 17-country eurozone finally stitched together a $170 billion rescue, meant to avoid a potentially disastrous default and secure the euro currency." (The Associated Press)

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The Two-Way
11:50 am
Fri February 10, 2012

Deal With Banks Isn't Only Way For Homeowners To Get Help, HUD Chief Says

Credit Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images
For sale signs on a foreclosed house in Glendale, Calif., last September.
  • Michel Martin talks with HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan

The $25 billion settlement with five banks unveiled Thursday, which aims to give some mortgage relief and other help to homeowners who got hurt when the housing bubble burst before the 2007-2009 recession, has been viewed with skepticism by some folks in the nation's hardest-hit housing markets, as NPR's Greg Allen reported.

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The Two-Way
9:25 am
Fri February 10, 2012

White House To Detail Changes To Controversial Contraception Rule

Reports are popping up on various newssites that, as The Associated Press puts it, "President Barack Obama will announce a plan to accommodate religious employers outraged by a rule that would require them to cover birth control for women free of charge, according to a person familiar with the decision."

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The Two-Way
9:10 am
Fri February 10, 2012

Josh Powell Turned Out To Be 'A Monster,' Says Social Worker

The social worker who watched in horror last Sunday as a Washington state man blew up the house that his two young sons had gone into moments before says he had never before seemed dangerous.

But she knows now, Elizabeth Griffin-Hall tells ABC News, that "Josh Powell was really, really evil."

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The Two-Way
7:45 am
Fri February 10, 2012

If Women Are In Combat, Men May Try To Protect Them, Santorum Says

Credit Tom Pennington / Getty Images
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum in McKinney, Texas, on Wednesday.

On CNN last evening, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum was asked about the Pentagon's plan to open up more jobs to women in the military — and to bring them closer to, but not right into, combat roles.

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