Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

The South is cleaning up from yet another round of devastating tornadoes. The storms started first in Arkansas, then brought baseball-sized hail, heavy wind and lightning to parts of Tennessee and Mississippi. But it was Alabama that saw the worst of it. At least two people died with 100 more injured.

As NPR's Russell Lewis reports, the overnight storms hit communities still struggling to recover from a series of devastating tornadoes last year.

Two guns thought to have been used by bank-robbing fugitives Bonnie and Clyde have snatched $210,000 at an auction in Kansas City, Missouri.

Did you know the most common fresh produce in Kansas City and in the Midwest is iceberg lettuce? Yes, the green that is mostly water is apparently the best get in fly-over country. At least, the New York Times thinks so.

When the Taliban controlled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, their hard-line policies included a ban on music tapes and videos.

Yet now, the Taliban are producing their own CDs in an attempt to win the hearts and minds of Afghans.

In bustling downtown Kabul, Mustafa, 22, works in an electronics store selling music CDs to 20-something customers.

The issue of immigration reform, which simmered mildly during the first three Republican presidential contests, appears ready to boil over now that the candidates have reached Florida for the state's Jan. 31 primary.

Florida, with its large and influential Latino population, provides the earliest gauge of the difficulty facing any eventual GOP nominee in courting Hispanic voters, who increasingly view Republicans' rhetoric about immigration as anti-Hispanic.

Life came full circle for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords today. A little more than a year after she was shot in the head at a community meet-and-greet she organized, she met with others who survived the rampage.

At her office in Tucson, the Arizona congresswoman met with Daniel Hernandez, her former intern who is credited with helping to save her life by containing her bleeding.

The nomination of a Columbia attorney to the University of Missouri Board of Curators remains uncertain as state lawmakers continue to question his gubernatorial appointment.

Ameren Missouri is pledging to increase its energy efficiency programs starting in 2013.  If the plan is approved, it would allow Ameren to provide 145 million dollars in energy efficiency rebates over three years – a cost that would be passed on to consumers.