National News

An fresh investigation into the 1990 murder of a New York rabbi has resulted in the freedom of the man convicted of the crime. Prosecutors supported David Ranta's release, saying serious doubt had been cast on his guilt.

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Among those dead in the attack in Damascus is a prominent cleric who was a strong supporter of President Bashar Assad. Mohammed Saeed Ramadan al-Bouti's death is seen as a blow to the Syrian leader.

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Congress on Thursday approved stopgap funding legislation that includes language explicitly granting the USDA authority to override a judge's ruling against genetically modified crops. Critics denounce the measure as the "Monsanto Protection Act." But it seems to be codifying powers the USDA already has exercised in the past.

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Sanjay Dutt has already served 18 months for his role in the 1993 blasts that killed more than 200 people in Mumbai. He was charged with possessing weapons that were given to him by men who were later convicted for their role in the blasts. The court asked him to report to prison within four weeks.

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The casual dining company Darden Restaurants reported third-quarter earnings this morning. In line with analyst expectations, the company -- which operates the Red Lobster, Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse chains -- saw profit fall 18 percent last quarter as sales slipped almost 5 percent.

Darden has also said it will open fewer Olive Garden restaurants than previously anticipated, and will not raise menu prices as much as expected, even though it is being squeezed by higher food costs. Darden is not alone. Some of its competitors, like Chili’s (owned by Brinker International), are also struggling right now.

S&P equity analyst Jim Yin says people don’t have as much money to spend as they did last year -- or they feel like they don’t.

“Even though the economy is growing, still people feel very nervous,” says Yin. “And you have the higher payroll taxes. That affects middle class people particularly.”

In January, Congress let the Obama Administration’s partial payroll-tax holiday expire. Payroll taxes rose from 4.2 percent to 6.2 percent. Consumers have also been hit by higher gas prices and health insurance premiums since the beginning of the year.

And when discretionary income is squeezed, dining out is the first item to go, followed by clothing and vacations. A survey by RBC Capital markets found that, following the payroll tax hike, 54 percent of Americans had cut back on restaurant dining or planned to do so soon.

“Some people have simply decided they’ll eat in,” says Yin. “Or, they might trade down to a more informal setting.”

More ‘informal’ could be a shift to what’s called ‘fast-casual’ dining -- a place where you wait in line to order, find your own table, scoop salsa, pour drinks, and clear your table on your own. A place like Chipotle, the made-to-order burrito chain, or Panera Bread.

These chains are doing better in this economy than casual sit-down dining (examples include Olive Garden, Red Lobster, LongHorn, Red Robin, Ruby Tuesday's, IHOP, Applebees), or fast-food (such as McDonalds, Taco Bell or KFC), says Ronald Ruggless, Southwest bureau chief at Nation’s Restaurant News.

“People like the flexibility of so-called ‘fast casual,’” says Ruggless, “because they get about the same quality of food, but they don’t have to pay any tipping, and they get it faster.”

Ruggless says Chipotle and Panera also stress sustainability and fresh, local ingredients in their marketing, which consumers place a high premium on right now. Customers also like seeing the food prepared to order. So even though the burritos and sandwiches are cheaper than a three-shrimp seafood medley at Red Lobster ($18.95), or the Chicken Marsala at Olive Garden ($17.50), these fast-casual restaurants are appealing to more affluent consumers, who aren’t feeling the payroll pinch as much right now.

The Ten Fastest Growing Chains with Sales Over $200 Million
(Ranked by % increase in sales in 2012 vs. 2011)

Rank      Chain     U.S. Sales ($MM)     % Sales Growth

1              Dickey’s Barbecue Pit* ($249 ; 46.5%)  

2              Firehouse Subs ($380 ; 33.5%)

3              Jersey Mike's Subs* ($348 ; 26.3%)

4              Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers* ($260 ; 26.0%) 

5              Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwich Shop ($1,263 ; 24.6%)    

6              Cheddar's Casual Café ($540 ; 23.2%)    

7              Buffalo Wild Wings ($2,474 ; 21.0%)   

8              Chipotle Mexican Grill ($2,716 ; 20.2%)

9              Yard House ($315 ; 20.1%)  

10           Panda Express  ($1,797 ; 19.8%)

*Technomic estimate         
(Source: Technomic)                                               

Paul Gwaltney and other gun owners don't understand why many Americans are so anti-gun. So Gwaltney assembled a group of friends and colleagues with divergent views on guns and gun control for a frank conversation at his home in Chantilly, Va.

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The first gun-related provisions to pass Congress since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting were riders included without debate. These same provisions — which limit how federal agencies deal with guns — have been regularly included in spending bills for years.

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Remember the drought that baked the Midwest last summer? Might be a distant memory to you but for ranchers and farmers, 2012 was a financial struggle that lasted through the winter.

For cattle rancher Ken Lenox in Rolla, Missouri, the drought left a bill of "a little over $100,000," he says. We spoke with Lenox during the drought last year and decided to check back in today to see how things have changed since then. Since then, Lenox said he had to purchase hay to feed the cattle in the summer during the drought and through the winter.  He says he's still paying about $1,000 a day to feed his herd. But that stops when the grass starts growing.

The weather's still cold in Rolla. "The calendar says it's spring, it just hasn't sprung here yet. We're right on the verge of grass growing."

For now, Lenox is focused on the upcoming cattle sale in June. He says his herd came through in great shape. But even if the sale goes well, he won't make back what he lost in 2012.  "That money's gone," he says.

Still, Lenox is optimistic. "My wife and I, we feel good about it," he says.

Um Abbas has spent decades performing the Muslim ritual of washing the bodies of the dead to prepare them for burial. The war years in Iraq were terrible, she says, but in some ways, confronting death every day helped her cope with the country's trauma.

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Police officers testifying at a federal trial challenging New York City's policy say they were ordered to increase their number of arrests, summons and 250s — the code for stop, question and frisk. The city says these were simply performance goals.

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The Italian government has reversed itself for a second time and will send two marines to India to face charges relating to the deaths of two fishermen last year.

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The jailed leader of the Kurdish rebels says it's a "new era" and calls for a cease-fire in a war against Turkey that has lasted for nearly three decades.

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Some Colorado doctors who've treated victims of recent mass shootings and everyday gun violence say they're deeply disturbed by and opposed to guns. But other doctors don't support the new gun restrictions lawmakers are talking about in Denver and Washington, D.C.

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Some Colorado doctors who've treated victims of recent mass shootings and everyday gun violence say they're deeply disturbed by and opposed to guns. But other doctors don't support the new gun restrictions lawmakers are talking about in Denver and Washington, D.C.

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Edith Windsor's challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act will be heard by the Supreme Court next week. When her wife died, Windsor had to pay $363,000 in estate taxes because the federal government did not recognize their marriage. "If Thea was Theo," she says, "I would not have had to pay."

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We may be nearing the endgame of this whole Cyprus thing. On Thursday the European Central Bank gave the Mediterranean island country an ultimatum: You got 'til Monday to come up with a new plan to raise billions of dollars to avoid bankruptcy, or else. The else being: no bailout, potential banking collapse, and quite possibly getting the boot from the European Union. 

Four days to find a way out of the financial mess Cyprus is in will be a scramble, but as my writer friend once told me, a deadline can be a creative muse.   And there are lots of "creative" ideas bubbling up to get the country on better footing. 

The Archbishop of Cyprus is rummaging under the cushions, offering up the church’s assets to help Cyprus.  "The entire wealth of the church is at the disposal of the country to support the people of Cyprus so that the banking system does not collapse," he said.

Or maybe the money could come from under the earth.  There's been a proposal to fast track offshore natural gas exploration to raise funds for Cyprus, which might attract more investment from Russia, which could raise even more funds.

Cyprus is so desperate to come up with a plan “they’re really scraping the barrel,” says global economist Desmond Lachman with the American Enterprise Institute.   “They were thinking of raiding their pension fund.”

And the fund-raising ideas are coming from all corners.  Matt Yglesias, economics writer for Slate, offered a modest proposal involving the ongoing conflict between Cyprus and Turkey in a blog post recently.  For decades, Turkey has claimed a chunk of the island, but Cyprus hasn’t recognized that claim.  

"My thought was that Cyprus could sell diplomatic recognition to Turkey, and get some of the money they need," he says, adding that it has happened before. The republic of Genoa sold the island of Corsica to France, to cover some bad debts, back in the 1700s.

Or for a more modern approach, Cyprus could always sell its corporate naming rights.  Yglesias points out that the island already has different names in different languages—Chypre in French, and Zypern in German—so why not add to the mix?  "It could be US Airways Island, or any number of things," he says. 

We'll make that idea Plan Z.

Over the next four years, five major league teams will be renegotiating their spring training leases in Florida. With millions in economic benefits at stake, local communities and the Sunshine State are looking to upgraded facilities in hopes of keeping teams from moving to other locations in Florida and Arizona.

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After making a comeback in the late 1980s, tuberculosis has steadily declined in the U.S. Last year alone, TB cases dropped 6 percent compared to 2011, making it the first time, the number of annual infections was below 10,000.

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Reports are swirling about the future of NBC’s Tonight Show. Jimmy Fallon is said to have been chosen to eventually succeed Jay Leno, who has hosted the show since 1992 -- well mostly. There was that Conan O’Brien interlude.

Leno and Fallon both have strong TV ratings, though certainly different comedy styles. There’s another difference that points to why Fallon might be a smart choice for TV’s longest-running late-night comedy show. It's called Twitter.

The Tonight Show still pulls in a big TV audiences: more than three million viewers a night. Those eyeballs are what advertisers care about, but that's changing, says Bill Carroll, with Katz Television Group, which sells TV advertising.

"Social media is becoming part of the overall equation," he says. "Advertisers are starting to pay attention."

Yesterday, Nielsen released a report that found Twitter has a major impact on TV ratings. That's good news for NBC and Fallon. He has some eight million Twitter followers. Leno has just half a million.

And it's not just quantity, it's quality, too, says William Ward, a professor of social media at Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

"The social audience is a much more loyal, engaged audience. They want to be there to participate during the show and interact with Jimmy Fallon and the other fans of Jimmy Fallon," he says.

That kind of audience enthusiasm is catnip for networks and advertisers. Ward notes that when Charlie Sheen quit the hit show Two And A Half Men, it was no coincidence that his replacement, Ashton Kutcher, had more than six million Twitter followers.

"That was one of the reasons he was cast for that show. He could bring an audience over and the social buzz around that," he says.

In the future, the audience that determines TV ad rates could include a show's Twitter followers and YouTube viewers. YouTube clips are another strength of Fallon's. A "Mom Dance" he performed with First Lady Michelle Obama on his show last month has gotten more than 15 million YouTube hits. A rap Fallon did with Justin Timberlake last week already has nearly two million views.

YouTube views aren't brining NBC any money just yet, but finding the right host for the Tonight Show is all about the future of media.

"It's a longterm decision," says Brad Adgate, senior vice president of research at Horizon Media. "Leno has sat at that desk for 20 years, so you have to look five to 10 years down the road at how are people going to be consuming content, particularly younger ones." Adgate says the audience for video clips will become more and more important. 

In other words, the future of the Tonight Show will include what people watch tomorrow morning.

NOAA also says it expects the drought in the central and western regions of the United States to persist.

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