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Even in the dead of winter, the Russian city of St. Petersburg, with its church spires, palaces and waterways, is one of the world's truly beautiful cities. It was here that the Russian revolution began, and it's here where Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev cut their teeth politically.

Two senators who have taken the lead on legislation aimed to help homeowners refinance at historically low interest rates were blunt this morning about how concerned they are by the news NPR reported earlier this week that Freddie Mac "has placed multibillion-dollar bets against American homeowners being able to refinance to cheaper mortgages."

Mitt Romney arrives in Nevada on Wednesday with more than the favor of Florida voters — the oddsmakers in Vegas like his chances, too. The online sports book Bovada has him as the favorite to win the GOP nomination at 1-15.

That means if you bet $15 on a Romney nomination, you'd only get $1 back if it happened. Before the Florida primary, Romney was at 1-9. Newt Gingrich, meanwhile, slipped from 6-1 odds Monday; he now stands at 9-1.

Update at 3:09 p.m. ET. With a signature, Gov. Mitch Daniels has turned Indianapolis into a right to work state. The governor signed into a law a controversial bill that would prohibit labor contracts from requiring workers to pay union dues, according to the AP.

Our Original Post Continues:

The controversial "right to work" bill was approved by the state Senate today with a 28 to 22 vote. Once Daniels signs the bill into law, which he is expected to do later today, Indiana will be the first state in a decade to pass a right to work law.

Most of the tents are gone, the parks are empty and nearly 99 percent of Occupy Wall Street's 99 percenters have gone home.

But even as the occupation enters a denouement, the nationwide movement sparked in September can claim a huge victory in the battle of ideas. Occupy has spoken, and Americans have listened.

Subjects that were largely taboo on Wall Street, Main Street and Pennsylvania Avenue just six months ago have moved to center stage. Higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans. Capping the cost of higher education. Corporate greed.

Steve Jobs, the "pioneer of digital music" who brought us the iPod, listened to vinyl records when he was at home because the quality of the sound is better than current digital formats can produce, rock 'n' roll legend Neil Young said Tuesday.

Florida primary voters handed Mitt Romney a resounding victory on Tuesday. But other GOP candidates declared that they are staying in the race. And President Obama has been busy raising money and trying to energize his base. Host Michel Martin talks about the latest election news with politicos Corey Ealons and Mario Loyola.

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Now, we'd like to focus on another political battle that could influence the general elections in November. Voter ID laws. Thirty-one states have either introduced or tightened voter requirements in recent months. Fifteen of those states have made it mandatory to show government-issued photo ID before casting a ballot. So what's the big deal, you say?

An Arizona judge has deemed Alejandrina Cabrera's English language skills to be inadequate, and has struck her name from the ballot for the city council. Host Michel Martin takes a look at the election controversy in the small border town of San Luis, Arizona. She speaks with Mayor Juan Carlos Escamilla and KAWC reporter Michelle Faust.

Mitt Romney's comment Wednesday about the social safety net has already been boiled down to a quick shorthand: "I'm not concerned about the very poor." It adds to a growing collection of statements that fuel charges that he has, if nothing else, a very tin ear and is an out-of-touch member of the .01 percent.

In a CNN interview with Soledad O'Brien, Romney said in part:

For the fifth consecutive month, builders increased spending in December, the Commerce Department said today. The figures tempered yesterday's news that home prices in most markets tracked by the S&P/Case-Shiller index had slipped 1.3 percent in November.

Starting at 6 p.m. ET, we'll be helping out the NPR Elections Desk with some more live blogging — this time on the news from Florida, which holds its Republican presidential primary today.

Will former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney come in first as pre-primary polls suggested? How well will former House Speaker Newt Gingrich do?

Drug errors inside hospitals remain a big problem.

By one estimate, 1 in 7 hospitalized patients suffers some form of error in care. Nearly a third of those mistakes are related to drugs. And those mix-ups can lead to longer hospital stays, unnecessary suffering, permanent damage or death.

One way to reduce mistakes is to have doctors enter the prescriptions on a computer instead of with pen and paper. After the switch, hospitals can see error rates drop by a whopping 60 percent.

A new disclosure report documents how Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry lost his fundraising base. Donors gave up long before Perry dropped out two weeks ago.

The Texas governor Perry launched his campaign back in August with a gusher of cash from conservative allies, especially in his home state.

He gathered up nearly $7 million in the first three weeks, which turned out to be more than double what he got over the past three months.

Wilbur and Theresa Faiss of Las Vegas have been married for more than 78 years — an accomplishment that's generating headlines this week about them being the nation's "longest-married couple."

Saying "we all have a choice — stand with the people of Syria and the region or become complicit in the continuing violence there," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton just urged the U.N. Security Council to support an Arab League call for "a negotiated, peaceful political solution to this crisis and a responsible, democratic transition in Syria" that would lead to the end of President Bashar Assad's regime.

Iran is moving toward a nuclear capability but its intentions are unclear. Al-Qaida is weakened but remains dangerous. In Afghanistan, the Taliban are a determined adversary, but it may make sense to negotiate with them.

These were the highlights of the annual assessment of threats to U.S. security, delivered Tuesday on Capitol Hill by the nation's intelligence agencies.

The director of national intelligence, James Clapper, was also able list some accomplishments, beginning with the big triumph — tracking down and killing Osama bin Laden.

Thanks to the health care overhaul, most people no longer have to worry about getting sick and running out of health insurance coverage.

The law eliminated lifetime limits, which ran in many plans from $1 millon to $2 million.

Unfortunately, though, the change doesn't apply to plans that enroll some of the sickest people: those who buy coverage in so-called high-risk insurance pools because they have medical problems that make them uninsurable in the private market.

As part of his yearly report to the Senate's Select Committee on Intelligence, the United States' intelligence chief said that depending how threatened Iran feels, it may be more willing to launch an attack against the U.S.

With virtually all polls giving him a solid lead among Florida's Republican voters, Mitt Romney is expected to handily win the Sunshine State's GOP primary Tuesday, putting him back on course for his party's presidential nomination.