Morning Edition

The hot dog is topped with lobster tail, contains safron aioli and is covered in gold dust. Four of the expensive dogs have been sold, and the proceeds donated to charity.

At the perjury trial of pitching great Roger Clemens Tuesday, a judge sent a jury member home after saying she was "obviously sleeping." She's the second juror to fall asleep and be ordered to leave.

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In North Carolina, now this could be the last day of testimony in the John Edwards trial. At a federal courthouse, the former presidential candidate is being tried on six counts of campaign finance violations. Prosecutors say Edwards used nearly a million dollars to conceal an affair and hide the child he fathered with a mistress. The defense says Edwards wasn't fully aware of the cover-up and that any money connected with it did not come from campaign contributions.

Jeff Tiberii of North Carolina Public Radio has more.

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NPR's business news starts with a sign of confidence in the U.S. auto industry.

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INSKEEP: Berkshire Hathaway has bought 10 million shares of General Motors. The company owned by the billionaire investor Warren Buffett spent just over $200 million for that stake in GM. It is the first time Berkshire has invested in an American automaker.

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It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep.

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And I'm David Greene.

If you thought the two political parties had moved past their differences over the debt ceiling, think again.

Fragrances for the man candles include Riding Mower, which smells like freshly cut grass, and First Down, which has the smell of orange and leather.

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In New York City, there's a new structure taking shape high above Central Park.

ANNE STRAUSS: Once we started to hoist the modules with an enormous crane, people became aware of it. You can see if from great distances.

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That's Anne Strauss, an associate curator at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. She's talking about a new exhibit in the Met's rooftop garden called "Cloud City."

Greece will hold new elections next month after leaders failed to form a government this week. The political uncertainty has raised fears that the heavily indebted country will be forced to exit the eurozone.

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And now to big money that's tied up in a company's pension fund. Tens of thousands of white-collar Ford retirees will soon have a big decision to make: Should they stay in the auto company's pension plan, or take their chances with a lump sum payout instead? The offer is believed to be the first of its kind for such a large, ongoing pension fund.

Michigan Radio's Lindsey Smith reports.

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A new international terminal opens today at the Atlanta Airport. Hartsfield-Jackson International is already the busiest airport in the world. And the new terminal reflects a big by the business capital of the South to become a bigger global player. Georgia wants to attract more international business. NPR's Kathy Lohr has the story.

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Afghanistan is still at war, but more than a decade after 9/11, the county is more open to the world. Nobody could make a cell phone call in 2001, and few people had access to TV. This month, Renee Montagne has been reporting from a country where the media are transformed.

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Some other news. Yesterday was primary day in Nebraska and voters delivered a surprise. Both parties were choosing candidates for a Senate race.

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And the Republican primary started with a pattern that has become familiar. The leading candidate was backed by traditional Republican leaders but was challenged by another candidate with Tea Party support and a lot of outside money.

INSKEEP: It became a fierce campaign, but here's where the pattern was broken. Neither contender won.

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OK. So that's the budget money. Let's talk about political contributions. The laws governing political money have just become a little bit more convoluted. But this time, the new twist could actually mean more disclosure. We'd find out the names of the big donors who finance attack ads.

NPR's Peter Overby reports.

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Good morning, I'm David Greene. People who are overweight often say there was that final moment - that's it; I'm sick of it. I'm making a change.

For Nat Ambrose, it was last year at King's Dominion, the Virginia theme park. He tried to get on his favorite ride, Volcano the Blast Coaster, but the harness wouldn't fit his 300-pound frame. He lost 30 pounds in a month. Tried again, still couldn't squeeze in. Finally, nine months later, 105 pounds lighter, Nat Ambrose has conquered the Volcano.

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Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep with congratulations to James Peterson who sought the world record for fist pumping. Yes. Mr. Peterson made this gesture of triumph for 16 hours. The Akron Beacon Journal says to maintain proper form he super glued his hand into a clenched fist. Yes. A video crew recorded this feat and sent it to the Guinness World Record people. If they do not accept the record we hesitate to think what gesture Mr. Peterson will try next. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.

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The town of Stevenage, England, 30 miles north of London, was once a small patch of farmland with a few thousand people. After World War II, the British government created a massive planned community there and hoped it would become a model for public housing for the world.

Gary Younge is a writer for the Guardian newspaper. He grew up in Stevenage and found it to be a mixed blessing. Younge wrote an essay about it for the spring issue of the literary magazine, Granta. We began our conversation by asking him to read us a passage.

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California Governor Jerry Brown wants to convince voters to accept two things they don't like: higher taxes and deep spending cuts. The Democrat proposed a budget yesterday which would only be the start of the pain. The other part would come in November with a ballot measure to raise taxes and spare education. Capital Public Radio's Ben Adler reports from Sacramento.

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It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep.

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And I'm David Greene.

JP Morgan Chase has long had the reputation of being one of the better managed big banks in the country. So how did it make a $2 billion blunder and what does it tell us about banking today, nearly five years after the onset of the financial crisis? When such questions are looming, we often turn to David Wessel, economics editor of The Wall Street Journal.

And, David, welcome back to the program.

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NPR business news starts with a price hike for Facebook shares.

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INSKEEP: OK, they're not even on sale yet, but investor excitement over Facebook's upcoming initial public offering has prompted the company to raise the price range for its shares. Sources say the new range will be from $34 and $38 per share. That's up from a previous range of $28 to $35.

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And our last word in business: the passenger door is now closed. Please make sure all your electronic devices have been switched off.

If you're sick of those rules on planes, well, they may be changing a bit. Virgin Atlantic has announced passengers on their new Airbus will soon be able to chat on their mobile phones.

When Adam Spiegel rolls down the metal security doors at his Medford, Ore., store, a painting becomes visible. Officials told him to clean the graffiti or be fined. He tells the Mail-Tribune it's not graffiti: it's a mural. Some onlookers think the painting resembles a giant bong.

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NPR's business news starts with a Mother's Day shakeup.

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INSKEEP: Yahoo says its CEO, Scott Thompson, is out, after a shareholder revealed an in accuracy on his resume. Mr. Thompson had claimed that he held two college degrees. In fact, he only had one. Thompson's resignation is a victory for an activist hedge fund that has been pressing for a shakeup in how Yahoo is run.

When Gac Filipaj fled war-torn Yugoslavia in 1992, he became a refugee in New York. He took a janitor's job at Columbia University because it included free tuition. But he first had to learn English. After a dozen years, he received a bachelor's degree in classics over the weekend.

Facebook is expected to start selling stock to the public this week. The social networking giant is expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market on Friday. CEO Mark Zuckerberg will remain the company's biggest shareholder. Steven Levy, of Wired magazine, talks to Morning Edition's David Greene about what that means for the company and potential shareholders.

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You know, one of the benefits of starting your own company is that you can pretty much wear whatever you want - up to a point. Our last word in business today is: dress for success.

Just as Steve Jobs was known for his mock-turtleneck, Mark Zuckerberg has become known for his hoodie. Business blogs breathlessly chronicle Zuckerberg's dress decisions and note the fact that he sports the collegiate just-rolled-out-of-bed look, even at important business meetings.

The head of JPMorgan Chase says the trading strategy that cost it $2 billion in a matter of weeks won't really affect the bank's bottom line. But the trade happened during a presidential campaign where the economy and Wall Street are major themes.