It's just one-month data, but it's still encouraging analysts say that retailers reported the strongest sales growth since February. Sales were up 0.8% last month, and economists had expected just 8.2% increase.

 

“I think we’re definitely going to get out of the woods.”

 

That's Betsey Stevenson. She is an economist with the University of Michigan. She says a range of indicators now show that the economy is at least very gradually continuing to recover from the recession.

 

“A really bad recession, and what we have is coming out of it slowly, but surely.”

 

Stevenson has said the recovery could pick up more steam next year. Especially of things in Europe improve, and she says politicians get passed the so-called fiscal cliff. Chris Arnold, NPR News.

 

More scathing rhetoric on the campaign trail today over the economy. Here's Republicans’ new vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan in Colorado.

 

“When you take a look back four years ago, we had a really tough economy. And without a doubt, President Obama inherited a difficult situation. Here’s the problem – he made it worse.”

 

In Virginia, Vice President Joe Biden kept up his assault on the House Republican budget plan.

 

“Well, I don't get. I mean this is silly now. I don't get what's gutsy about giving millionaires another tax break.”

 

President Obama continues his tour of Iowa, and Republican rival Mitt Romney was in Ohio, where each attacked the other on energy.

 

In other news, Syria's former prime minister says Bashar al-Assad's regime is collapsing. He calls on other political and military leaders to join the rebels.  Riyad Hijab defected to Jordan recently. Dale Gavlak reports on a speech he read to journalists in the capital Amman.

 

In his first public comments since leaving office and fleeing with his family to Jordan last week, Hijab says the regime is on the verge of collapse morally, financially and militarily and only controls 30% of the Syrian territory. He calls the government spirits low after struggling for 17 months to crush the revolt against Assad's rule. He thanked Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey for their support and asked them to do more for the opposition. Hijab, like most of the opposition, is Sunni Muslim. But his defection is seen as a symbolic blow to the mainly Alawite Assad regime's inner circle. For NPR News, I'm Dale Gavlak in Amman.

 

Before the close on Wall-Street, the Dow was up 3% at 13,172; NASDAQ off six at 3,017; S&P 500 down slightly.

 

This is NPR.

 

Hot weather and harsh winds are in store for parts of Idaho today. As Sadie Babits reports, that could make it hard for fire crews who continue to battle wildfires in that state.

 

One of those wildfires is burning in central Idaho in the Salmon Challis National Forest. A red flag warning today could spell trouble for firefighters there who had a good night keeping the flames away from homes. Barbara Bosler says the smoke has been thick.

 

“Smog was very thick here within the river quarter and also in the town of Salmon.”

 

Bosler, who provides public information on the fire, says some of that smoke has cleared out today. But the fire, she says, has shut down a popular road, which is used by people who want to float the famous Salmon River. There are dozens of wildfires burning in Idaho. Gusty winds and temperatures into the 90s today will continue to pose a challenge for firefighters. For NPR News, I'm Sadie Babits.

 

Actor Ron Palillo, who fans may know best as Arnold Horshack on the 1976 sitcom “Welcome Back, Kotter,” has died of an apparent heart attack, according to a family friend. Palillo played a nerdy high school student and class clown who always seemed to draw laughs during his classroom antics.

 

“Today we talk about anything you want to talk about.” 

 

“Oh, oh-oh, oh.”

 

“Arnold, you want to say something?”

 

“Last night on television, I saw “The Wizard of Odds.”

 

Ron Palillo was 63 years old.

 

Revisiting our numbers from Wall Street, Dow Jones Industrial Average closing up three points at 13,172; NASDAQ down six at 3,017.