Paul Ryan didn't address Romney's comments directly during a town hall meeting in Dover, but he did attempt to clarify where he and Romney stand on what they say are the failures of the Obama Administration.

 

This is what Mitt and I are talking about, when we are worried about more and more people becoming net dependent upon the government, than upon themselves. 

 

The video clips made public by Mother Jones magazine show Romney saying that 47% of voters will support President Obama because they believe they are entitled to healthcare to food to housing,  you-name-it. Last night, Romney called these comments off the cuff and not elegantly stated. For NPR News, I'm Josh Rogers in Concord, New Hampshire. 

 

At the White House today, President Obama's Press Secretary Jay Carney offered this comment on Romney's comments. 

 

The president certainly doesn't think that men and women on social security are irresponsible or victims.

 

Both Mr. Obama and GOP challenger Romney are on the road fundraising today. Romney is in Utah and Texas, Mr. Obama attends an event hosted by pop stars Beyonce and Jay-Z in New York, and also takes the couch on the David Letterman show.

 

A big decision shaping up in the city of Chicago at this hour where members of the Teachers Union are gathering to decide whether to call off the strike now in its second week. As NPR's Sharal Quli tells us the matter could go to court. 

 

Today's vote by delegates of the Chicago's Teachers Union will determine if the city's first school strike since 1987 will continue or if it will be suspended. But for consideration a tentative deal that the Teachers Union and the school board announced reaching last week. Despite the framework, tensions heightened  after majority of the unions nearly 800 delegates said Sunday, they needed more time to see the exact contract language and to get feedback from teachers. The next day, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel filed a lawsuit asking a judge to order teachers back in the classrooms. The judge will hold a hearing Wednesday morning if the delegates decide not to lift the strike which is now on its seventh day.  Sharal Quli NPR News, Chicago.

 

On Wall Street, approaching the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average up six points at 13,559.

 

This is NPR News.

 

An international business that moves packages around the world says the global economy is in a stall. Fedex says economic conditions are deteriorating everywhere. The statement led Wall Street's opening lower, only to recover European markets were in the negative too.

 

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has welcomed Nobel Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi to Washington at the start of her first trip to the U.S. Suu Kyi was freed from house arrest nearly two years ago in Myanmar also known as Burma. NPR's Craig Windham reports the Obama Administration is considering whether to ease remaining sanctions against that country.

 

During the more than two-week, she will be in the U.S., Suu Kyi will be the guest to the dinner in her honor at the White House and she will receive the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation's highest civilian award. But Suu Kyi told Clinton she is especially looking forward to visiting Fort Wayne, Indiana, where there is a sizable Burmese expatriate community.

 

Clinton said there is excitement in the U.S. that Suu Kyi can finally visit this country. Prior her arrival, Myanmar announced the release of at least 87 more political detainees, but activists there say, hundreds more remain in custody. Craig Windham, NPR News, Washington.

 

There are grim predictions about the state of health America from the Robert Wood Johnson foundation and the Trust for America's Health. The groups predict that by the year of 2030, more than half the population of 39 states will clinically obese. They say the heaviest state right now is Mississippi.