From NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh.

 

　　U.S. Supreme Court justices are weighing landmark cases on same-sex marriage and questioning whether they took up the issues too soon. NPR's Nina Totenberg says the first of two days arguments focused on California's Proposition 8, the ballot initiative banning same-sex marriage.

 

　　With a back-and-forth between is this a denial of equal protection of the law since there is no really great reason that the opponents of same-sex marriage can cite and there are 37,000 children in California who live in same-sex households. On the other side, the Conservative justices were saying this is incredibly new, let's let the Democratic process play out and then there was a third strain which is why are we getting into this at all at this point when the city of California no longer supports the ban on same-sex marriage. NPR's Nina Totenberg at the U.S. Supreme Court.

 

　　Tomorrow justices will examine the Defense of Marriage Act, which gay rights advocates say unfairly denies homosexual spouses benefits that are afforded married heterosexuals. Now while the justices were hearing arguments today, thousands of people were rallying outside the Supreme Court. NPR's Craig Windham reports demonstrators jammed sidewalks and street in front of the building.

 

　　Bob Borger was marching with this group, calling on the justices to keep marriage reserved for heterosexual couples.

 

　　This is not about expanding the bubble for other people, this is about bursting the bubble for the rest of society.

 

　　But Julin Russel says she liked the justices to use the California case to rule that all people have a constitutional right to marriage.

 

　　You know I'm hoping that the fact that they chose to hear it, means that they are willing to make a stand. Craig Windham, NPR News, outside the Supreme Court in Washington.

 

　　President Obama is naming Julia Pierson to head the Secret Service, the first woman to oversee the agency. Pierson is a 30-year veteran, she does not need Senate confirmation.

 

　　Home prices accelerated in January. All 20 cities in the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index showed increases during the month. NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports prices are rising at a faster rate in most of those cities.

 

　　The markets that had been the hardest hit are the ones posting the biggest gains. Phoenix logged the biggest year-over-year price increase at 23%. Las Vegas was up 15%. In all compared to last year, the price index for the 20 cities is up 8.1%, higher than analysts expected. Greater demand, lower foreclosure rates and tighter inventory in many markets is buoying prices. The medium price for a home nationally in February was nearly 247,000 dollars, which is almost 3% more than last year. Taking together, the report indicates the highest increase in prices since the housing bubble burst. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, Washington.

 

　　Before the close, Dow was up 112 points.

 

　　This is NPR.

 

　　Cyprus's banks are staying closed through at least Thursday to avoid a run on banks in the Mediterranean island nation. The decision was announced today after lawmakers reached a deal to shrink Cyprus's banking system and impose heavy losses on big depositors in troubled banks, in return, Cyprus secured the equivalent of a $13 billion EU bailout.

 

　　North Korea is putting its military on its highest alert level as a protest to recent UN sanctions and joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises. Latest threat from North Korea came as its southern neighbor was observing the third anniversary of the sinking of a warship in which 46  South Korean sailors were killed.

 

　　Motown producer and song writer Deke Richards has died. The cause of death was esophageal cancer. NPR's Neda Ulaby reports Richards' career  went within a few years from the pinnacle of music industry success to near complete obscurity.

 

　　Deke Richards cowrote and produced songs for Diana Ross, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, and the Jackson 5's first three chart-toppers.

 

　　When I had you to myself, I didn't want you around. Those pretty faces…

 

　　Richards was part of the corporation, a group of Motown song writers and producers that included Berry Gordy Junior. They hoped to rescue the label when it was shedding talent in late 1960s. After Richards' Motown contract expired, he helped Fleetwood Mac with its first U.S. top 40 hits.

 

　　I'm over my head.

 

　　But Deke Richards wound up suing the band over the album Rumors. His career of music faltered and he switched to selling film posters. He died Sunday at a hospice in Bellingham, Washington. He was 68 years old. Neda Ulaby, NPR News.

 

　　This is NPR.