NPR News

There were 6,000 fewer first-time claims for unemployment insurance last week, the Employment and Training Administration says.

"In the week ending March 26, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 388,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 394,000," ETA reports.

As she continues to recover from the injuries she received in a Jan. 8 shooting rampage that left six people dead and another 13 with gunshot wounds, Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is "having a major effect on Arizona politics," The New York Times writes today.

"Serious" inflation is going to start hitting consumers in their wallets this summer, Wal-Mart's U.S. CEO tells USA Today.

"We're seeing cost increases starting to come through at a pretty rapid rate," Bill Simon says, and retailers are going to have to pass some of them along. Among the pressure points, obviously: Higher fuel prices, which then push up transportation costs.

There's more troubling news from Japan, which continues to struggle with the after-effects of the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and the subsequent tsunami that killed thousands on March 11 and triggered an ongoing emergency at a nuclear power plant.

This morning's Associated Press report begins with this:

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, host:

Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne.

Earlier this week, President Obama received an award for his commitment to openness in government. It came from groups that advocate transparency, including the Project on Government Oversight and the National Security Archive. Strangely, the award was presented behind closed doors at the White House and the press was neither informed nor invited. According to Politico, one presenter called all that secrecy of a positive event - baffling.