Mark Memmott

Credit Doby Photography / NPR

Mark Memmott is one of the hosts of NPR's "The Two-Way" news blog.

"The Two-Way," which Memmott helped to launched when he came to NPR in 2009, focuses on breaking news, analysis, and the most compelling stories being reported by NPR News and other news media.

Before joining NPR, Memmott worked for nearly 25 years as a reporter and editor at USA Today. He focused on a range of coverage from politics, foreign affairs, economics, and the media. He's reported from places across the Unites States and the world, including half a dozen trips to Afghanistan in 2002-2003.

During his time at USA Today, Memmott, helped launch and lead three USAToday.com news blogs: "On Deadline;" "The Oval;" and "On Politics," the site's 2008 presidential campaign blog.

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9:57am

Wed May 15, 2013
The Two-Way

Boehner: Who's Going To Jail For What IRS Did?

Originally published on Wed May 15, 2013 8:34 pm

Credit Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA /LANDOV

He doesn't want to know who's going to resign, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters Wednesday morning.

He wants to know: "Who's going to jail" for what IRS personnel did to some conservative groups?

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8:29am

Wed May 15, 2013
The Two-Way

Military Recruiters, Sex Assault Responders To Be Retrained

Originally published on Wed May 15, 2013 1:59 pm

Credit Jason Reed/pool / Getty Images

All branches of the U.S. military have been ordered "to retrain, re-credential and rescreen all sexual assault prevention and response personnel and military recruiters," the Pentagon confirmed Wednesday morning.

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8:06am

Wed May 15, 2013
The Two-Way

Cleveland Kidnaps Suspect Will Plead Not Guilty, Lawyer Says

Originally published on Wed May 15, 2013 1:09 pm

Credit / Getty Images

Saying that their client is not a "monster," attorneys for Ariel Castro have told Cleveland's WKYC-TV that the man accused of kidnapping three young women, holding them captive and repeatedly raping them over the course of about a decade will plead not guilty to all charges if he is indicted by a grand jury.

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6:58am

Wed May 15, 2013
The Two-Way

Read The Report On IRS's 'Inappropriate' Scrutiny Of Groups

Originally published on Wed May 15, 2013 12:58 pm

The language is not dramatic, but the message is clear: A much-anticipated report from the Treasury Department's inspector general for tax administration is straightforward about how Internal Revenue Service personnel unfairly singled out some conservative groups for unnecessary scrutiny during the 2012 campaign cycle.

As the report's summary says:

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6:14am

Wed May 15, 2013
The Two-Way

Holder Isn't Sure How Often Reporters' Records Are Seized

Originally published on Thu May 16, 2013 5:10 am

Credit Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

As his Justice Department faces bipartisan outrage for searching phone records of Associated Press reporters and editors, Attorney Gen. Eric Holder says he is not sure how many times such information has been seized by government investigators in the four years he's led Justice.

During an interview with NPR's Carrie Johnson on Tuesday, Holder was asked how often his department has obtained such records of journalists' work.

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1:19pm

Tue May 14, 2013
The Two-Way

Justice Department To Open Probe Of IRS's Actions

Originally published on Wed May 15, 2013 7:17 am

Attorney Gen. Eric Holder has ordered the Justice Department to open an investigation into whether any laws were broken when the Internal Revenue Service singled out some conservative groups for extra scrutiny, he told reporters Tuesday.

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1:09pm

Tue May 14, 2013
The Two-Way

It's True: 'Mistakes Were Made' Is The King Of Non-Apologies

Originally published on Tue May 14, 2013 2:01 pm

Make no mistake, the acting commissioner of the IRS put himself in historic company Tuesday by writing in USA Today that "mistakes were made" when his agency singled out for extra scrut

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10:33am

Tue May 14, 2013
The Two-Way

Please Welcome The Parallels Blog: 'Many Stories, One World'

Originally published on Tue May 14, 2013 11:27 am

We want to note the launch of a new NPR blog — Parallels, which condenses its mission into four words: "Many stories, one world."

NPR.org international editor Greg Myre, who's hosting the blog, writes that:

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10:18am

Tue May 14, 2013
The Two-Way

IRS Chief Says 'Mistakes Were Made' But Weren't Partisan

Originally published on Tue May 14, 2013 10:51 am

Credit Alex Wong / Getty Images

"Mistakes were made, but they were in no way due to any political or partisan motivation," the acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service writes in USA Today's op-ed pages.

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8:50am

Tue May 14, 2013
The Two-Way

Russian Security Service Claims To Have Uncovered CIA Agent

Originally published on Tue May 14, 2013 6:09 pm

Credit Sergei Ilnitsky / EPA /Landov

From Russia Today:

"Russia's counterintelligence agency has detained a CIA agent in Moscow trying to recruit an officer of the Russian secret service, the Federal Security Service (FSB) announced. The agent was operating under guise of career diplomat."

According to Reuters, the Russian foreign ministry has summoned U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul for a discussion.

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8:36am

Tue May 14, 2013
The Two-Way

She's No Diva: Unruly Flier Sings 'I Will Always Love You'

Originally published on Tue May 14, 2013 9:46 am

Credit YouTube.com

7:57am

Tue May 14, 2013

7:52am

Tue May 14, 2013
The Two-Way

Afghan Taxes Weigh Heavily On U.S. Contractors, Report Says

Since 2008, the Afghan government has assessed nearly $1 billion dollars in taxes — sometimes erroneously — on U.S. contractors working in the country, according to a new report from the Pentagon's Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, NPR's Tom Bowman tells our Newscast Desk.

John Sopko, the special inspector general, says the tax confusion has led to the arrest of contractors for nonpayment, increased costs to the U.S. government and interruptions to American military operations.

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5:43am

Tue May 14, 2013
The Two-Way

Actress Angelina Jolie Shares Story Of Her Double Masectomy

Originally published on Tue May 14, 2013 7:48 am

Credit Alastair Grant / PA Photos /Landov

Saying she is "writing about it now because I hope that other women can benefit from my experience," actress Angelina Jolie reveals on the op-ed pages of The New York Times that she had a double mastectomy earlier this year to substantially reduce the chances she will develop breast cancer.

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12:11pm

Mon May 13, 2013
The Two-Way

Holmes Enters Not Guilty By Insanity Plea In Colo. Shootings

Credit / Bill Robles/Reuters /Landov

James Holmes on Monday formally changed his plea from not guilty to "not guilty by reason of insanity" for the July 20, 2012, movie theater shooting rampage in Aurora, Colo., that left 12 people dead and an additional 70 injured.

Holmes' lawyers had said last week that the young man would be doing this.

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