1:06pm: With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan winding down, President Obama today spelled out his vision of the military in the years ahead, driven by the push to cut Pentagon spending by at least $450 billion dollars over the next decade. Obama will likely draw fire for spelling out that the U.S. military will not be expected to carry out two sustained ground wars at one time, as past military strategies have laid out. Washington Post military reporter Greg Jaffe will tell us more.1:12pm: Pakistan relations may seem at their lowest ebb, but regional expert Adil Najam says they are likely to get much worse over this year. The immediate causes? Both countries are in the midst of political seasons, there is the planned U.S. withdrawal from neighboring Afghanistan, and the weakness of the world economy, which has had a severe impact on Pakistan. But Najam says the deeper reason behind the worsening relationship is the fact that both sides have been dishonest to each other for many years. He joins us to explain why he thinks both parties need to start making more realistic promises to each other. 1:35pm: A sewage spill in Bullitt County has left a creek polluted and neighbors upset. They say this isn’t the first time, and the state can’t do enough about it. WFPL's Erica Peterson has more about the spill, and the limitations of the state's older treatment plants. 1:40pm: President Obama's recess appointment of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has drawn criticism from Republicans. They say the Senate was actually in pro-forma session yesterday, not in recess. On the campaign trail today, GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum said Obama overstepped his authority by not getting approval from the Senate, saying "You are not above the law, Mr. President." Ed O'Keefe, who writes The Federal Eye blog for the Washington Post, joins us to talk about the controversy and Cordray's plans for the Bureau.
Laura is LPM's Director of Podcasts & Special Projects.
Email Laura at lellis@lpm.org.