CNN Radio News Day: May 6, 2013
CNN Radio News Day is an evening news program providing an informative, thoughtful and creative look at the day's events. It's posted Monday through Friday at 4:30 pm ET.
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(CNN) – Welcome to CNN Radio News Day. Here's some of the stories we are covering in today's show:
- For the second time in a week airstrikes hit military targets in Syria. The Syrian government says Israel is behind the strikes which killed 42 soldiers. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied this. These developments have raised concerns about a wider conflict in the region. Syria's civil war has killed 70,000 and displaced many more. The refugees have spilled into countries like Jordan and Turkey but it's not just Syria's neighbors who are concerned about the conflict. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will soon head to Russia where CNN's Jill Dougherty says Syria's conflict will surely be discussed:
"Russia has been opposed to sanctions and other actions against Syria it certainly doesn't want regime change but at the same time it's weakening some of the support that it has had for President Assad."
- Congress is back and they're debating taxes. Not just any tax but internet sales tax. The bill is called the Marketplace Fairness Act and it could bring more than $20 billion dollars into state coffers. But there are many questions about the measure. CNN's Lisa Desjardins poses this big one:
"Why is congress, an anti-tax congress, pushing to expand sales tax on the internet now?" Listen to the podcast to get philosophical with us on that question.
- In Arizona today jurors continued deliberations in the Jodi Arias murder trial. Don't know who she is? Well you aren't alone. We took an unscientific poll in Atlanta and found many were clueless about the case which has stretched on 57 days and been covered extensively by our sister network HLN. Beth Karas is one of those who has covered the trial for HLN. She explains the fascination with the trial this way:
"So why the fascination because there are a lot of elements here that you just can't get enough of. A beautiful young woman the state is seeking to execute. Women are not too plentiful on death row across the country."
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Is it fair to tax on the Internet?
By Lisa Desjardins, CNN
Follow on Twitter: @LisaDCNN
Editor's Note: Listen to the full story in our player above, and join the conversation in our comments section below.
Washington (CNN) – Late this afternoon, the U.S. Senate is voting on and will likely pass what would be the largest expansion of taxes on the Internet.
The plan is called the Marketplace Fairness Act, a bill that gives States the power to insist that online company charge sales tax. (In return for that power, the Senate would require that states simplify their tax codes.)
That title, “Marketplace Fairness Act” points to the political problem here. This is a tax bill in a time when taxes are political outcasts. Why is the Senate poised to pass it now?
[2:45] "Because government is actually desperate for revenue, they’re looking at absolutely every corner they can hit," says Christopher Morris, chairman of the philosophy department at University of Maryland
State governments need money. However, the votes probably would not be forthcoming if the bill were called “The Increase Taxes On The Internet Act."
