NPR News

Instead of staying on until his retirement in October, it was reported this morning that Florida A&M University President James Ammons' resignation will be effective immediately.

Republican and Democratic strategists tell NPR that most of the estimated $4 billion to be spent by the campaigns, political action committees and others on the 2012 presidential race will make no difference in the outcome.

Good morning.

Our early headlines:

-- New Week, Same Argument: Romney, Obama & Who's Being Dishonest.

-- Military Chief's Removal, Rise In Hemlines: Hopeful Signs In North Korea?

Less than a week after all the tea-reading over what, if anything, it means that Korean leader Kim Jong Un may have a love in his life, now there are these stories to ponder:

President Obama and his campaign are being "dishonest" when they attack his record as a business executive, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said this morning on Fox & Friends as a new week on the presidential campaign trail began where the last one left off.

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Renée Montagne. Former President George H. W. Bush says when he turns 90 he'll celebrate by skydiving. Thrill seeking at 90 is becoming a trend. Thelma Gratch spent her 90th, presumably with arms raised, hurtling down a 230-foot high roller coaster at 80 miles an hour. She's had a season pass to an amusement park outside Cincinnati since 1979 so chances are she's spent other birthdays screaming her head off. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.

The late Paul Conrad's 1991 work "Chain Reaction" is a mass of black chain link shaped into a mushroom cloud. It's in Santa Monica, Calif., where people either love or hate it. Now the end of the world has been delayed long enough for the statue to decay.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Montana is making it easier to hunt wolves. The wolf population has been growing even though wolf hunting is already legal. So wildlife officials are doing away with the statewide kill limit. They are nearly doubling the length of the season and the state will also allow trapping, which many conservationists call inhumane. Here's Dan Boyce with Montana Public Radio.

The Red Cross announced Sunday that the conflict in Syria has now reached the level of civil war. The declaration means international humanitarian law now applies throughout the country, and is the responsibility of all parties, whether rebel or government.

Last week's report by former FBI Director Louis Freeh confirmed what many said all along, that the Penn State child sex scandal was the biggest and most damaging in college sports history. Now that the report has been released, the focus is turning to the NCAA and what action it will take, if any.