NPR News

There's at least one story every day that's just so weird it gets lots of attention — even if it isn't important in any way, shape or form.

Here's a classic example.

As host Steve Inskeep said on Morning Edition, when a man in San Antonio heard this weekend that the seven Beefy Crunch Burritos he'd just ordered at Taco Bell had gone up in price by 50 cents each, "it was just too much." He allegedly fired an air gun at an employee and then took off.

Before New Mexico became the first state to pass a law allowing psychologists to prescribe drugs to treat their patients' mental health problems, it could take months to get an appointment with a prescribing psychiatrist, says Elaine LeVine, a New Mexico psychologist and one of the first to begin prescribing after the law passed in 2002.

NPR's Steve Inskeep posed that question to John Negroponte, former ambassador and Director of National Intelligence under President George W. Bush. Today on Morning Edition. Negroponte spelled out two main goals the U.S. is pursuing: one is the humanitarian goal of protecting civilians; two is the political goal of getting Moammar Gadhafi to leave power.

In California's Silicon Valley, the economy is finally showing signs of a turnaround. Social media companies like Twitter and Facebook are generating a lot of new excitement, and there's even been a slight uptick in hiring. Still, the recession has done considerable damage to the region's economy, and the unemployment rate remains high.

The four New York Times staffers who spent six days in the hands of fighters loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi tell their story today.

Among the frightening tales in the Times' account: