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LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

NPR's business news starts with the back story on VIP loans.

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WERTHEIMER: A former mortgage company, Countrywide, used a VIP loan program to buy influence with members of Congress, staffers and other officials, including a number at Fannie Mae, the government backed mortgage giant central to Countrywide's business. That the bottom line of a new report out today from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

On the day after the Fourth, it's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

And I'm Linda Wertheimer.

It was especially easy for some Americans to see the fireworks last night. They had no competing source of light.

INSKEEP: Brilliant displays lit up cities like New York and Washington, but across Maryland, Virginia and New Jersey, about a quarter of a million homes still have no electricity.

Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney spent his July Fourth holiday marching in a New Hampshire parade, and backtracking statements a top adviser made about the individual mandate in the Obama health care law.

There was something for almost everybody in Wolfeboro's Independence Day parade: a local brass band, bonnet-wearing Daughters of the American Revolution, a Zumba instructor shimmying across the bed of a pickup truck, and even a Jimmy Durante impersonator, complete with prosthetic nose.

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LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

In Britain today, parliament continues its hearing on the interest rate scandal at Barclays Bank. This week, several of the bank's top executives resigned, including the chief executive, Bob Diamond. Yesterday, parliamentarians quizzed Diamond for three hours.

NPR's Philip Reeves is in London, where he says outrage is growing.

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

An Arkansas woman high-tailed it home after she rear-ended another car. It didn't take long for police to find her, and when they did, they slapped her with a citation for following too closely and leaving the scene of an accident. Her excuse: She didn't think there was enough damage to call police, and her ice cream was melting.

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Pakistan and the United States have reached agreement to reopen the strategic land supply routes from Pakistan into Afghanistan. Pakistan closed those routes last November after a U.S. attack left 24 Pakistani soldiers dead. Pakistan had wanted a formal apology from the U.S. but the administration refused because it believed American troops had come under fire first from the Pakistani side. But yesterday, Secretary of State Clinton made comments that finally broke the logjam.

NPR's Mike Shuster has more from Islamabad.

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And if our Pie Week isn't enough for you, how about a new pie every day?

EVAN KLEIMAN, BYLINE: I said that I was going to make a pie a day all summer. Everybody's ears pricked up.

MONTAGNE: Evan Kleiman is the host of GOOD FOOD, a program from member station KCRW in Santa Monica.

KLEIMAN: All my producers at the radio station said: You know, you really have to do this now. And I just started. And it was sort of this free-flowing thought process of I would make a pie, and then I would criticize it.

Scientists in Switzerland unveiled the results in their search for a subatomic particle that is believed to be key to the formation of stars, planets and eventually life after the Big Bang. Many questions remain about the exact nature of this particle.

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LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

The Olympic Games are now just over three weeks away. NPR's Philip Reeves is tracking preparations. He brings us his latest letter from London.

PHILIP REEVES, BYLINE: So it's true then. Surface-to-air missiles really will be stationed on London's rooftops during the Olympic Games.

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A bit of good news for Colorado. Yesterday, firefighters battling wildfires there got a boost from some much-needed rain.

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The fires and drought conditions in the state prompted a firework ban for this 4th of July holiday. But an exception was made last night in Denver, where a giant crowd gathered to watch fireworks and applaud the efforts of those fighting to contain the fires.

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LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

NPR's business news starts with a U.K. interest rate probe.

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WERTHEIMER: The former chief executive of Barclays is testifying before a parliamentary committee in Britain. Bob Diamond, who resigned yesterday, is being asked about the rate-setting scandal at the bank. He told lawmakers in the hearing today that it was an unfortunate series of events. Yesterday, Barclays released documents suggesting a Bank of England official may have pressured Barclays to lower its rates. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.