Business

The number of people filing first-time claims for jobless benefits fell by 35,000 last week, to 353,000, the Employment and Training Administration just reported.

That brings the level about back to where it was three weeks ago and down near a four-year low — but also keeps claims in the range where they've been trending for about the last year.

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Back in 2010, during Vancouver's Winter Olympics, the iPad did not exist. When Beijing hosted opening ceremonies in 2008, Apple's app store was less than a month old. Now, for the first time ever, millions of people are expected to watch some of the Olympics on their phones, tablets or other gadgets.

NPR's Steve Henn takes a look at what it will take to make the games fully digital.

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This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

And I'm Linda Wertheimer.

In the Midwest, the drought is doing a number on the nation's biggest agricultural crop, corn. The USDA says half of the country's cornfields are in poor or very poor condition, and the short supply is driving up the price. Now, a fight between livestock farmers and ethanol producers over the high priced corn crop. Farmers say ethanol factories have an unfair advantage.

NPR's Dan Charles reports.

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Ichiro Suzuki's trade to the New York Yankees has thrilled Japanese fans, but they're not the only ones cheering. Importers of Major League goods are also happy.

Lucy Craft stopped at a store in Tokyo to check out the merchandise.

LUCY CRAFT, BYLINE: When news reached Japan that Ichiro had been acquired by the Yankees, Satoshi Kanazawa, manager of the Selection Baseball store, sprang into action.

SATOSHI KANAZAWA: (Foreign language spoken)

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Some churches are singing the praises of source a new source of revenue. Here is the church and here is the steeple. Open the door and see the cell phone towers?

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

That's right. And that's our last word in business today. Cellphone carriers are having a hard time finding places to build new freestanding towers, so they've reached agreements with churches like Catonsville Presbyterian in Maryland to put the antennas in steeples. There are three in that church.

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NPR's business news starts with a boost from Caterpillar.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MONTAGNE: Caterpillar is reporting a big increase in its profits - up 67 percent for the second quarter. The world's largest manufacturer of heavy construction and mining equipment is on pace to rake in record profits this year. But that hasn't motivated Caterpillar to sweeten its offer to union workers who are on strike at a plant outside of Chicago.

From Chicago, NPR's David Schaper has more.

A prescription drug called Suboxone helps wean people off of heroin and pain pills, but addicts have a hard time getting prescriptions. So they're turning to the black market.

An Albuquerque man who goes by the name Mystery Man has stepped in to fill the void. He says he illegally sells Suboxone every day.

To get Suboxone, Mystery Man has to find a patient with a Suboxone prescription, and give that person the $50 co-pay to fill it. He gets that money by selling, among other things, crack and guns.

While the job market remains sluggish, temporary work is one area that's done very well in the economic recovery. Companies are keeping their temps longer and are even using them to fill professional and high-ranking positions.

The average daily number of temporary workers employed during the first quarter of 2012 was more than 2.5 million. That's up from a low of 2.1 million in early 2009, according to the American Staffing Association.

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From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

And I'm Audie Cornish. We begin this hour with the drought and how it could affect your grocery bill. Today, the U.S. Agriculture Department designated 76 more counties as disaster areas because of the drought and excessive heat. And it said that severe drought will likely affect prices for corn and other field crops, although it's too soon to know how much prices will go up.

President Obama's speech to the National Urban League conference in New Orleans on Wednesday night coincides with a debate over the role of government in helping small businesses succeed.

Some black Americans say they have an especially hard time when it comes to owning and operating their own businesses.

On the northern edge of New Orleans' French Quarter, Shaka Zulu and his wife, Na'imah, are trying desperately to protect a slice of local culture that sometimes gets lost here.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was on Capitol Hill Wednesday to talk about the implementation of Dodd Frank. But the questions focused on why the New York Fed, under Geithner, didn't act more aggressively when it first learned about possible manipulation of a key interest rate.

Sandy I. Weill, the former Citigroup CEO who helped usher in the era of super banks, said during an interview with CNBC today that big banks should be split up.

We've taken a look at government spending in a few different ways lately, including the posts 50 Years Of Government Spending, In 1 Graph in May, and, more recently, Dissecting Federal Spending With An Eye On Cuts.

A fierce drought has been scorching crops this summer, but it's still too soon to know exactly how much of a hole it will burn in your wallet.