The scandals appeared to be popping up almost every week, air force, nuclear missile officers cheating on exams and using drugs, army officers getting kickbacks, NAVY instructors sharing test results. More on John Kirby, Hagel’s spokesman, said the secretary is trouble by what he sees. 

 

I think he definitely sees this as a growing problem. And he is concerned about the depth of it. I do not think he could stand here and tell you that anybody has the full grasp here. And that is what worries the secretary.

 

Hagel has appointed a retired admiral and a general to review the nuclear force and make recommendations and he asks the review of ethics and leadership training at military schools. Kirby says Hagel plans to focus on these issues in these weekly meetings with service secretaries in service chiefs. Tom Bowman, NPR News, Washington.

 

Among after a chemical spill contaminated water for 300,000 Western Virginians, the state’s governor and a team of federal say to officials today try to reassure the public their water is safe. NPR’s Elizabeth Shogren reports distrust remains high.

 

Governor Earl Ray Tomblin told everyone he has been drinking the water for weeks. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Tanja Popovic downplay the risks of any long-term health effects from chemicals in the water.

 

Base on everything that we do know today, the experts have agreed there is not likely, that is very unlikely.

 

The state’s Superintendent School’s James Phares is appealing to the public to trust authorities to do the right thing. Today they close two schools to investigate concerns of tainted water.

 

We have to trust each other. 

 

He says it seems like West Virginians have lost this. Elizabeth Shogren, NPR News.

 

They are celebrating in Seattle today with tens of thousands of Seahawks fans taking to the street where parade was held to celebrate the team Super Bowl win this past Sunday over the Denver Broncos. Parade cover in two-mile route through city begins settles like iconic space around the city streets. Revelers many wearing blue and green wigs patch to parade route today.

 

 

Private sector job survey is showing companies were adding jobs at modest but steady pace in January. The monthly ADP report which measures new payroll job added by companies outside of government growing by 175,000 that was down slightly from the previous months. The ADP numbers often divert sharply from government employment figures which include a broader slice of the US economy. 

 

Stocks continue bouncing around today as investors appear to be trying to determine where stocks should be on last year strong bull market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down five points today end at session of 15,440. NASDAQ was down 19 points. The S&P 500 fell three points today.

 

You are listening to NPR News in Washington.

 

Officials in department of homeland security have reportedly advised some airlines including those flying to Russia for this week’s Winter Olympic in Sochi beyond the alert for potential efforts to smuggle bombing making materials on board. This comes amid concerns about individuals possibly put such materials in tubes of toothpaste or other carrier on items. The warning comes at time Russian forces already on high alert regarding possible terror threats the games which kick off Friday with opening ceremonies. Officials are saying with this specific intelligence led the warning but they are issuing out of bombs of caution. 

 

The Vatican says a scathing United Nation’s report on sex abuse of children by priest distorted unfair ideologically based. NPR’s Sylvia Poggioli says report accuses the Vatican of systematically following polices that allow priest to rape and molest tens of thousands of children worldwide.

 

The UN committees report blasted the code of silence. It says has long been used to keep victims quiet, accusing the Holy See of putting the reputation of the church and alleged defenders ahead of protection of the victims. Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican ambassador to the UN, reacted angrily to the reports criticism of the Vatican’s attitudes toward homosexuality, contraception and abortion. He said the world body cannot ask the church to change its nonnegotiable moral teachings and accused of committees of betraying the international body’s own objectives by allowing itself to be swayed by those he called pro-gay ideologues. Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News, Roma.

 

Crude oil futures’ prices were up modestly today. The price of crude rose 19 cents a barrel, end session at 97.38 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.