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1. Crews in Iowa have been ordered to abandon a half-mile-long wall of dirt and sandbags because they're worried it's about to break. The wall was built after the Des Moines River punched a 100-foot wide hole in a levee allowing water to pour into a portion of downtown.

2. Washington D.C. is remembering longtime newsman Tim Russert. At the Newseum exhibits highlight the political analyst¹. And at NBC, flowers serve as a makeshift memorial for the network's bureau chief. Russert died of a heart attack yesterday. He was 58.

3. It's been less than a month since the U.S. declared polar bears a threatened species. But now the Bush administration's giving seven oil companies permission to potentially harm them while looking for oil and natural gas. The Fish and Wildlife Service issued regulations providing legal protection.

4. NASA is congratulating the space shuttle crew on a 'beautiful landing.' Discovery glided³ back to Earth after a 14-day trip that NASA says(插入语) was about as smooth as it gets. The shuttle delivered a billion-dollar science lab to the International Space Station.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1.punch [transitive]v.

to make a hole in something, using a metal tool or other sharp object

2.exhibit [countable] n.
something, for example a painting, that is put in a public place so that people can go to see it

3.highlight[transitive]v.
to make a problem or subject easy to notice so that people pay attention to it

4.makeshift adj.
made to be used for a short time only when nothing better is available

5.memorial[countable]n.
something, especially a stone with writing on it, that reminds people of someone who has died

6.potentially [+ adjective/adverb]
something that is potentially dangerous, useful etc is not dangerous etc now, but may become so in the future

7.glide² [always + adverb/preposition]v.
to move smoothly⁴ and quietly, as if without effort

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is a unit of the United States Department of the Interior that is dedicated⁵ to managing and preserving wildlife.