On August 14th, just two weeks after Secretary of State John Kerry relaunched Middle East peace talks, negotiators will be meeting again. One of Kerry's top aides and his new envoy will be there to facilitate the talks, which will be followed by another round in Jericho. Kerry's also meeting tonight and tomorrow at the White House with Jewish and Arab Americans, according to his spokesperson Jen Psaki.

“These meetings will serve as an opportunity to update community leaders on the resumption of direct final-status negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians, as well as to hear directly from these community leaders about their perspectives.”

National Security Adviser Susan Rice is joining Kerry at these sessions. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, the State Department.

Panic, chaos and a lot of blood -- that's the scene soldiers are recalling from the Fort Hood shooting massacre in 2009. Today survivors testified at Major Nidal Hasan's court-martial for killing 13 people and wounding more than 30. He admits to being the shooter. In his opening statement, the US-born Muslim said he switched sides in what he called a US war on Islam.

Dry and windy, not welcome conditions for the hundreds of firefighters on the frontlines of a Southern California blaze this hour. Fire information officer Daniel Berlant tells WBUR’s ‘HERE & NOW’ about the extraordinary measures crews are taking to get the fire in the San Jacinto Mountains under control.

“Our crews are right now on the frontlines, you know, building containment line, using hand tools, using water. We’re using our aircraft, the CAL FIRE air tankers, helicopters, everything to slow down this fire.”

The fire's burning about 90 miles east of Los Angeles. It's threatening as many as 600 homes. About 1,500 people have evacuated.

Sales of previously occupied homes are still rising in the US, and the National Association of Realtors notes the median price also increased in the second quarter at its fastest pace in years. Here is NPR's John Ydstie.

The median price rose to 203,500 dollars. That means half the homes sold at or above that price, and the other half at or below it. For the nation as a whole, the year-over-year rise was 12.2%. One factor behind the big price increase is a continuing shortage of homes for sale. Sales rose in 87% of the metro areas measured. About 1/3 had double-digit gains. Atlanta, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco were among the areas with the biggest price increases. New York City, parts of New Jersey and Hartford, Connecticut all experienced smaller increases. The number of existing homes sold also increased more than 12% over the past year. John Ydstie, NPR News, Washington.

Before the close, Dow is up 27 at 15,498. This is NPR.

There has been much of changing mortgage rates this week. The mortgage giant Freddie Mac says the average on the 30-year loan ticked up to 4.40%. The average rate on the 50-year fixed loan held steady at 3.43%. A key measure of the number of Americans applying for unemployment insurance shows claims at their lowest level in six years. The Labor Department says the four-week average has fallen to 335,500. It's a less volatile measure than the weekly claims, which rose slightly last week from the week before.

One of the last surviving actors who played Munchkins in “The Wizard of Oz” has died. Margaret Pelligrini passed away after suffering a stroke at her home in Phoenix. She was 89 years old. NPR's Elizabeth Blair has this appreciation.

Margaret Pelligrini was a teenager when she starred as both a flower pot and sleepyhead Munchkin in the 1939 classic. Margaret Pelligrini was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama. She only appeared in one other film “Johnny Got His Gun” in 1971. Pelligrini married a prizefighter and had two children. Throughout her life, Pelligrini proudly appeared at Oz fan events, dressed in a Munchkin outfit with a flower pot on her head. She was one of 124 actors who played munchkins. With her death, only two survive. Elizabeth Blair, NPR News.

A project engineer from a suburb of Minneapolis has come forward to claim 1/3 of a 448-million-dollar Powerball jackpot. The other two winning tickets were sold in New Jersey.