Morning Edition

A second term means some new Cabinet appointments for President Obama, including at the Treasury. After four pretty grueling years, Secretary Timothy Geithner has made it clear he will be leaving Washington.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said last week that Geithner would be staying on through the inauguration. He's also expected to be a "key participant" in "fiscal cliff" negotiations.

In 1979, when Jim Stigler was still a graduate student at the University of Michigan, he went to Japan to research teaching methods and found himself sitting in the back row of a crowded fourth-grade math class.

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Here in Washington, House Speaker John Boehner addressed a major economic issue this morning. In a press conference, the Republican talked about the so-called fiscal cliff. That's the combination of higher tax rates and spending cuts due to take effect at the end of this year.

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Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. In his acceptance speech, the president said he would reach out to his Republican rival. And for sure, the future holds brotherly love for Barack and Mitt - in Kenya. That country has long embraced Barack Obama as one of its own, but this week a young mother seems to have caught the spirit of reconciliation. On Wednesday, Millicent Owuor gave birth to twin boys, and she named them Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. You're listening to MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

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

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You'll forgive those of us who love New York City for thinking of it sometimes as the center of civilization. It's, among other things, a triumph of architecture and engineering, where some of the buildings are so close and interconnected, you can walk for blocks without going outside.

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The governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, also held a press conference yesterday, and gave a warning that Sandy could end up costing his state $33 billion in economic damage, which could worsen the state's already-perilous fiscal situation.

NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.

JIM ZARROLI, BYLINE: Cuomo said the initial estimates are that the storm will cost the region $50 billion in lost economic activity and infrastructure damage. And he said two-thirds of that will be borne by New York.

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It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

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Hundreds of thousands of customers in the Northeast still don't have power after being pounded by Sandy. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is calling for an investigation, claiming some of the utilities were not prepared. A snow storm this week has made the situation worse. NPR's Jeff Brady reports from Brick Township on the New Jersey shore.