The Texas judge who sparked national outrage earlier this month when he was seen on video beating his then-16-year-old daughter has been suspended with pay while authorities continue their investigation, the Texas Supreme Court has announced.

That was the headline in the Des Moines Register after Whitley Allen Teslow reportedly broke into a McDonald's. Police say he climbed through a window and grilled hamburgers and fired up the deep fryer. His actions were captured on security cameras.

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Linda Wertheimer, with news for Kevin Bacon. According to a new study on Facebook, six degrees of separation is too much. On the social network, people are connected by an average of 4.7 degrees. Rough translation: The Facebook data team concludes that users from the Siberian Tundra and the Peruvian rainforest are likely connected by a friend of a friend of a BFF. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.

He's said he'd do something like this before and then not followed through. So keep that in mind when you hear that:

"Ali Abdullah Saleh, the president of Yemen, has arrived in Saudi Arabia to sign a Gulf power-transfer initiative brokered by the six-member Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), the country's state television has reported." (Al-Jazeera)

Yemen's Foreign Press office has released this statement:

It's Day 5 of the renewed protests in Cairo and elsewhere in Egypt.

New Hampshire voters have seen plenty of the Republican presidential candidates. But on Tuesday, they got a visit from President Obama, who was promoting part of his jobs plan. The payroll tax cut is due to expire at the end of next month.

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

The pharmaceutical company Merck has agreed to pay nearly a billion dollars to settle charges that it illegally marketed its painkiller, Vioxx. The drug was taken off the market in 2004 after questions were raised about its safety. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

NPR's Tom Gjelten watched the debate last night to assess the accuracy of the candidates statements, and he's here now to share that fact checking. Good morning, Tom.

TOM GJELTEN, BYLINE: Good morning, Linda.

WERTHEIMER: So, did anything you heard last night jump out as especially in need of having its facts checked?

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And I'm Steve Inskeep, good morning.

The new man at the top of some Republican presidential polls is Newt Gingrich. He's the latest of many candidates to emerge as an alternative to Mitt Romney in the race for the nomination. And Gingrich took some bold positions in last night's presidential debate.

CNN and two conservative think-tanks sponsored a talk in Washington on foreign policy, and NPR's Ari Shapiro was there.

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

Our last word in business is: Don't jack up the Jack. The makers of Jack Daniels are raising their glasses after a tax proposal was voted down this week in Lynchburg, Tennessee.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The proposal called for a referendum on a plan to tax Jack Daniels whiskey by the barrel to bring it up to $5 million annually. The drive by some residents was killed after a 10 to five vote by the Moore County Council. The company that owns the distillery currently pays one-and-a-half million dollars in local property taxes.