Weekend Edition Saturday

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Time for sports.

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SIMON: Baseball comes to Motown for game three of the World Series. But, will Detroit's heavy hitters show up? The International Cycling Union says none of the above, or below, won the Tour de France in the years that Lance Armstrong copped the title and it plans for some organizational soul-searching. NPR's Tom Goldman joins us.

Morning, Tom.

TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: Hi, Scott.

Eid al-Adha is one of the holiest days on the Muslim calendar. The day marks the end of the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. It's the feast of the sacrifice, when any Muslim who is able should sacrifice an animal and donate the meat to the poor.

There is little to celebrate in Syria's largest city, Aleppo, however. A cease-fire called for the holiday is already crumbling, and in some areas it never took hold.

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Want to know how tight the presidential race is? President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney spent the week barnstorming across a handful of battleground states - mostly the same states, including Iowa, Ohio, Nevada and Colorado - to fire up supporters and make a pitch to win wavering voters. We're joined now by NPR's Scott Horsley, who's been covering President Obama's reelection campaign. He's in our studio. Thanks for being with us, Scott.

An Italian court on Friday sentenced former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to four years in jail for tax fraud in connection with the purchase of broadcasting rights by his Mediaset television company. Weekend Edition host Scott Simon talks with NPR's Sylvia Poggioli.

The National Weather Service has upgraded Sandy from a tropical storm to a hurricane and warns that "widespread impacts" are expected into next week for the U.S. East Coast. The storm was expected to increase in speed and move away from the Bahamas and parallel to the southeast coast of the United States later this weekend.

Weekend Edition host Scott Simon speaks with Ben LaBolt, the national press secretary for President Obama's 2012 campaign about their battle in swing states and the next 10 days. On Sunday, NPR's Rachel Martin speaks to the Romney campaign.

What business would you tell a young person to go into these days? Plastics? Oooh, that can mean lots of regulations. Wind turbines? Solar panels? Who knows how long those may take to pay off? App development? How many Angry Birds does the world need?

Then what about superPACS? They're political-action committees that can spend unlimited amounts of money to laud, mock or bash any political candidate.

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

If you take a trip to see autumn foliage in Western Massachusetts this weekend, beware: local moose do not offer photo ops. Pete Brown, who's a logger, learned this last month when he saw a moose while he worked in the woods. He tried to get a picture. Instead, Mr. Brown, who has two hip replacements, got the run of his life. Pete Brown joins us from his home in Belchertown, Massachusetts. Thanks for being with us.

PETE BROWN: Oh, it's my pleasure, Scott.

SIMON: So, you saw a moose, and then what?