From NPR News in Washington, I'm Jeanine Herbst.

GOP Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota has endorsed presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney. NPR's Craig Windham reports Bachmann says her one-time rival for the GOP nomination, promises on new vision of prosperity and liberty.

Bachmann says Romney would sweep away failed economic policies and government controls and boost job creation.

That's our future in American, that's something to get excited about. It's why we must elect Mitt Romney.

Bachmann is a Tea Party favorite who has waited for month to endorse Romney following her exit from the GOP race after a poll showing in the Iowa caucuses. Just prior to those caucuses, Bachmann told ABC that Mitt Romney can not beat President Obama because the former Massachusetts' governor, in her words, wrote the blueprint for the health care law, the president pressed congress to enact. Craig Windham, NPR News, Washington.

Meanwhile, Romney is slamming the Obama Administration for allowing one of the best known Chinese activists to leave the US embassy in China. Chen Guangcheng escaped house arrest in a rural part of that country, spending six days in the US embassy. He left after US officials got Chinese officials to assure him he would be left alone. Romney, though, says the US failed him.

According to these reports, if they are accurate that our embassy failed to put in place the kind of verifiable measures that would ensure the safety of Mr. Chen and his family. If these reports are true, this is a dark day for freedom.

But State Department officials say Chen never asked for asylum during his stay at the US embassy. He is now asking for that asylum for both himself and his family in the United States.

The Labor Department says last week's jobless claims fell more than the market expected, as NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports it comes just ahead of Friday's monthly unemployment report. 

The weekly claims for unemployment benefits had been creeping up in recent weeks adding factor to speculation that job market was hitting another slump. But last week, the number of seasonly adjusted claims fell by 27,000 to 365,000. Meanwhile, outplacement firm Challenger,  Gray & Christmas, says this morning employers announced more job cuts in April than the previous month, or previous year, led by cutbacks in teaching jobs and government work. Economists expected the Labor Department's Friday reports will show another month of weak private sector job growth and that the jobless rate will remain unchanged at 8.2%. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, Washington.

Mortgage rates are at record lows once again. Mortgage giant, Freddie Mac says the rate on a 30-year-fixed-rate loan is down to 3.84%. It's the lowest since long term mortgages were created in the 1950s. The 15-year rate is also lower down to an average of 3.07%, also a record.

On Wall Street, just before the close, preliminary numbers have the Dow down 62 points 13,207; NASDAQ down 36; The S&P 500 down 11.

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The family of a Florida A&M marching band member who died in a hazing incident, wants the school to cancel the famed band. Robert Champion's mother says the only way to stop hazing in the musical group. That comment comes a day after 13 people were charged in her son's death. Eleven were charged with felony hazing, the others face misdemeanor counts.

Illinois Senator Mark Kirk  is heading home three months after the Republican lawmaker suffered a stroke.  NPR's David Schaper reports that Kirk's been released from a rehabilitation hospital in Chicago, but there is still no word on when he might be able to return to work in Washington DC.

The 52-year-old Kirk has been hospitalized since January. He underwent emergency surgery the days after suffering a stroke which included the temporary removal of his part of his skull to  allow for swelling. As his conditions improved, Kirk moved to the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago in February. And his family and staff say the first-term senator's been making steady progress ever since. While hospitalized, he has been meeting frequently with his staff and his Illinois congressional colleague, including Democratic senator Dick Durbin. A statement from his office says, Kirk is down moving home with his family. Mark Kirk is a moderate Republican served in the House for 10 years before winning what had been President Obama's US Senate seeded in 2010. David Schaper, NPR News, Chicago.

A new dinosaur hall is coming to Washington DC. Hamilton Koch's donating a record 35 million dollars to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History to build a new dinosaur hall on the national mall. That's the single biggest gift in the museum's 102-year history. And it will be named in Koch's honor. Koch is a billionaire from New York City, he was the Libertarian Party's BP candidate in 1980, spent a major donor to conservative political causes.

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