Morning Edition

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

OK. And we all noticed rising costs at the gas pump. But those costs will also mean rising prices for airline tickets.

As NPR's Annie Baxter reports, that's already happening.

ANNIE BAXTER, BYLINE: If you've been looking for a great deal on airline tickets recently, you've probably been disappointed.

BOB MANN: Carriers have raised prices successfully twice, so far this year and that's out of four attempts. And I would expect another attempt literally within in a week.

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

NPR's business news starts with more positive signs for the economy.

The U.S. economy is improving faster than previously predicted. This, according to two dozen economists surveyed by the Associated Press. The economists foresee stronger growth and more hiring than they did two months ago, and predict an unemployment rate at around eight percent by Election Day.

Republican presidential candidates have a chance to win hundreds of convention delegates after voters cast their ballots in Super Tuesday contests. The delegate count wouldn't be enough for any candidate to clinch the nomination, but it would help. Mitt Romney is hoping to return to front-runner status but Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul are trying to prevent that.

Morning Edition has four reports on Monday's campaigning leading up to Super Tuesday's 10 primaries and caucuses.

NPR's Don Gonyea was traveling with former Senator Rick Santorum in Ohio.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

It would be difficult for some people to let a stranger drive off with one of their most valuable possessions. But not for Stanford graduate student Katie Hagey.

Hagey is one of a growing number of individual car owners who have started renting their wheels to people they don't know through car-sharing startup companies resembling the better-known Zipcar.