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Good morning.

Our early headlines:

-- Toddler's Death Brings Toll From Latest Tornadoes To 39.

-- Limbaugh Loses Seventh Advertiser Over Comments About Law Student.

For those who just felt the earth shake in Northern California, the U.S. Geological Survey says there was a 4.0 magnitude temblor in the "San Francisco bay area" at 5:33 a.m. local time (8:33 a.m. ET).

There's no word yet on whether there was much, if any, damage.

The USGS says the quake was centered about 1 mile from El Cerrito, Calif.

It's no surprise that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin won Sunday's election to return to the more powerful post he previously held — president. His victory was widely expected. Putin appears to have gotten about two-thirds of the votes.

Also not surprising: Sunday's results are being followed with reports today that, as The Associated Press says, "the opposition and independent observers insisted the vote had been marred by widespread violations."

ProFlowers on Sunday became the seventh advertiser to pull adds from conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh's nationally syndicated program in the wake of his charge last week that a Georgetown University law student is a "slut" and a "prostitute" because she believes insurers should cover the cost of women's contraception services.

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Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. Joshua Thompson is a big moviegoer, but high prices at the concession stand left a bad taste in his mouth. So after paying $8 for a Coke and a box of Goobers, Thompson filed a class action lawsuit. It accuses Michigan's AMC Theaters of charging grossly excessive prices for snacks. Consumer lawyers told the Detroit Free Press the lawsuit will likely be a flop, but moviegoers are applauding. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.

There's more sad news from the stretch of five states across the Midwest and South that were slammed by tornadoes on Friday.

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Now, we do not know what songs make Hiroshi Hoketsu move, but the Japanese equestrian does move gracefully on a horse. Just shy of his 71st birthday, he has won a spot at the London Olympics for dressage, where you lead a horse through a series of very precise movements. Japanese officials are still deciding whether they'll let him compete.

Don't let the theme fool you. These three books are anything but failures. They are, in fact, full of sharply rendered and utterly original characters who fail spectacularly in their attempts to do right (or what they think is right). They are men on a mission, variously heroic, harebrained, heartfelt, even cruel, but their good intentions are undeniable, if not always admirable.

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And today's last word in business is a blast from the past: Datsun, a name that you may remember if you're of a certain age. The cut-priced Japanese cars first appeared in the United States in 1958, when Elvis topped the charts. Datsun was produced by Nissan, which decided to phase out the brand in the 1980s. Now a Japanese newspaper says Nissan may bring it back.

Sadly, American Datsun enthusiasts may have to travel far to find one. Nissan's plans to sell low-priced cars only in emerging markets like India and Russia.

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

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And I'm Renee Montagne.

The Republican presidential hopefuls for were in full tasting mode over the weekend, from barbecue to breakfast, as they took their campaigns to voters ahead of Super Tuesday. Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, and Newt Gingrich went on Sunday morning talk shows. Mitt Romney campaigned in the key states of Georgia and Tennessee.

NPR's Tamara Keith was along for the ride.

TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Pancakes.

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And Vladimir Putin claimed his expected win last night in Russia's presidential election. He gave a fiery victory speech, displaying plenty of anger at the protesters who, in recent months, have challenged his authority. Exit polls showed Vladimir Putin winning 60 percent of the vote, but independent observers say the election was riddled with violations.

NPR's Corey Flintoff reports from Moscow.

COREY FLINTOFF, BYLINE: With the Kremlin - Russia's citadel of power - at his back, Putin told a cheering crowd that they had won.

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NPR's business news starts with more bad news for News Corp.

An FBI investigation of Rupert Murdoch's media company is now looking to Russia. A billboard company, News Outdoor Russia, owned until last year by News Corp, is being scrutinized over possibly bribing public officials. The FBI began looking into News Corps' operations after its British newspapers were embroiled in a bribery and phone hacking scandal.

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Now just as the U.S. economy seems to be picking up, China's is not. The Chinese government has downgraded its economic growth target to the slowest rate in eight years. China's premier says the country needs to boost consumer demand, and address what he calls unsustainable development.

NPR's Louisa Lim reports from Beijing.

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Lawyers for BP, and thousands of people affected by the Deepwater Horizon accident and oil spill, had been expected, for a long time, to be in a New Orleans courtroom this morning for a civil trial. Instead, they're reviewing a deal to settle the case.

BP estimates it would pay nearly $8 billion in the settlement. In exchange, the company would avoid revisiting, in a courtroom, what led up to the drilling rig explosion that killed 11 men and poured massive amounts of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

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Yemen has changed its president, but has not come to the end of its trouble. Yesterday, militants overran a military base in south Yemen. Dozens of people were killed, and al-Qaida has claimed responsibility.

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The small town of Piner, Kentucky was one of many badly hit by the devastating tornadoes that ripped through the Midwest and the South. At least four people in Piner were killed by the storms, but many residents of the town are trying to return to normal life today, and that includes going back to school. Teri Cox-Cruey is the superintendent of schools for Kenton County, which includes Piner. She joins us on the line now. Good morning.

TERI COX-CRUEY: Good morning.

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The death toll from the tornados that slammed Midwestern and Southern states on Friday has now risen to 39. The latest victim is Angel Babcock, 15 months old. She died on Sunday in a hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. The toddler was found in the shattered remains of her family's home. Her parents and two siblings were also killed.

This campaign season, inconsistency seems to be, well, almost everywhere. Each flip-flopping politician revels in pointing out the flip-flopping ways of his opponents.

Why are politicians and those of us who vote for them so obsessed with inconsistency? We take that question on from three angles: how our brains are wired; the psychology of judging what's consistent; and how consistency plays out in leadership styles.

Jon Hamilton: Why Our Brains Hate A Flip-Flopper

By now, most states around the country have redrawn their political boundaries based on the 2010 census — and then there's New York.

For voters in the Forest Hills section of Queens, it has been rough. A year ago, they were represented by Democrat Anthony Weiner, who tweeted his way to infamy. Now, they're represented by Republican Bob Turner, who won a special election after Weiner resigned.

Right now, nobody even knows what district they're in.

Spanish politicians spent $220 million on the sparkling new Castellon airport on Spain's Mediterranean coast — $40 million alone was spent on TV ads and other marketing. They also paid $600,000 for ferrets and falcons to kill birds that endanger aircraft.

Yet no plane has yet taken off. Construction, which began in 2004, went over budget, partly to fund a 75-foot statue of a local politician out front.