RENEE MONTAGNE, Host: NPR's business news begins with the reversal of offshore drilling.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, Host: White House officials say the plan will create jobs and reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil. They hope the plan will also pay off politically, attracting Republican support for the president's bill on climate change.
President Barack Obama is reversing a long-standing ban on most offshore drilling. He's allowing oil drilling 50 miles off Virginia's shorelines. At the same time, he is rejecting some new drilling sites that had been planned in Alaska.