Mark Memmott

From a conversation later today on All Things Considered with her husband Mark Kelly, to last night's interview with the couple on ABC-TV to an audio message for her constituents, there are several things to pass along this morning about Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and the recovery she's making from being shot in the head last January.

An Associated Press story that says a "28-year-old German is the designer of an award-winning new textile made entirely from milk that's environmentally friendly as well as soothing to people with skin allergies," caught our eye this morning — especially when we saw that the noo ... er, new ... product is called Qmilch.

That's "q" for quality and milch for milk (in German). Sounds like a winning word for Scrabble fans.

For all of us who want to know when the economy's going to get moving again and when we'll start to see some consistently healthy job growth, the conversation that opened Morning Edition today was enlightening — though not particularly encouraging.

Two new economic indicators:

-- Sales in the retail and food sectors rose 0.5 percent in October from September, the Census Bureau says. They were up 7.2 percent from October 2010.

Bloomberg News says the increase in retail sales was "more than projected as Americans snapped up new Apple Inc. iPhones and demand for automobiles improved."

Good morning.

Our early headines today:

-- New York Police Clear Occupy Wall Street Protesters From Park.

-- Penn State Scandal: More Suspected Victims; Sandusky Says He's Innocent.

Other top stories of the day include: