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Pets:
Summit teams up with Rescue Waggin' to save dogs
The Heldenfiles:
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Patrick McManamon:
Touching on the Browns, Cavs
Akron Zips:
Opponent outlook: Northern Illinois
Browns Bulletin:
Single-game ticket sales begin July 11
Tribe Matters:
Wedge assured of job through season
Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth test showed marijuana
Kent State Sports:
Men's Basketball Scheduling update
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Updated: Free Agency: Another Gone - Apparently
All Da King's Men:
The Obligatory Palin Post
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Wow….Sarah Palin Resigns Governorship
Akron Law Café:
Abraham Lincoln and the Fourth of July
Varsity Letters:
Highland senior receives honor
See Jane Style:
Picnic Wear
Car Chase:
Where do We Go from Here?
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Happy 4th of July!
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Tom asks where to stay while visiting the football Hall of Fame.
Sound Check:
Rundgren fans rejoice!: Second night of AWATS at The Civic added
HRLite House:
Morscruethal Behaviors or Just Lip Service?
Akron Gamer:
Hot link: Best of Nintendo at E3
National News
Former D.C. Mayor Barry charged with stalking
WASHINGTON: Police say former Washington Mayor Marion Barry has been arrested and charged with stalking a woman. The U.S. Park Police said Barry, a D.C. Council member, was arrested Saturday in Washington after a woman flagged down an officer and complained that Barry was stalking her.
4 dead in fireworks explosions
OCRACOKE, N.C.: A third worker who had been preparing for an Independence Day celebration has died from injuries suffered when a truckload of fireworks exploded on a dock on a North Carolina island.
Disney monorail crash kills train operator
ORLANDO, Fla.: Two monorail trains crashed early this morning in the Magic Kingdom section of Walt Disney World, killing one train's operator, emergency officials said.
National news - July 5
Palin's sudden decision to quit stuns Republicans
Alaska governor's move may position her for 2012 presidential run, but path not clear
WASHINGTON: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's abrupt and unscripted holiday resignation is an odd way to launch a potential presidential bid and no help for a party battered by scandal and fighting for relevancy.
Two Americans killed at base in Afghanistan
President orders more U.S. troops into nation as Taliban violence is on the rise
KABUL: Taliban militants fired rockets and mortars at a U.S. base in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing two Americans in a fierce battle as thousands of Marines in the south continued their anti-Taliban push.
Statue of Liberty crown finally open after eight years
Visitors say chance to see the view from the top again a gift on America's birthday
NEW YORK: The first visitors allowed into the Statue of Liberty's crown in nearly eight years made the arduous climb Saturday on an Independence Day journey laden with symbolism of freedom, national pride — and for one couple, romance.
Fifth shooting victim in 2 weeks dies in S.C.
Police say they are 'knee-deep' in the search for suspected serial killer
Associated Press
GAFFNEY, S.C.: A teenage girl shot while helping her father in their family's small furniture and appliance store died Saturday, becoming the fifth victim of a suspected serial killer terrorizing a small South Carolina community, authorities said.
California regulators warn of marijuana, cancer link
Dispensaries, labels might have to advise patients of risks. Drug advocates disagree with scientists
SAN FRANCISCO: It might take Californians a puff or two to get their heads around an apparent contradiction recently enshrined in state law.
National treasures stolen or missing for years
Federal archives staff takes inventory, works to recover documents
WASHINGTON: National Archives visitors know they'll find the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights in the main building's magnificent rotunda in Washington. But they won't find the patent file for the Wright Brothers' Flying Machine or the maps for the first atomic bomb missions anywhere in the Archives inventory.
Obama leaves for foreign ports today
President's travels will include Russia, Rome, Africa to mend bridges after Bush era
WASHINGTON: Determined to change the way the world views the United States, Barack Obama is onto his next foreign mission: rebuilding relations with Russia, proving to global leaders that America is serious about climate change and outlining his vision for Africa, his father's birthplace.
Michelle Obama may have tough time in strict Russia
MOSCOW: Michelle Obama brings her superstar glamour to Moscow this weekend as she accompanies her husband on his summit with the Russian president.
Memorial tickets sought by 1.2 million
Notifications go out today to Jackson fans seeking seat at service
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES: More than 1.2 million people have now registered to get tickets for Michael Jackson's memorial service next week.
GI Bill changes to boost college enrollment
Cleveland State's all-veteran classes for freshmen serve as model for meeting needs of ex-soldiers
FORT CAMPBELL, KY.: With a fattened GI Bill covering full tuition and more, the number of veterans attending college this fall is expected to jump 30 percent from last year to nearly half a million. That's left many universities looking for ways to ease the transition from combat to the classroom.
Palin focuses on 'higher calling'
Alaska's governor offers only vague details about her plans, blasts media response to resignation
JUNEAU, ALASKA: Outgoing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on Saturday laid the groundwork to take on a larger, national role after leaving state government, citing a ''higher calling'' with the aim of uniting the country along conservative lines.
Bush to spend holiday at Okla. rodeo
WOODWARD, Okla.: Former President George W. Bush, who has turned up in a handful of out-of-the-way places since leaving office, will speak tonight at a remodeled rodeo arena in northwestern Oklahoma.
Soldier who fought in pink boxers home for the Fourth
FORT WORTH, Texas: The soldier who was photographed fighting the Taliban in his boxer shorts says he's glad to be back home in Texas — especially on the Fourth of July.
Fifth victim dies in S.C. killing spree
GAFFNEY, S.C.: Authorities say a teenage girl shot in her father's store is the fifth person slain by a suspected serial killer.
Palin won't reveal what's next
She'll quit July 26 as Alaska governor, some say for presidential bid
From Beacon Journal wire services
WASILLA, ALASKA: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican Party vice presidential nominee, abruptly announced Friday she is resigning at the end of the month.
Serial killer blamed in four S.C. deaths
Weeklong shooting spree puts residents on edge; police try to determine if victims are connected, knew gunman
Associated Press
GAFFNEY, S.C.: Terrified residents canceled Fourth of July plans and holed up in their homes Friday as investigators hunted a serial killer believed to have shot four people to death.
National news - July 4
Potent drug found in Jackson's home
Investigators discover Diprivan, source says. Mass memorial Tuesday
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES: The powerful sedative Diprivan was found in Michael Jackson's home, a law enforcement official said Friday as the city planned for a massive crowd at the singer's memorial service.
South Carolina governor leaves mansion, plans Fla. trip with family
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has left his official residence in the state capital and appears to be heading to spend the weekend with his wife and children.
Authorities to probe possible drug abuse
Allegations surface saying Jackson consumed sedatives, painkillers, antidepressants
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES: Authorities are investigating allegations that Michael Jackson had been consuming painkillers, sedatives and antidepressants.
National news - July 3
Another side to El Nino found
Scientists say one form might increase, rather than cut, storm activity
WASHINGTON: El Nino may have a split personality. The warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean has long been known to affect weather around the world, but researchers now say it may come in two forms with different effects.
Bill would fine those refusing health policy
Government-run medical insurance plan also in Democrats' proposal
WASHINGTON: Americans who refuse to buy affordable medical coverage could be hit with fines of more than $1,000 under a health-care overhaul bill unveiled Thursday by key Senate Democrats looking to fulfill President Barack Obama's top domestic priority.
Obama to urge Russian to change
President highlights plans, says Putin needs reminder war is over
WASHINGTON: Days from his first Moscow summit, President Barack Obama declared Thursday that former Russian President Vladimir Putin ''still has a lot of sway'' in his nation and needs an in-person reminder that the Cold War is over.
Obama interview: Too many jobs lost
WASHINGTON: With joblessness rising, President Barack Obama said Thursday he was "deeply concerned" about unemployment and conceded that too many families are worried about "whether they will be next" to suffer economically.
Cribs recalled for suffocation risk
WASHINGTON: About 400,000 Simplicity drop side cribs were recalled today for posing a suffocation hazard. The Chinese-made crib's hardware can break or deform, allowing the drop side to detach. This creates a gap between the mattress and the side of the crib, where a small child could be trapped and suffocate, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Police: Conn. teens mishear sex screams, beat man
TORRINGTON, Connecticut: A group of teenagers misunderstood a woman's screams during sex and, thinking they were stopping an assault, beat a 25-year-old man in her bedroom, police said.
GM urges quick approval of sale plan
NEW YORK: An attorney for a trio of bondholders opposed to General Motors' sale plan today urged a judge to call the government's bluff and require the automaker to restructure itself through a more traditional Chapter 11 process instead of through the quick sale of its assets.
Italy unveils antiquities returned by Cleveland Museum of Art
ROME: Officials today unveiled 14 artifacts spanning from antiquity to the Middle Ages that were looted or stolen from Italy and recently returned by The Cleveland Museum of Art.
National news - July 2
Baby boomers inflate ranks of U.S. obese
Mississippi is heaviest state. Ohio ranks 10th
WASHINGTON: Mississippi's still king of cellulite, but an ominous tide is rolling toward the Medicare doctors in neighboring Alabama: obese baby boomers.
Jackson's funeral and burial won't happen at Neverland
Will names Diana Ross as successor guardian if pop star's mother can't care for kids
LOS ANGELES: A plan to bury Michael Jackson at his sprawling Neverland ranch fizzled Wednesday, leaving details about his funeral undecided as another mystery was solved: His newly unveiled will says his mother should raise his children, or failing her, Diana Ross.
Franken may leave laughs behind
Funnyman expected to be serious, low key when he gets to D.C.
ST. PAUL, MINN.: Now that Al Franken is headed for the Senate, which Franken will show up in Washington? Will it be the passionate, sometimes angry liberal who hurled playground insults at Rush Limbaugh as an author and radio host? Or will it be the cautious, serious Franken who buttoned himself down the minute he hit the campaign trail?
Governor gets on residents' nerves
Some in S.C. hope he'll quit or at least be quiet
COLUMBIA, S.C.: South Carolina residents — and the simply curious around the world — have watched Gov. Mark Sanford's lovelorn saga unfold, the central character spewing an odd script that would seem more appropriate for a soap opera than state government.
Honduran government increasingly isolated after coup
Both sides of dispute mobilize thousands of supporters for demonstrations
Associated Press
TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS: Thousands of Hondurans demonstrated Wednesday for the return of ousted President Manuel Zelaya, who vowed to fly home this weekend despite a warrant for his arrest. Thousands more rallied in favor of the military-backed government.
Democrats lower cost of health proposal
Fee put on employers not offering coverage, public option proposed
WASHINGTON: Democrats on a key Senate Committee outlined a revised and far-less costly health-care plan Wednesday night that includes a government-run insurance option and an annual fee on employers who do not offer coverage to their workers.
HAILING LADY LIBERTY
Associated Press
NEW YORK: It's crowded. It's hot. You have to climb hundreds of steps to get there. And throngs of people can't wait to visit.
Oscar-winning actor Karl Malden, 97, dies
Famous roles include 'Streetcar,' 'Waterfront'
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES: Karl Malden, the Academy Award-winning actor whose intelligent characterizations on stage, screen and television made him a star despite his plain looks, died Wednesday, his family said. He was 97.
FDA panel urges ban on Percocet, Vicodin
Prescription painkillers contain acetaminophen, which can damage liver if patients take too much
A federal advisory panel voted narrowly on Tuesday to recommend a ban on Percocet and Vicodin, two of the most popular prescription painkillers in the world, because of their effects on the liver.
Al Franken wins eight-month fight for seat in Senate
Republican Norm Coleman concedes to comedian rival in close Minnesota election
ST. PAUL, MINN.: Al Franken ascended Tuesday from the hallowed ranks of former Saturday Night Live comedians to an even more exclusive club, outlasting Republican Norm Coleman in an eight-month recount and courtroom saga to win a seat in the U.S. Senate.
National news - July 1
Federal EPA approves Calif. pollution rules
State law requires new cars to increase fuel economy, causing lower emissions
WASHINGTON: The Environmental Protection Agency took a major step toward tougher reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks Tuesday by giving California the green light to impose new requirements that could become the national model for combatting tailpipe pollution linked to global warming.
Jackson's will reportedly gives kids to his mother
Document created in July 2002 leaves all of pop superstar's assets in trust fund
Michael Jackson's will gives custody of his children to the singer's mother and leaves all of his assets in a trust fund, a person with knowledge of the document told the Associated Press on Tuesday.
Gunfire hits seven teens at bus stop in Detroit
Associated Press
DETROIT: Gunmen in a green minivan opened fire on a group of teenagers waiting at a bus stop near a Detroit school on Tuesday, wounding seven, including two who were in critical condition, authorities said.
Gates wants to soften rules on gays
Lawyers studying ways to selectively enforce 'don't ask, don't tell'
Associated Press
WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday he wants to make the law prohibiting gays from serving openly in the armed forces ''more humane'' until Congress eventually repeals it. He said he has lawyers studying ways the law might be selectively enforced.
S. Carolina governor calls lover soul mate
Emotional Sanford says he is trying to fall back in love with his wife
COLUMBIA, S.C.: South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, already struggling to salvage his family and his political career after admission of a scandalous affair, added explosive details Tuesday, including more visits with the mistress he calls his ''soul mate'' and other women in his past.
Bridgestone recalls another 127,000 tires
Bridgestone Corp., the world's largest tire maker by sales, disclosed Tuesday it is recalling 127,183 Firestone-brand tires sold in the U.S. because a faulty tread could separate and cause an accident.
Justices reverse Sotomayor ruling
Supreme Court decides that city of New Haven, Conn., discriminated against white firefighters
WASHINGTON: A sharply divided Supreme Court ruled Monday that the city of New Haven, Conn., discriminated against white firefighters, reversing a key decision by high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.
Experiment seeks vaccine to head off Type 1 diabetes
Researchers hope to end need for daily insulin
The doctor had barely pulled away the needle when a blister appeared on Tracey Berg-Fulton's abdomen: An experimental shot was revving up the 24-year-old's immune system — part of a bold quest to create a vaccine-like therapy for diabetes.
National news - June 30
Jackson's mother asks to administer estate
Calif. judge appoint her the temporary guardian of pop star's three children
LOS ANGELES: Michael Jackson's mother asked a Superior Court judge on Monday to name her administrator of her late son's estate so she can ensure the King of Pop's three children are its beneficiaries.
Federal judge sentences Madoff to life in prison
Maximum 150-year term given to infamous swindler for fraud's 'staggering toll'
NEW YORK: A federal judge rejected Bernard Madoff's plea for leniency Monday, sentencing the 71-year-old swindler to spend the rest of his life in prison for an ''extraordinarily evil'' fraud that took a ''staggering toll'' on thousands of victims.
Justice Souter bids farewell to Supreme Court friends
New England Republican who shunned limelight retires after nearly 20 years
WASHINGTON: It took Justice David Souter's final day at the Supreme Court to bring him into the limelight after nearly two decades in Washington.
White House announces new standards for lighting
Obama says efficiency rules would save consumers up to $4 billion annually
WASHINGTON: Aiming to keep the focus on climate change legislation, President Barack Obama put in a plug Monday for administration efforts to make lamps and other lighting equipment use less energy.
Generation gap is widest since 1960s
Study finds age difference in values
American adults from young to old disagree increasingly today on social values ranging from religion to relationships, creating the largest generation gap since divisions 40 years ago over Vietnam, civil rights and women's liberation.
BET Awards a celebration
Late singer's father, sister attend program; singers honor legacy
The BET Awards became the official Michael Jackson TV celebration on Sunday, with joyous tributes to the King of Pop from a New Edition medley of Jackson 5 songs to host Jamie Foxx's tender monologue delivered in that classic red leather zipper jacket and white glove.
National news - June 29
What's love got to do with it?
South Carolina's Gov. Sanford displays passion, but it might not change things for voters, his wife
If you're a governor who's in the doghouse for marital infidelity, is it better to have loved and lost or never to have loved at all?
Madoff victims struggle daily
Those who lost money just barely making do
NEW YORK: Bernard Madoff will get one last creature comfort before he is sentenced today, probably to serve the rest of his days in prison. The judge has given him permission to don his own clothes for the hearing, rather than a jail uniform.
Students may get help
Loan repayment plan offers relief, but not final solution for big borrowers
Repaying a student loan could soon be a little less painful. Starting this week, anyone with a federal student loan can apply for a program, run by the Department of Education, that caps monthly payments based on income, and forgives remaining balances after 25 years.
Arizona bill may let guns in bars
Associated Press
PHOENIX: There was a time in the Wild West that cowboys had to check their guns before they could pull up a bar stool for a drink — rules that protected against the saloon gunfights that came to define the frontier era in places like Arizona.
Gay pride parade still draws crowd in N.Y.
Annual event marks Stonewall riot in 1969
Associated Press
NEW YORK: Decades after a riot at a Greenwich Village bar sparked a movement for equal rights, gay New Yorkers celebrated their gains at Sunday's gay pride parade and lamented the state has not legalized same-sex marriage.
S.C. governor says he won't resign
SULLIVANS ISLAND, S.C.: South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford says he considered resigning as his extramarital affair became public, but he now vows to remain in office.
Not all political sex scandals alike
Public judges individuals based on expectations, hypocrisy involved
SAN JOSE, CALIF.: A rogue's gallery of philandering politicians in recent years has illuminated an essential political truth: Not all sex scandals are created equal.
Democrats say medical plan moving ahead
Republicans agree passage probable. President changing some principles, leaving most details up to Congress
WASHINGTON: Despite the strains of sky-high costs and public skepticism, the government is moving steadily toward a vast health-care overhaul that would at least partly fulfill a six-decade quest for universal coverage and could rein in soaring costs for everyone else.
National news - June 28
College graduates find jobs dwindle during recession
Companies hiring less and downsizing. Angst increasing for jobless
WASHINGTON: The tough economy and tight labor market have tarnished the luster of a bachelor's degree for young college graduates seeking employment.
Ky. pastor welcomes guns, their owners
Pentecostal church celebrates 2nd Amendment
Associated Press
LOUISVILLE, KY.: A gun-toting Kentucky pastor says it's OK to pack heat at church — at least for one day.
Politicians reluctant to embrace gay rights
Some advocates say government is lagging behind cultural shifts
WASHINGTON: For 15 minutes in the Oval Office the other day, one of President Barack Obama's top campaign lieutenants, Steve Hildebrand, told the president about the ''hurt, anxiety and anger'' that he and other gay supporters felt over the slow pace of the White House's engagement with gay issues.
U.S., Russia unable to agree on cyberwar attacks approach
Two sides argue over need for treaty. Nations to address subject next week
The United States and Russia are locked in a fundamental dispute over how to counter the growing threat of cyberwar attacks that could wreak havoc on computer systems and the Internet.
High court arrives at end of caseload
Ruling on discrimination lawsuit is due Monday before summer recess, Justice David Souter's exit
WASHINGTON: A closely watched discrimination lawsuit by white firefighters who say they have unfairly been denied promotions is one of three remaining Supreme Court cases awaiting resolution Monday.
Cancer researchers playing it safe
Observers say they are funded for work that doesn't break ground. Death rate almost same as 40 years ago
Among the recent research grants awarded by the National Cancer Institute is one for a study asking whether people who are especially responsive to good-tasting food have the most difficulty staying on a diet. Another study will assess a Web-based program that encourages families to choose more healthful foods.
Jackson family to seek second private autopsy
Many concerned with pop star's painkiller use. An official cause of death could take weeks
LOS ANGELES: Michael Jackson's family wants a private autopsy of the pop icon because of unanswered questions about how he died and the doctor who was with him, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said Saturday.
Spunky Mars rovers still on job
Almost 2,000 days and they're sending back photos despite age, ailments
WASHINGTON: In one of the most remarkable engineering feats of our time, the aging Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity are still taking orders and sending home pictures more than five years after they were supposed to turn into slabs of space junk.
Illinois derailment revives hazardous cargo debate
New federal rules require rerouting of shipments of toxic chemicals, fortification of new tankers
CHICAGO: When derailed freight train cars carrying ethanol burst into flames just 50 miles from her Chicago suburb, killing a motorist who tried to flee, Barrington Mayor Karen Darch saw her worst fears realized.
Climate bill might ignite energy revolution in U.S.
If it passes, expect to see more green jobs, higher utility bills, sale of carbon permits
WASHINGTON: Congress has taken its first step toward an energy revolution, with the prospect of profound change for every household, business, industry and farm in the decades ahead.
Jackson might have pushed heart too hard
Pop star's death follows months of workouts in comeback attempt
LOS ANGELES: The final act of Michael Jackson's life came into clearer focus Friday, a picture of a fallen superstar working out with TV's Incredible Hulk and under the care of his own private cardiologist as he tried to get his 50-year-old body in shape for a grueling bid to reclaim his glory.
Energy bill narrowly survives House vote
Democrats hail measure for tackling climate woes; fate in Senate is uncertain
WASHINGTON: In a triumph for President Barack Obama, the Democratic-controlled House on Friday narrowly passed sweeping legislation that calls for the nation's first limits on pollution linked to global warming and aims to usher in a new era of cleaner, yet more expensive energy.
National news - June 27
Governor's wife says she'll take wait-and-see approach to affair
Jenny Sanford says she found letter from husband to his mistress in January
SULLIVANS ISLAND, S.C.: South Carolina first lady Jenny Sanford sat in her oceanfront living room Friday, recalling how her husband repeatedly asked permission to visit his lover in the months after she discovered his affair.
NASA seeking assistance of private rockets
Commercial companies would help make deliveries to space station in 2011
WASHINGTON: NASA is turning to private space companies to plug a worrisome five-year gap in its ability to boost astronauts into orbit and return them safely to Earth.
Retailers sell out quickly after death of Jackson
Global music retailers say pop icon's CDS are flying off shelves
NEW YORK: Michael Jackson's death has led to skyrocketing sales of his music and videos, with major retailers selling out of products that have regained immense popularity overnight.
Michael Jackson's cardiologist identified
LOS ANGELES: A newspaper reports the doctor whose car was towed from Michael Jackson's house is a cardiologist who practices in California, Nevada and Texas.
Police tow car, seek clues in Jackson death
LOS ANGELES: Police towed the car of a doctor from Michael Jackson's home today and said it could contain drugs or other evidence offering clues in the pop star's death.
Remembered for her smile
From '70s TV star to cancer victim, her personality appeals to millions
LOS ANGELES: A winsome smile, tousled hair and unfettered sensuality were Farrah Fawcett's trademarks as a sex symbol and 1970s TV star in Charlie's Angels.
National news - June 26
Supreme Court rules strip search unjustified
Teenager's rights violated, court says in 8-1 decision; critics call ruling too vague
WASHINGTON: The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that school officials violated an Arizona teenager's rights by strip-searching her for prescription-strength ibuprofen, declaring that U.S. educators cannot force children to remove their clothing unless student safety is at risk.
Pop icon plagued by rumors at end
Michael Jackson's abrupt death, as he prepared London shows, surprises music industry and fans
LOS ANGELES: Michael Jackson, whose quintessentially American tale of celebrity and excess took him from musical boy wonder to global pop superstar to sad figure haunted by lawsuits and failed plastic surgery, died Thursday afternoon at UCLA Medical Center after arriving in a coma, according to a city official.
Hospital says staff not asked for notification on release of coach shooting suspect
PARKERSBURG, IOWA: An Iowa hospital says it treated a 24-year-old man brought in by law enforcement officials and released him shortly before he allegedly gunned down his former football coach.
Metro to inspect track sensors in wake of train crash
WASHINGTON: The Washington-area mass transit system will inspect every stretch of its tracks as federal investigators work to determine whether problems found with a signaling system in one area could have contributed to this week's crash that killed nine people.
Key senator says $1 trillion health bill possible
WASHINGTON: A bipartisan group of senators at work on health care reported progress today in holding the cost of legislation to their $1 trillion target, but Republicans quickly added there was no agreement on even the outlines of a bill.
Man charged with murdering 4 at Kansas home
KANSAS CITY, KAN.: A 37-year-old man has been charged with murder in the shooting deaths of four people, including a 3-year-old girl and the child's mother.
Court says strip search of Arizona teenager illegal
WASHINGTON: The Supreme Court said today school officials acted illegally when they strip-searched an Arizona teenage girl looking for prescription-strength ibuprofen.
Workers turn in $40,000 found at car dealership
ORLANDO, FLA.: Two employees who found $40,000 in cash at a Florida car dealership have made their boss proud: Instead of keeping the money, they turned it in.
Off-duty officer shoots 2 in lot after Angels game
ANAHEIM, CALIF.: An off-duty police officer shot and wounded two men who had assaulted him in the crowded Angel Stadium parking lot after Wednesday night's Colorado Rockies-Los Angeles Angels game, authorities said.
Biden says $19 billion in highway stimulus already set aside
WASHINGTON: Vice President Joe Biden says more than half of the economic stimulus money set aside for highway projects has been allocated.
National news - June 25
Missing governor apologizes for affair
South Carolina's Sanford admits being with woman in Argentina
COLUMBIA, S.C.: After going AWOL for seven days, Gov. Mark Sanford admitted Wednesday that he had secretly flown to Argentina to visit a woman with whom he was having an affair. Wiping away tears, he apologized to his family and gave up a national Republican Party post, but was silent on whether he would resign.
Obama signs measure to fund war operations
Spending bill includes money to pay for 'cash for clunkers,' fight flu
Associated Press
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed into law a measure keeping the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from running out of money.
President keeping open mind about tax
Health-care proposal in Senate would affect some workers' benefits
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama left the door open to a new tax on health-care benefits Wednesday, and officials said top lawmakers and the White House were seeking $150 billion in concessions from the nation's hospitals as they sought support for legislation struggling to emerge in Congress.
South Pole physician optimistic to the end
She treated own cancer before dramatic rescue
BOSTON: Dr. Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald, a Youngstown-area native who diagnosed and treated her own breast cancer before a dramatic rescue from the South Pole, has died at age 57.
South Carolina governor says he's had an affair
COLUMBIA, S.C.: Gov. Mark Sanford admitted today he's been having an affair with a woman he visited on a secret trip to Argentina and said he'll resign as head of the Republican Governors Association.
Church creates stir with gay exorcism video
BRIDGEPORT, CONN.: A Connecticut church has outraged gay rights advocates by posting a video of members performing an apparent exorcism of a teen's ''homosexual demons.''
Boy 'clinically dead' after alleged beating by dad
WORCESTER, MASS.: Authorities in Massachusetts say a 7-year-old boy was severely beaten by his dad on Father's Day and has been declared ''clinically dead.''
HHS secretary presses lawmakers on health care
WASHINGTON: Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today defended President Barack Obama's call for a new public health insurance plan in the face of strong opposition from Republicans and fresh criticism from a powerful business group.
Doctor in dramatic South Pole rescue dies at 57
BOSTON: Dr. Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald, who diagnosed and treated her own breast cancer before a dramatic rescue from the South Pole, has died. She was 57.
Former player arrested in killing of prominent Iowa football coach
PARKERSBURG, IOWA: Police have charged a 24-year-old former player in the fatal shooting of a prominent Iowa high school football coach.
Sears Tower to undergo $350 million green remodel
CHICAGO: The Sears Tower will undergo a $350 million green remodeling effort at the 110-story skyscraper, including wind turbines, green roofs and solar panels.
Officer seen mocking murder victim returning to job
ERIE, PA.: The police chief in Erie, Pa., says a white officer videotaped mocking a black murder victim and his family in a drunken barroom rant will soon return to patrol duty.
Report: South Carolina governor was in Argentina, not hiking trail
COLUMBIA, S.C.: South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford was in Argentina during a dayslong unexplained absence, not hiking the Appalachian Trail as his staff told the public when state leaders raised questions about his whereabouts, the governor told a newspaper.
Undercover police officer, suspect killed
HOUSTON: Police in Houston say one of their undercover officers and a suspect have been killed in a shootout.
Investigators to test automated D.C. train controls
WASHINGTON: Federal investigators are going to test the automated system that is meant prevent train crashes like the one in Washington, D.C., that killed nine people.
HHS secretary to press lawmakers on health care
WASHINGTON: Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told lawmakers today that President Barack Obama is willing to listen to suggestions on how to pay for a health care overhaul, as long as they don't increase the deficit.
Obama toughens rhetoric on Iran's violence
President counters criticism from Republicans who say he should be more forceful
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama on Tuesday declared the United States and the entire world ''appalled and outraged'' by Iran's violent efforts to crush dissent, a clear toughening of his rhetoric as Republican critics at home pound him as being too passive.
Crackdown curbs protests in Iran
Scattered demonstrators shout from rooftops as police break up gatherings
Overwhelmed by police and left with limited alternatives, Iranian demonstrators resorted Tuesday to more subtle ways of challenging the outcome of the presidential election: holding up posters, shouting from rooftops and turning on car headlights.
National news - June 24
Governor to cut short mystery trip
South Carolina official surprised by reaction after four days away
COLUMBIA, S.C.: South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford will cut short a secretive Appalachian Trail hike and return to work Wednesday after revelations he'd been gone for four days with no contact with his staff, wife or state leaders.
U.S., Kyrgyzstan reach deal for use of air base
Americans to keep access; rent to increase sizably
BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN: The former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan tentatively approved a deal on Tuesday that should allow the U.S. to continue shipping military hardware and troops crucial to operations in Afghanistan through an air base in the Central Asian state.
Train's computer system under scrutiny
Investigators unsure why Metro didn't stop even though brake pressed
WASHINGTON: Investigators looking into the deadly crash of two Metro transit trains focused Tuesday on why a computerized system failed to halt an oncoming train, and why the train failed to stop even though the emergency brake was pressed.
9 guards hurt in Arizona prison fight
TUCSON, ARIZ.: State prison officials say nine guards have been hurt breaking up a large fight at the prison complex in Tucson.
S.C. governor to return to work after mystery trip
COLUMBIA, S.C.: South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford will cut short a secretive Appalachian Trail hike and return to work Wednesday after revelations he'd been gone for four days with no contact with his staff, wife or state leaders.
TV show helps boy survive night solo in woods
SALT LAKE CITY: When he realized he'd been separated from his family on a weekend hike in a northern Utah forest, 9-year-old Grayson Wynne's thoughts turned to television.
Obama talks tougher on Iran violence
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama today declared the United States and the entire world ''appalled and outraged'' by Iran's violent efforts to crush dissent, a clear toughening of his rhetoric as Republican critics at home pound him as being too passive.
Michigan man 'stunned' he's not snatched tot from N.Y.
KALKASKA, MICH.: A Michigan man who believed he was a toddler kidnapped in New York in 1955 said he was ''stunned'' to learn DNA testing disproved his suspicion and that he's still seeking his true identity.
NTSB: Crash train was recommended for phaseout
WASHINGTON: The subway train that plowed into another, causing a crash that killed seven and injured scores of others in the nation's capital, was part of an aging fleet that federal officials had sought to phase out due to safety concerns, an investigator said today.
Patients often not informed of bad results
Study finds doctors fail to deliver test findings one out of 14 times
Associated Press
CHICAGO: No news isn't necessarily good news for patients waiting for the results of medical tests. The first study of its kind finds doctors failed to inform patients of abnormal cancer screenings and other test results one out of 14 times.
CDC tries new treatment against fetal alcohol
Prenatal nutrient might offer protection to babies of drinking mothers
WASHINGTON: Drinking during pregnancy can seriously harm a baby's brain, yet thousands of mothers-to-be still do. Now scientists have begun testing whether a prenatal nutrient might offer those babies a little protection, part of a growing quest for ways to reverse the damage.
6 killed in D.C. as trains collide
Operator believed to be among dead. Scores are hurt in above-ground crash as one car lands on top of other
Associated Press
WASHINGTON: One Metro transit train smashed into the rear of another at the height of the Monday evening rush hour, killing at least six people and injuring scores of others as the front end of the trailing train jackknifed violently into the air and fell atop the first.
Voting Rights Act survives test before U.S. Supreme Court
Justices question its constitutionality but make narrow ruling that sidesteps issue of whether advances make law unneeded
WASHINGTON: The Voting Rights Act, the government's chief weapon against racial discrimination at polling places since the 1960s, survived a Supreme Court challenge Monday in a ruling that nevertheless warned of serious constitutional questions posed by part of the law.
Drug plan will hinge on health reform bill
Pharmaceutical companies agree to narrow coverage gap if Congress adopts overhaul
WASHINGTON: Hailed by President Barack Obama, a multibillion-dollar promise by drug companies to narrow a Medicare drug coverage gap for older adults is valid only if Congress succeeds in passing a comprehensive health-care bill that is encountering strong opposition from Republicans, an industry spokesman said Monday.
Obama signs tough tobacco law
President mentions own struggle to quit smoking
From Beacon Journal wire services
WASHINGTON: Lamenting his first teenage cigarette, President Barack Obama ruefully admitted on Monday that he's spent his adult life fighting the habit. Then he signed the nation's toughest anti-smoking law, aiming to keep thousands of other teens from getting hooked.
At least 33 are killed in violence across Iraq
Roadside blast hits bus carrying high schoolers as U.S. pullback nears
Associated Press
BAGHDAD: Bombings and shootings killed at least 33 people in Baghdad and surrounding areas on Monday, including a group of high school students on a bus headed for final exams, as violence intensified before a planned withdrawal next week of U.S. troops from urban areas.
National news - June 23
Special education students win
Court disagrees with public schools, says family should get reimbursement
Associated Press
WASHINGTON: The Supreme Court on Monday shifted the landscape for students with learning disabilities, saying parents can in many instances bypass public school special education programs and be reimbursed for private school tuition instead.
Michigan teen makes 100-mile wheelchair trek
BIG BAY, MICH.: A 14-year-old Michigan boy has completed a four-day, 100-mile trip in his wheelchair as part of a fundraiser.
N.Y. woman gets probation for newborn's 1981 death
SYRACUSE, N.Y.: A 50-year-old Syracuse woman was sentenced today to five years on probation for killing her newborn son and tossing his body in a park trash can nearly 30 years ago.
Man pleads guilty to abducting, killing son
TERRE HAUTE, IND.: An Indiana man has pleaded guilty to abducting his two young sons at knifepoint and killing one of them just days after his wife told him she wanted a divorce.
Obama announces agreement with drug companies
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama today welcomed the pharmaceutical industry's agreement to help close a gap in Medicare's drug coverage, calling the pact a step forward in the push for overhaul of the nation's health care system.
New map finds HIV rates are highest in the South
ATLANTA: A new Internet data map offers a first-of-its-kind, county-level look at HIV cases in the U.S. and finds the infection rates tend to be highest in the South.
Obama lauds anti-smoking bill
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama has signed the strongest anti-smoking measure ever, calling it an extraordinary accomplishment that will help keep children from getting hooked on cigarettes.
Craigslist slaying suspect arraigned in Boston
BOSTON: A former Boston medical student pleaded not guilty today to charges he lured a masseuse he met through Craigslist to a Boston hotel, then bound her, beat her and shot her to death.
Police say man fatally shot son on Father's Day
STROUDSBURG, PA.: Police say a 62-year-old northeastern Pennsylvania man shot his 19-year-old son to death during a family argument on Father's Day.
Burglars hit home while occupants on Make-A-Wish trip
PENN HILLS, PA.: Police near Pittsburgh say a 5-year-old girl and her mother returned from a Make-A-Wish trip to Disney World to find that their home and vehicle had been burglarized.
Obama says U.S. ready for any threat from North Korea
WASHINGTON: With North Korea reportedly getting ready for a long-range missile test, President Barack Obama says the U.S. is prepared for any threat the secretive and unpredictable regime might pose.
Truck explosion shuts down part of interstate in Florida
WEST PALM BEACH, FLA.: Authorities say all northbound lanes of Interstate 95 in South Florida are closed after a tanker truck carrying more than 8,000 gallons of gasoline exploded.
National news - June 22
States struggle with budgets
Governors and legislatures approve program cuts, layoffs, tax increases as funds continue to dry up
In Hawaii, state employees are bracing for furloughs of three days a month over the next two years, the equivalent of a 14 percent pay cut. In Idaho, lawmakers cut aid to public schools for the first time in recent memory, forcing pay cuts for teachers.
Obama proposes mortgage yardstick
Traditional home loans would be automatic pick
WASHINGTON: If President Barack Obama gets his way, consumers who take out mortgages would automatically get a ''plain vanilla'' loan — such as a traditional 30-year fixed-rate mortgage — unless they opt for a riskier variety.
Limiting cow belches aids the environment
COVENTRY, VT.: Vermont dairy farmers Tim Maikshilo and Kristen Dellert, mindful of shrinking their carbon footprint, have changed their cows' diet to reduce the amount of gas the animals burp — the dairy cows' contribution to global warming.
Regulators take aim at consumer bloggers
Many praise products while accepting gifts from manufacturers
Savvy consumers often go online for independent consumer reviews of products and services, scouring through comments from everyday Joes and Janes to help them find a gem or shun a lemon.
Health deal may be ailing in Congress
Obama's proposal could lack votes
A Republican senator seeking a bipartisan health deal spoke Sunday of ''dialing down'' expectations while one of President Barack Obama's Democratic allies questioned whether the White House had the votes necessary for a such a costly and comprehensive plan during a recession.
Drug makers agree to $80 billion deal
Pharmaceutical industry promises to improve benefits for those on Medicare, help cut costs of health overhaul
WASHINGTON: The pharmaceutical industry agreed Saturday to spend $80 billion over the next decade improving drug benefits for seniors on Medicare and defraying the cost of President Barack Obama's health legislation, capping secretive negotiations involving key lawmakers and the White House.
National news - June 21
Agents say DEA is forcing them into war zone
Others contend agency isn't properly equipping them to operate in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON: As the Obama administration ramps up the Drug Enforcement Administration's presence in Afghanistan, some special-agent pilots contend that they're being illegally forced to go to a combat zone, while others who've volunteered say they're not being properly equipped.
Obama's legal rationales echo Bush administration
National-security and executive-authority stances mirror former president
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama is morphing into George W. Bush, as administration attorneys repeatedly adopt the executive-authority and national-security rationales that their Republican predecessors preferred.
VA hospital makes mistakes disappear
Cancer unit botches 92 of 116 treatments and covers up errors
For patients with prostate cancer, it is a common surgical procedure: A doctor implants dozens of radioactive seeds to attack the disease. But when Dr. Gary D. Kao treated one patient at the veterans' hospital in Philadelphia, his aim was more than a little off.
Gay, straight couples a lot alike, study finds
Census Bureau data show more similarities than differences across nation
SAN JOSE, CALIF.: Marriage — whether you are gay or straight — may be the great common denominator among U.S. households, according to a new government study that offers a look at the nation's same-sex couples who say they are spouses.
In wake of Tiller murder, Colo. doctor soldiers on
Specialist is protected by U.S. marshals as he treats more patients seeking late abortions
BOULDER, COLO.: Behind the bulletproof glass and drawn blinds, Warren Hern tends to his patients in the lower level of his clinic, padding up and down the stairs in green surgical scrubs.
Atlanta is tearing down its old housing projects
Demolition is part of city's effort to cut poverty by decentralizing it; plan has had mixed results
ATLANTA: In 1936, Atlanta built Techwood Homes, the nation's first housing project. By the 1990s, Atlanta had a greater percentage of its residents living in projects — sprawling red-brick barracks that pockmarked the skyline — than any other city in America.
Poll finds public backs overhauling health care
Americans overwhelmingly support substantial changes to the health-care system and are strongly behind one of the most contentious proposals Congress is considering: a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.
State to rename highway, vexing neo-Nazi volunteers
Separatists get sign after 'adopting' road, but Missouri then honors rabbi
When a neo-Nazi group called the National Socialist Movement volunteered last year to clean a Missouri highway — and get official recognition for it in the form of an Adopt-a-Highway sign — state officials felt powerless to refuse. So they took a rather clever tack.
Apple CEO has a liver transplant, paper says
Jobs is recovering well, expected back soon, according to reports
Associated Press
NEW YORK: Apple Inc. co-founder and Chief Executive Steve Jobs, whose recovery from pancreatic cancer appeared less certain when he had to take medical leave in January, received a liver transplant two months ago but is recovering well, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.
New foreclosure crisis could rival subprime
Spring drop in interest rates delays explosion of defaults for option ARM mortgages
WASHINGTON: Call it son of subprime. Experts warn that a new wave of mortgage foreclosures may be coming soon and could rival the default rates for subprime mortgages and slow efforts to find the bottom of a prolonged national housing slump.
Billionaire is jailed in Ponzi scheme
If the Texas man is convicted of all charges, he could face up to 250 years in prison, officials say
WASHINGTON: Brash Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford was indicted and jailed Friday on charges his international banking empire was really just a Ponzi scheme built on lies, bluster and bribery.
Health-care plan takes a hit
Democrats avoid specifying source of funding for overhaul; GOP goes on the attack
WASHINGTON: Democrats got a sobering glimpse of what it would look like if their ambitious health-care overhaul ran into a wall — and they quickly pulled back to regroup and get moving again.
National news - June 20
Allowances go up for House members
Taxpayer group criticizes rise to $660 million amid recession, job losses
Associated Press
WASHINGTON: The recession and rising joblessness have millions of Americans cutting their household budgets, but times are flush for lawmakers.
Sonia Sotomayor leaves all-women social network
Associated Press
WASHINGTON: Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor resigned Friday from an elite all-women's club after Republicans questioned her participation in it.
Iran religious leader says protests must stop
Top cleric says election results stand and warns opposition of response from police and militia
TEHRAN, IRAN: Iran's supreme leader sought Friday to end the deepening crisis over disputed elections with one decisive speech — declaring the vote will almost certainly stand and sternly warning opposition leaders to end street protests or be held responsible for any ''bloodshed and chaos'' to come.
Iranians fear fury of militia
Shadowy force 'Basij' has been unleashed on protesters before
CAIRO: They're the most feared men on the streets of Iran. The pro-government Basij militia has held back its full fury during this week's demonstrations. But witnesses say the force has unleashed its violence in shadowy nighttime raids, attacking suspected opposition sympathizers with axes, daggers, sticks and other crude weapons.
Obama strikes a note for responsible fatherhood
He talks of growing up without a dad; asks fathers to spend time with their kids
WASHINGTON: Growing up without a father left a hole in his heart, President Barack Obama told boys at the White House Friday in a remarkably personal Father's Day weekend message. He implored fathers everywhere — and the kids when they're older — to be involved in the lives of their own children.
Texas billionaire indicted in alleged $7 billion fraud scheme
WASHINGTON: Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford, whose sprawling banking empire collapsed this year, has been indicted for what prosecutors say is a $7 billion scheme to defraud investors.
Clinton has successful surgery on broken elbow
WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has had successful surgery to repair a fractured right elbow. The State Department says she's expected to make a full recovery.
Remains of 4 found in car pulled from New Mexico lake
COCHITI PUEBLO, N.M.: Police say they have found four sets of human remains inside a car that had been submerged in a central New Mexico lake for at least a year.
Deputy says woman skinned puppy to make belt
MUSKOGEE, OKLA.: A 23-year-old woman is accused of getting a friend to kill her Jack Russell terrier and skinning the puppy to make a belt out of its hide.
U.S., Switzerland complete tax negotiations
WASHINGTON: The United States and Switzerland have agreed to increase the amount of tax information they share to help crack down on tax evasion.
Michigan teen electrocuted as storm downs power line
OAKFIELD TOWNSHIP, MICH.: A teenage boy has died after running into a downed power line while going to help neighbors as a storm swept western Michigan.
Prison therapy session leads to man's confession
EL DORADO, ARK.: An Arkansas man who confessed in a prison counseling session that he killed his grandmother has pleaded guilty and is to serve 25 years in prison.
Man says he couldn't afford vet, killed dog
METHUEN, MASS.: A Massachusetts man facing animal cruelty charges for allegedly killing his bulldog with a hammer told police the dog was sick and he could not afford to pay a veterinarian to put it down.
Rain ends Seattle dry streak at 29 days
SEATTLE: Overnight rain ended the spring dry streak in Seattle at 29 days, tying the record May-June record set in 1982.
Lawyer found asleep in trash can
JEFFERSONVILLE, IND.: An Indiana lawyer who was found asleep headfirst in a neighbor's trash can after a night of drinking has apologized and says he's embarrassed.
Report to detail interrogations, secret detention
WASHINGTON: The government is preparing to release a long-delayed internal report on the CIA's secret detention and interrogation program. How much of the document will be declassified for public view isn't yet known.
Jet lands safely after pilot dies
Two co-pilots take controls after apparent heart attack over Atlantic
Associated Press
NEWARK, N.J.: The only inkling passengers had that something was wrong on the Continental Airlines flight over the Atlantic Ocean was when an announcement came over the loudspeaker asking if there was a doctor on board.
National news - June 19
Justices decide convicts lack right to DNA
High court says states choose when prisoners get access to evidence
WASHINGTON: The Supreme Court said Thursday that a convicted rapist has no constitutional right to test biological evidence used at his trial in Alaska years earlier, leaving it to the states to decide when prisoners get access to genetic evidence that might prove their innocence.
Town coated in asbestos gets federal cleanup funds
Libby, Mont., declared public health emergency due to contamination
LIBBY, MONT.: Yvonne Resch remembers thinking as a child that the vermiculite mine only added to the area's natural beauty — its lights on Zonolite Mountain looked like a castle.
Congress approves 'clunker' program
Trading in gas guzzlers for fuel-efficient ones would get drivers cash
WASHINGTON: Congress approved a ''cash for clunkers'' program Thursday to provide government incentives of $3,500 to $4,500 to motorists who trade in their gas guzzlers for more fuel-efficient vehicles after Senate Democrats narrowly defeated a Republican effort to kill the plan.
Senate OKs war-spending bill after deal with White House
Obama vows to block release of detainee photos
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON: The Senate approved a $105.9 billion emergency war-spending bill Thursday after the White House assured lawmakers that it would bar the release of photos of detained terrorism suspects by an executive order if necessary. The vote was 91-5, with both of Ohio's senators voting in favor.
Bankers prepare to fight proposed agency
Financial industry says Obama regulatory plans for lending products would cause confusion
NEW YORK: Of all the financial regulatory changes the Obama administration has proposed, one stands tallest as a threat to bank industry profits: the creation of an agency to protect consumers from risky products.
House Democrats want to expand top-secret briefings
Plan would curtail White House secrecy; 32 more lawmakers would attend
WASHINGTON: House Democrats are pushing for a big increase in the number of lawmakers who hear briefings on the nation's most sensitive intelligence operations, from the current ''Gang of Eight'' to about 40.
Senate Democrats pare back health bill
WASHINGTON: Key Senate Democrats, bidding for bipartisan support on health care, pared back subsidies designed to make insurance more affordable on Thursday and floated a compromise that rules out direct government competition against private insurers.
FBI: Child porn on accused museum shooter computer
WASHINGTON: Child pornography was found on a computer belonging to the white supremacist charged with shooting and killing a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the FBI said in court documents.
Breakaway Catholic group to ordain 13 in Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS: An ultraconservative group plans to ordain 13 Roman Catholic priests — including one from Ohio — even though their elevations likely won't be recognized by the Vatican.
Rhode Island tries again to outlaw indoor prostitution
PROVIDENCE, R.I.: The undercover police officer paid $60 to enter the Midori Spa just blocks from Providence city hall. A massage therapist rubbed the officer's back, then simulated a sex act with her right hand.
Cowboy uses lariat to rescue boy in well
DODDRIDGE, ARK.: It was a cowboy to the rescue when a 7-year-old boy fell into an abandoned water well in southwest Arkansas.
Death penalty sought for throwing baby from car
TAMPA, FLA.: Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for a man accused of throwing his ex-girlfriend's baby out of a car on a Florida highway, killing the infant.
No benefits for girl born from dead man's sperm
PASADENA, CALIF.: A 10-year-old girl conceived from the frozen sperm of a dead man cannot receive his Social Security benefits, a federal appeals court ruled.
South Carolina job seekers line up for gig cleaning nuclear waste
BARNWELL, S.C.: Thousands of people from some of South Carolina's most depressed counties are flocking to information sessions for new jobs cleaning up an old nuclear weapons complex.
Would-be victim leads suspect to sheriff's department
EDWARDSVILLE, ILL.: Illinois authorities say a Michigan man was so intent on robbing a motorist that he unwittingly followed her in his car straight to a sheriff's department, where he was arrested.
Court finds convicts have no right to test DNA
WASHINGTON: The Supreme Court said today that convicts have no constitutional right to test DNA evidence in hopes of proving their innocence long after they were found guilty of a crime.
New York billboard monitors rising greenhouse gases
NEW YORK: New Yorkers have long been able to keep tabs on the national debt, but they now have a highly visible counter to track greenhouse gas emissions.
Midwest storms spawn possible tornadoes
MINNEAPOLIS: Powerful storms that rolled across the Midwest brought heavy rain, strong winds and spawned several apparent tornadoes, damaging homes and businesses, tossing railcars off their tracks and knocking out power to thousands.
Report says U.S. not doing enough against gun smuggling
WASHINGTON: Two federal agencies are being faulted for not coordinating their efforts against border gunrunners, a failure one lawmaker says made it easier for Mexican drug cartels to smuggle illegal weapons from the United States.
Plane with dead pilot lands safely in New Jersey
NEWARK, N.J.: The Federal Aviation Administration says a plane carrying a pilot who died in midflight has landed safely at the airport in Newark, N.J.
Texas woman dies in pool year after children did
COPPELL, TEXAS: Police in Texas say a woman has died in an apparent drowning at the same swimming pool where her two children drowned less than a year ago.
City's dress code to require workers to wear underwear, deodorant
BROOKSVILLE, FLA.: A Florida city is cleaning up with a new dress code that requires city workers to wear underwear and use deodorant.
Obama fends off criticism from gay supporters
Critics charge he hasn't kept promise to repeal Clinton-era military policy
Associated Press
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama signaled to gay-rights activists Wednesday that he's listening to their desire for greater equality in ''a more perfect union.'' But he didn't give them even close to everything they want, bringing to the surface an anger that's been growing against the president.
Senate hits snags on health-care reform
Ambitious timetable threatened by cost concerns and partisan wrangling
Associated Press
WASHINGTON: Hoping to make history, the Senate set off on its major overhaul of the nation's health-care system Wednesday, but its first steps were quickly overtaken by fresh cost concerns and partisan anger.
Financial reforms on table
Obama's overhaul plan puts focus on regulation in major policy change
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama moved Wednesday to shift the pendulum of history, proposing sweeping new government regulation of the nation's financial system and turning sharply away from the anti-government, pro-free-market passion that's dominated American politics for three decades.
National news - June 18
Holder sees about 50 terrorism trials
229 detainees remain in Guantanamo Bay cells
Associated Press
WASHINGTON: Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday there may be 50 or more trials of Guantanamo Bay detainees as the Obama administration works to shut the detention center by early next year.
Analysis: Ensign affair is setback for GOP
Senator's infidelity admission unwelcome surprise for Republicans seeking to regain power they've lost
WASHINGTON: It's just about the last thing the beleaguered Republican Party needed: a Christian conservative with national aspirations admitting to an extramarital affair with an ex-staffer.
Zicam not alone in side-effect reports
Homeopathic remedies don't require approval from FDA for safety
CAMBRIDGE, MASS.: The unsettling little secret of Zicam Cold Remedy finally spilled out this week. Though widely sold for years as a drug for colds, it was never tested by federal regulators for safety like other drugs. And that was perfectly legal — until scores of consumers lost their sense of smell.
Parents fuming over airline's kid-on-plane mix-ups
HOUSTON: The parents of two young girls who were each placed on wrong flights while flying alone over the weekend are demanding that Continental Airlines make sure such mix-ups don't happen again.
Poll: Many Americans fear growing health costs
WASHINGTON: As Washington considers overhauling the nation's health care system, a new poll finds considerable concern about health costs, with nearly half of all Americans worried about paying for future care.
PETA wishes Obama hadn't swatted that fly
WASHINGTON: he group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants the flyswatter in chief to try taking a more humane attitude the next time he's bedeviled by a fly in the White House.
FBI says Philadelphia detective tipped off drug kingpin
PHILADELPHIA: A Philadelphia police detective is charged with tipping off a drug kingpin about a raid through a mutual friend, former NBA player Jerome ''Pooh'' Richardson.
More than 100 kids sue over parents' deportations
MIAMI: Roughly 150 children are asking President Barack Obama to halt the deportations of their parents until Congress overhauls U.S. immigration laws.
NASA aims for unmanned moon rocket launch Thursday
WASHINGTON: NASA plans to launch an unmanned rocket to the moon Thursday, the first such mission in a decade.
EPA declares health emergency in Montana town
WASHINGTON: The Environmental Protection Agency for the first time has declared a public health emergency in a contaminated community, targeting a Montana town for immediate federal attention.
9/11 search dog cloned for former officer
LOS ANGELES: Scientists in California say they have cloned a dog that helped with search-and-rescue after the New York terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
Bovine TB quarantine expands to 42 Nebraska herds
OMAHA, NEB.: The number of Nebraska cattle herds quarantined because of bovine tuberculosis concerns has jumped to 42 and two other states were warned the disease may have already spread there.
Teen accused of cat killings set to leave jail
MIAMI: A judge in Miami says a teenager accused of more than a dozen cat killings is ''competent'' to be released from jail under electronic monitoring.
Window washer survives 6-story fall from bank building
MILWAUKEE: A window washer survived a six-story fall from a bank building with one thought in mind — when was his safety rope going to catch?
Prosecutor says baby sitter took cold medicine before boy fell into water bucket, died
NEW YORK: A prosecutor says a New York City baby sitter took cold medicine and slept as an 11-month-old boy fell head-first into a bucket of water and died.
Shuttle launch delayed to July by hydrogen leak
CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA.: For the second time in four days, a potentially dangerous hydrogen gas leak forced NASA to delay shuttle Endeavour's launch to the international space station, this time until July at the earliest.
Benefits to be extended to for government workers' gay partners
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama, whose gay and lesbian supporters have grown frustrated with his slow movement on their priorities, is extending benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees, a White House official said.
Health-care proposal aims to please GOP, Dems
Former Senate leaders to support fully funded plan. Cost estimates whip up disagreements on other ideas
Associated Press
WASHINGTON: Trying to prevent a repeat of the 1990s standoff over health care, four former Senate leaders are preparing a plan that combines ideas from both political parties to guarantee coverage for all.
Vaccines at schools considered
Sebelius urges districts to plan for possibility of hosting shot clinics
WASHINGTON: Schoolchildren could be first in line for swine flu vaccine this fall — and schools are being put on notice that they might even be turned into shot clinics.
Iowa teen texts her way to national championship
14,000 messages a month make her speedy and accurate. How fast R U?
NEW YORK: The nation's newest texting champion has a message for parents across the land — although they might not want to hear it.
President urges financial agency for consumers
Fed would monitor large banking institutions in broad overhaul of U.S. regulatory system
WASHINGTON: Setting up a certain fight with big business, President Barack Obama is proposing a new regulatory agency to police lenders and protect consumers in credit, savings and other banking transactions.
House passes war-funding bill
32 Democrats join GOP in opposing legislation providing for U.S. troops
WASHINGTON: War-funding legislation survived a fierce partisan battle in the House on Tuesday, a major step in providing commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan the money they would need for military operations in coming months.
Climate report grim but hopeful for U.S.
Scientists say acting on emissions will help
WASHINGTON: Rising sea levels, sweltering temperatures, deeper droughts, and heavier downpours — global warming's serious effects already are here and getting worse, the Obama administration warned on Tuesday in the grimmest, most urgent language on climate change ever to come out of any White House.
National news - June 17
1WASHINGTON
Madoff barred
Disgraced money manager Bernard Madoff has been prohibited from working in the securities industry under a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Madoff is barred from associating with any brokerage or investment firm, according to documents released Tuesday by the SEC that stem from a settlement he reached with the agency in February.
Hinckley ruling
Swift wins CMT video of the year
NASHVILLE, Tenn.: Taylor Swift opened Tuesday's Country Music Television awards with a skit about living out her dreams. The 19-year-old country and pop sensation went a long way toward doing just that by winning video of the year and female video of the year for Love Story and by performing with one of her favorite rock bands.
Michigan man claims to be New York boy who vanished in 1955
EAST MEADOW, N.Y.: More than 50 years after a 2-year-old boy disappeared from outside a Long Island bakery, a Michigan man has come forward to claim that he was the missing boy, authorities said today.
New York corrections official resigns after bar mitzvah report
NEW YORK: A top New York City correction official suspected of approving a bar mitzvah at a Manhattan lockup has submitted his resignation.
Group says gay bias killings in U.S. highest since 1999
NEW YORK: A national advocacy group says the number of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people killed in bias-motivated incidents increased by 28 percent in 2008 compared to 2007.
Prosecutor says man admits killing TV anchorwoman
LITTLE ROCK, ARK.: A deputy prosecutor in Arkansas says the man charged with capital murder in the beating death of a TV anchorwoman has confessed to the killing.
Police say bank worker foils robbery with text message
DEDHAM, MASS.: Police near Boston say a man wearing a suit and driving a BMW tried to rob a bank at gunpoint but was arrested after an employee texted for help.
FDA says Zicam nasal spray can cause loss of smell
WASHINGTON: Consumers should stop using Zicam Cold Remedy nasal gel and related products because they can permanently damage the sense of smell, federal health regulators said today.
Oklahoma paramedic wants trooper fired
OKLAHOMA CITY: The paramedic who scuffled with an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper while a patient waited inside the ambulance says the trooper should lose his badge.
Florida confirms state's first swine flu death
MIAMI: Florida health officials say the state's first swine flu fatality was a 9-year-old Miami-Dade County boy who suffered from asthma.
Pentagon says North Korea missiles could threaten U.S.
WASHINGTON: North Korea's missiles could hit the United States in as few as three years if the reclusive rogue nation continues to ramp up its weapons system, Pentagon officials said today.
Police officer finds $100 bills blowing in wind
HARRISBURG, PA.: A New Jersey man was left wondering where his $3,000 cash had gone after a job in Pennsylvania. Turns out, the answer was blowin' in the wind.
Baby dies after falling into day-care mop bucket
NEW YORK: New York City police have arrested the operator of an in-home day care following the death of an 11-month-old boy who apparently fell into a mop bucket.
Boy, 8, found dead in church elevator
STURGIS, KY.: State police were investigating after the body of an 8-year-old boy was found with his head pinned in a church elevator as his family was cleaning up after his grandmother's wedding reception.
World news - June 16
Negative response signals tough road for health plan
Obama struggles for support as doctors boo him after he refuses to back malpractice caps
WASHINGTON: Barack Obama isn't used to hearing boos. For all the young president's popularity, the response he got Monday from doctors at an American Medical Association meeting was a sign his road is only going to get rockier as he tries to sell his plan to overhaul the nation's medical system.
New rule may limit pilot hours
Obama administration hopes to curb fatigue
Associated Press
WASHINGTON: Obama administration officials said Monday they will propose new limits on how many hours airline pilots can fly in an effort to curb fatigue, an issue safety officials have been pushing for two decades.
Obama urges doctors to back overhaul plan
He takes his case directly to physicians at AMA meeting in Chicago
CHICAGO: President Barack Obama asked skeptical doctors Monday to get behind an overhaul of the nation's medical system, declaring it a ''ticking time bomb'' for the federal budget that could force the entire nation to ''go the way of GM.''
National news - June 16
Bleak picture for arts education
National survey finds budget cuts at schools hurt student programs
WASHINGTON: Kids were taking fewer field trips to art museums even before the recession began to gouge school budgets, according to a nationwide survey released Monday.
Hunting tragedies pose challenge for prosecutors
Officials must decide whether to charge relatives already suffering from grief in deadly incidents
WHEELOCK, VT.: By the time the game warden arrived, Kevin Kadamus was sitting down and holding his 17-year-old son in his lap, a blanket covering the boy's bloodied body.
Boy Scout camp hit with positive swine flu cases
RALEIGH, N.C.: Boy Scouts attending a camp near Asheville are being checked for swine flu after at least 19 Scouts from two states were sent home with symptoms and 10 tested positive for the disease.
Sheriff says 4 dead in Florida family murder-suicide
HEATHROW, FLA.: A man shot his two children and wife to death before turning the gun on himself in a home in a gated community in suburban Orlando, authorities said today.
Friend says boy responding to forced chemotherapy
SLEEPY EYE, MINN.: A family friend says X-rays show the tumor in the chest of a 13-year-old Minnesota boy who resisted treatment has shrunk significantly since court-ordered chemotherapy.
Florida teen charged in string of cat killings
MIAMI: A South Florida teenager accused of a string of cat killings and mutilations is set to appear court.
Son of suspect says museum shooting unforgivable
WASHINGTON: The son of a white supremacist accused of killing a guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum said today the shooting was unforgivable and he wished his father had died instead.
LAPD says 5 officers hurt in melees after Lakers win
LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles police say five officers were hit by debris and had minor injuries in downtown celebrations following the Lakers' championship victory over the Orlando Magic.
150-year debate on former Akronite John Brown divides America
The former Akronite and famous rebel hated slavery and was willing to die trying spark an armed revolt to stop it
HARPERS FERRY, W.VA.: A century and a half later, we still don't know quite what to think of John Brown. Certainly, he aimed to be a hero. He believed his plan was the necessary means to a righteous end: Storm a federal arsenal, seize thousands of weapons, arm a gathering guerrilla force and start the revolution that would end the morally reprehensible but legal institution of slavery.
National news - June 15
NOW vote might foretell future of feminism in U.S.
One candidate is white, 56, with political ties. Other is 33, African-American with backing
NEW YORK: After years on the defensive during the Bush administration, the National Organization for Women is elated to have an American president who shares many of its goals. Yet NOW heads into its own leadership contest — a sharp contrast of age and race — mindful of the need to energize its ranks.
Obama is seeking an accord on health
Democrats will need some Republican help to get through Senate
WASHINGTON: As Congress begins work on putting President Barack Obama's goal of universal health coverage into law, administration officials and allies sought to sidestep an unpopular tax on existing benefits and Republicans' objection to a government competitor to private plans.
Disputed Iranian election complicates U.S. diplomacy
Obama under pressure to toughen his position fighting nuclear arms
WASHINGTON: The crackdown on dissent after the disputed elections in Iran puts the Obama administration in a tougher spot, as it sticks with diplomacy as the best way to end that country's nuclear weapons program.
National Summit arrives amid economic turmoil
Competitive edge in manufacturing, energy, technology, environment is focus
DETROIT: The country's economic troubles already were brewing when organizers announced in September that business and other leaders would gather in Detroit to craft a plan for keeping the U.S. competitive in manufacturing, energy, technology and environmental efforts.
First lady, daughters get rare palace tour
LONDON: First came the hug, then a guided tour of Buckingham Palace. On a visit to London last week, first lady Michelle Obama got permission from Queen Elizabeth II for a guided tour of the palace with her daughters, Sasha and Malia.
As thefts increase, retailers step up anti-crime efforts
Stores add video, security patrols to combat shoplifting by organized teams
CINCINNATI: With shoplifting on the rise — including organized teams sweeping through stores and lifting scores of items in minutes — retailers are beefing up plainclothes patrols and video surveillance, and competitors are working together to prevent crime.
Only six areas to recover in '09, forecaster says
It might take most of country three years; longer still in Akron
WASHINGTON: Unlike the labor market collapse that killed millions of U.S. jobs in a matter of months, the nation's return to peak employment will not be nearly as uniform nor as swift.
Hispanics make up 11% of president's nominees
Houston Chronicle
WASHINGTON: Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court has focused national attention on her Latino heritage and the history-making nature of her selection.
Obama maintains spoils system
Big party donors and friends are rewarded with ambassadorships
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama promised change, but he's following one time-honored tradition: doling out plum ambassadorships to friends and big-money party donors.
FBI most concerned by 'lone wolf' shooters
Vigilantes difficult to stop as they act alone, lack visibility of organizations
WASHINGTON: An elderly man enters a crowded museum carrying a rifle and begins shooting. A young man in Arkansas pulls the trigger outside a military recruiting office. Another man opens fire in a Kansas church.
National news - June 14
Democrats gear up for health-care bill
No details on how overhaul will be funded, but quality, availability among key concerns
WASHINGTON: Spurred by President Barack Obama and an array of businesses, medical institutions and consumers clamoring for change, congressional Democrats have begun to lay out specific plans for overhauling the nation's health-care system, proposing changes that would affect almost every American — old or young, sick or well, rich, poor or middle class.
Congress signs off on bill regulating tobacco industry
Legislation gives FDA power over new products, what goes into cigarettes
WASHINGTON: No more ''light'' cigarettes or candy-flavored smokes. Bigger, scarier warning labels. Fewer ads featuring sexy young smokers.
National news - June 13
FDA flags the psychiatric risks of asthma medications
Suicidal behavior, anxiety seen in a few patients
Associated Press
WASHINGTON: New labels on popular asthma drugs like Merck's Singulair must highlight language about suicidal behavior, depression and anxiety seen in a small number of patients, federal regulators said Friday.
Most dangerous coal ash deposits to remain secret
Army Corps of Engineers, EPA in disagreement on sharing locations for national security reasons
WASHINGTON: Dozens of communities nationwide are at risk from a coal ash spill like the one that blanketed a Tennessee neighborhood last year, but the Obama administration has decided not to tell the public because of the danger of a terrorist attack.
Stalled carbon capture coal plant in Illinois gets OK
WASHINGTON: The Energy Department is moving forward on a futuristic coal-burning power plant in Illinois that the Bush administration had declared dead.
Stalled carbon capture coal plant in Illinois gets OK
WASHINGTON: The Energy Department is moving forward on a futuristic coal-burning power plant in Illinois that the Bush administration had declared dead.
Blogger admits tale of ill child was hoax
MOKENA, ILL.: A blog that told the tale of a woman who chose to carry a terminally ill child to term drew a following online, prompting supporters to promise prayers and send gifts.
Holocaust museum reopens after fatal shooting
WASHINGTON: Hundreds of visitors streamed into the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum as it opened today for the first time since a security guard was shot to death by a man authorities identified as a rifle-toting 88-year-old white supremacist.
'Rockefeller' convicted of kidnapping daughter
BOSTON: A German man who called himself Clark Rockefeller and spun fantastic stories about himself during three decades in the United States was convicted today of kidnapping his 7-year-old daughter.
Man given 40 years in prison for stabbing boss
CHICAGO: A man convicted of fatally stabbing his boss because of a bad job review has been sentenced to 40 years in prison.
U.S. ship helps search for MIAs in Vietnam
HANOI, VIETNAM: A U.S. Navy ship is participating in the search for the remains of more than 1,000 U.S. servicemen missing from the Vietnam War, the first time an American vessel has taken part, embassy officials said today.
269 punished for abusing disabled in Texas
DALLAS: State records show that 269 employees at Texas' 13 residential centers for the mentally and developmentally disabled were fired or suspended last year for abusing or mistreating residents.
Rep. Patrick Kennedy again receiving treatment
PROVIDENCE, R.I.: Rep. Patrick Kennedy, who has struggled with depression, alcoholism and addiction for much of his life, said today that he has checked into a medical facility for treatment.
Man gets 33 years for killing sparked by hot sauce
KANSAS CITY, MO.: A Kansas City man has been sentenced to 33 years in prison for killing a man during a melee that erupted when someone threw a bottle of hot sauce.
Police say they weren't chasing car before Philadelphia crash
PHILADELPHIA: A car that jumped a curb and crashed into a crowd, killing a woman and three young children, was fleeing a police officer who had tried unsuccessfully to stop the driver but who got stuck in traffic and couldn't give chase, the police commissioner said Thursday.
Obama defends medical overhaul
President says no one wants to nationalize U.S. health-care system
GREEN BAY, WIS.: President Barack Obama challenged Republican critics Thursday to offer alternative plans for overhauling U.S. health care, declaring he's ''happy to steal people's ideas'' but that doing nothing about out-of-reach costs and uninsured Americans is not an option.
National news - June 12
Senate approves bill to regulate tobacco
Legislation would let FDA control ingredients, ban marketing of 'light' cigarettes as being safer
WASHINGTON: Capping a half-century battle with the tobacco industry, Congress overwhelmingly approved landmark legislation Thursday that would for the first time give the government far-reaching power to regulate the manufacturing and marketing of cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Bermuda accepts four freed Muslim detainees
Uighur men transferred from Guantanamo Bay to posh British colony
HAMILTON, BERMUDA: Four Guantanamo detainees from arid, predominantly Muslim western China were transferred to this very proper British colony Thursday, marking an unexpected new chapter in their odyssey.
Alabama killer who taunted victim's mom executed
ATMORE, ALA.: An Alabama death row inmate who taunted his victim's mother with grisly, graphic drawings and writings on the Internet has been executed.
Be a man, would-be holiday organizers urge
CELESTINE, IND.: Two Indiana men have declared Monday ''National Man Day'' only to find there's already a romantic holiday that falls on that date.
ASA plane makes emergency landing in Atlanta
ATLANTA: An Atlantic Southeast Airlines spokeswoman says a small jet made an emergency landing at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport after the landing gear malfunctioned.
10-year-old boy killed by lightning
INDIANAPOLIS: Indianapolis police say a 10-year-old boy was killed by lightning at a campground while he and his father walked to their car to seek shelter from a thunderstorm.
Convict stages son's bar mitzvah in New York jail
NEW YORK: A convicted scam artist was able to pull off a lavish bar mitzvah for his son featuring kosher catered food and more than 60 guests at a New York City jail.
Massachusetts woman pleads not guilty to stabbing toddler
WORCESTER, MASS.: A Massachusetts woman charged with stabbing her 2-year-old daughter over 100 times with scissors has pleaded not guilty.
New Jersey man gets 25 years to life in baby-sitter murder
NORWICH, N.Y.: A New Jersey man was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison today for running over a 12-year-old baby sitter after a GPS system secretly installed by his suspicious wife helped convict him.
Update: Car hits Philadelphia crowd, killing 3 kids, woman
PHILADELPHIA: A woman has died after being hit by a car that crashed into a crowd during a Philadelphia police chase and killed three young children, at least one of them hers.
Holocaust museum closed for day to mark shooting
WASHINGTON: The U.S. Holocaust Memorial and Museum was shuttered today with its flags at half-staff as it mourned a guard who died stopping a rifle attack by a gunman authorities identified as an 88-year-old white supremacist.
Car lands on tracks, struck by Chicago train
CHICAGO: Service along the Chicago Transit Authority's Blue Line has been disrupted after a car jumped a retaining wall, landed on the tracks and was struck by a train.
Akron school employees are steps away when gunman fatally shoots museum guard
Akron school employees are steps away when gunman fatally shoots guard
From staff and wire reports
WASHINGTON: A rifle-toting 88-year-old man with a history of anti-Semitism allegedly entered the crowded U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on Wednesday and opened fire, fatally wounding a security officer before he was shot and severely wounded as terrified tourists scurried for cover.
National news - June 11
Government looks at corporate pay
Administration seeking ways to tame compensation, rejects direct intervention
WASHINGTON: Talking tough but stepping gently, the Obama administration rejected direct intervention in corporate pay decisions Wednesday even as officials argued that excessive compensation in the private sector contributed to the nation's financial crisis.
Clean energy goals receding
Congress defies Obama on power alternatives
WASHINGTON: Congress is all but abandoning President Barack Obama's goal of producing fully one-quarter of the nation's electricity from renewable sources — wind, solar and the like — by 2025, though a push for at least some increase is making headway.
White House relieved Palau taking detainees
17 Chinese Muslims to leave Guantanamo in first major release
By Grace Chung
McClatchy Newspapers
Health-care compromise emerges
Senator suggests nonprofit cooperatives owned by residents, businesses
WASHINGTON: A potential compromise emerged Wednesday on one of the most vexing issues of the health-care overhaul debate — whether to create a new government-sponsored health plan to compete with private insurers.
New York Senate in chaos after Republicans stage coup
Ousted Democrats call maneuver involving two turncoats illegal
ALBANY, N.Y.: Pandemonium erupted on the floor, the lights went out and the live television feed went black as the coup unfolded.
GOP warns of backlash in rush to confirm Sotomayor
Senators want more time to research nominee for high court, threaten possibility of filibuster
Associated Press
WASHINGTON: Republicans accused Democrats Wednesday of moving too hastily on Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court nomination, warning that the decision could imperil her confirmation as they pressed the judge for more documents from her past.
Man survives New Mexico crash after cold night on mountain
SANTA FE, N.M.: The helicopter had just swooped in to rescue a stranded hiker in the rough mountains of New Mexico when nearby campers saw a flash of light, then heard a loud crash. Moments later, a dispatcher asked the pilot whether the three aboard were OK, and he radioed back: ''Not really.''
Car hits crowd in Philadelphia, killing 3 children
PHILADELPHIA: Authorities say a car fleeing a Philadelphia robbery scene and being chased by police has jumped a curb and crashed into a crowd, killing three children under age 10 and gravely injuring a woman.
Plane's performance praised in near catastrophe in Hudson River
WASHINGTON: When US Airways Flight 1549 splashed into the Hudson River in January, the fuselage ruptured, sending water gushing into the cabin. Passengers, some with water up to their necks, struggled to reach exits. There weren't enough life rafts for everyone because two rafts in the rear of the plane were underwater.
Police say robber left address, name at scene
KENTWOOD, MICH.: Police in Michigan say a man who held up a gas station left behind a major clue — a piece of paper bearing a name and address.
Kennedy health plan aids elders, young adults
WASHINGTON: Proposals that would help disabled seniors and healthy young adults are among dozens of provisions tucked into sweeping health care legislation that senators will begin considering next week.
Budget deficit hits record for May of $189.7 billion
WASHINGTON: The federal budget deficit soared to a record for May of $189.7 billion, pushing the tide of red ink close to $1 trillion with four months left in the budget year.
Crews find third body inside North Carolina Slim Jim plant
GARNER, N.C.: Authorities say they have found a third body inside a Slim Jim factory in North Carolina a day after an explosion wrecked the building.
Update: Gunman kills guard at Holocaust Museum
WASHINGTON: An elderly gunman, said by authorities to have a violent and virulently anti-Semitic past, stepped inside the crowded U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on Wednesday, opened fire with a rifle and fatally wounded a security guard before being shot by other officers.
Kidnapped Illinois baby found in Indiana
FORT WAYNE, IND.: A 5-month-old boy from Illinois who was allegedly kidnapped by his teen baby sitter has been found safe in Indiana after federal marshals traced a call to where they were staying.
Up to 50 vehicles pile up on foggy California pass
SAN BERNARDINO, CALIF.: As many as 50 vehicles were involved in a chain-reaction accident early today in fog on a mountain highway, injuring at least 15 people and scattering wreckage for a half-mile, authorities said.
Washington couple ordered held in Cuba spying case
WASHINGTON: A federal judge ordered a former State Department employee and his wife held without bond, saying there appeared to be insurmountable evidence that they spied for Cuba.
Burned topless coffee shop reopens in a tent
VASSALBORO, MAINE: A topless coffee shop in Maine is now shopless after a fire, but waitresses are serving coffee again.
Abortion foes interested in buying Kansas clinic
TOPEKA, KAN.: The group that tried for years to put slain abortion provider Dr. George Tiller out of business is interested in buying his now-closed clinic in Wichita, its president said.
Ex-Georgia Tech student convicted of video terror plot
ATLANTA: A federal judge convicted a former Georgia Tech student today of plotting to aid a terrorist group by videotaping landmarks around Washington, D.C.
Deputy uses Taser on woman, 72, during traffic stop
AUSTIN, TEXAS: She dared a deputy constable to shock her with a Taser. So, he did. Video released by a Travis County Constable's Office shows Deputy Chris Bieze confronting 72-year-old Kathryn Winkfein after stopping her for speeding on May 11 just outside Austin.
Research suggests winds dying down across U.S.
WASHINGTON: The wind, a favorite power source of the green energy movement, seems to be dying down across the United States. And the cause, ironically, may be global warming — the very problem wind power seeks to address.
Guantanamo inmate's hearing first in U.S.
Terror suspect transported to civilian courtroom. Pacific island nation agrees to take 17 detainees
Associated Press
NEW YORK: Under heavy guard, a Guantanamo Bay prisoner walked into a civilian U.S. courtroom for the first time Tuesday, underscoring the Obama administration's determination to close the Cuban prison and hold trials here despite Republican alarms about bringing terror suspects to America.
House OKs 'cash for clunkers' bill
Plan would let consumers trade in gas-guzzlers for vouchers to use toward new vehicle purchases
WASHINGTON: The House onTuesday approved a ''cash for clunkers'' bill that aims to boost new auto sales by allowing consumers to turn in their gas-guzzling cars and trucks for vouchers worth up to $4,500 toward more fuel-efficient vehicles.
Banks to return money
Ten companies get approval to give back billions from bailout
WASHINGTON: Ten of the nation's biggest financial companies got a green light Tuesday to return $68 billion in federal bailout money — freeing the banks from limits on executive pay and leaving the government with a small gain on the rescue cash.
National news - June 10
Recession continues to take toll on charitable giving
NEW YORK: Charitable giving by Americans fell by 2 percent in 2008 as the recession took root, only the second year-to-year decline in more than half a century, according to an annual survey released Wednesday.
Explosion kills two at Slim Jim plant
GARNER, N.C.: A blast at a Slim Jim meat products plant in North Carolina on Tuesday killed two workers whose bodies were found in the rubble of the building that is missing part of its roof.
Sotomayor hearings set to begin July 13
Republicans protest schedule in Senate
WASHINGTON: Senate Democrats, determined to seat Sonia Sotomayor on the Supreme Court quickly, announced mid-July hearings on her nomination Tuesday in a move that surprised and angry Republicans said clouded the prospects for the nomination and other legislative business.
Obama pitches pay-as-you-go plan for Congress
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama today challenged Congress to force itself to pay for new spending as it goes rather than sink the nation deeper into a debt, calling it a matter of public responsibility. Republicans lashed back that Obama is no voice of fiscal restraint as the deficit soars.
Length of China quarantine uncertain for Louisiana mayor
NEW ORLEANS: A spokeswoman for New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says Chinese officials haven't said when they'll end a quarantine for the mayor, his wife and a security guard.
Pilot says bird warnings from tower of little value
WASHINGTON: The pilot of the US Airways plane that ditched into the Hudson River after colliding with a flock of Canada geese told safety officials today that warnings from air traffic controllers to pilots of birds in the vicinity of airports have little value.
Michigan man who spied for Iraq gets nearly 4 years
DETROIT: A judge in Michigan has sentenced a man to nearly four years in prison for supplying information to Iraq before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
Congress to consider 'cash for clunkers' plan
WASHINGTON: Consumers could receive rebates of up to $4,500 for turning in their gas-guzzling cars and trucks for more fuel-efficient vehicles under a House proposal.
Police: 2 teens killed to escape N.Y. halfway house
LOCKPORT, N.Y.: Two teenage residents of a western New York halfway house killed a supervisor and bolted from the home after one of them fell under suspicion for stealing, police said today.
3 missing, 20 hurt in North Carolina Slim Jim plant collapse
GARNER, N.C.: Three people were missing and 20 taken to hospitals after an explosion at a Slim Jim meat products plant in North Carolina, officials said today.
Shots reported at N.Y. school; adult in custody
ORANGETOWN, N.Y.: Emergency responders are converging on a suburban New York City school where shots were reportedly fired.
Man says city taking house over $50 tax bill
BRIDGEPORT, CONN.: A man in Connecticut says he's losing his home because he owes $50 in back taxes. The city of Bridgeport is foreclosing on Jean Castro's home because of the unpaid taxes, which total $51.69. A judge last week approved the foreclosure and ordered the home to be sold in December.
Oregon woman accused of cutting baby from womb
HILLSBORO, ORE.: Korena Roberts sifted through her neighbor's rummage sale until she pulled out an item that caught her eye: a blue stroller decorated with teddy bears.
Justice Department says first Guantanamo Bay detainee arrives in U.S.
WASHINGTON: U.S. authorities have brought the first Guantanamo Bay detainee to the United States, flying him into New York to face trial for bombing U.S. embassies, the Justice Department said today.
Fisherman hooks live missile in Gulf waters
MADEIRA BEACH, FLA.: Florida authorities say a commercial fisherman reeled in a live missile in the Gulf of Mexico and kept it on his boat for 10 days.
FAA to inspect pilot training at regional airlines
WASHINGTON: Federal officials said today they will beef up inspection of pilot training programs at regional airlines in response to safety concerns raised by the crash of a regional airliner in New York in February.
Unconventional remedies entice cancer patients
Studies estimate 60% of sufferers try options that could be harmful
TAMPA, FLA.: With much of her lower body consumed by cancer, Leslee Flasch finally faced the truth: The herbal supplements and special diet were not working.
National news - June 9
Obama reiterates plans for recovery
As unemployment rate rises, administration admits economic forecasts were too optimistic
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama assured the nation his recovery plan was on track Monday, scrambling to calm Americans unnerved by unemployment rates still persistently rising nearly four months after he signed the biggest economic stimulus in history.
Forecasters say El Nino may be developing
WASHINGTON: A new El Nino could be approaching. Sea-surface temperatures have been warming in the tropical Pacific Ocean, suggesting the potential for the development of the El Nino climate phenomenon this summer, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Suspect in Kansas doctor's death warns of violence
WICHITA, KAN.: Abortion providers say that threats of more slayings from a man accused in the shooting death of a high-profile Kansas abortion doctor proves the existence of a ''violent, terrorist movement'' coalescing around the issue.
South Carolina governor to drop lawsuit in stimulus fight
COLUMBIA, S.C.: South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has followed through on a promise to drop legal challenges in his fight over millions in federal stimulus dollars.
Small plane lands on suburban Atlanta highway
KENNESAW, GA.: A small plane with two people on board has made an emergency landing on a highway in the northern Atlanta suburbs.
Minnesota regulators drop bid to block online gambling
ST. PAUL, MINN.: Minnesota regulators have withdrawn a request that Internet service providers block access to hundreds of online gambling sites.
'Rockefeller' kidnapping case goes to jury
BOSTON: The kidnapping case of the man who calls himself Clark Rockefeller is in the hands of a Massachusetts jury.
Court rejects challenge to Pentagon's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy
WASHINGTON: The Supreme Court today turned down a challenge to the Pentagon policy forbidding gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military, granting an Obama administration request to maintain the Clinton-era ''don't ask, don't tell'' directive.
Bullet hits boy, 11, preparing for baseball photo
NEW YORK: An 11-year-old New York City baseball player preparing for a team photo was shot in the head by an apparent stray bullet.
Laura Bush glad Obama picked woman for high court
WASHINGTON: Former first lady Laura Bush says she's pleased that President Barack Obama nominated a woman for the Supreme Court.
Pennsylvania state trooper dies after chase, shootout
TOBYHANNA, PA.: A man who kidnapped his 9-year-old son in northeastern Pennsylvania led police on a 40-mile chase that ended in a crash followed by an exchange of gunfire that killed him and a state trooper, state police said today. Another trooper was wounded and hospitalized, but the boy was not shot.
Obama promises more than 600,000 stimulus jobs
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama promised today to deliver more than 600,000 jobs through his $787 billion stimulus plan this summer, with federal agencies pumping billions into public works projects, schools and summer youth programs.
Analysis: Serious times call for serious president overseas
Policy experts praising Obama's demeanor with foreign leaders
PARIS: Speaking before crowds, President Barack Obama has displayed a gift for bonding personally with his listeners. One on one with foreign leaders, it seems to be all business all the time.
Alternative medicine becomes mainstream
With no government oversight, consumers exposed to potentially unsafe products, misleading marketing
BALTIMORE: At one of the nation's top trauma hospitals, a nurse circles a patient's bed, humming and waving her arms as if shooing evil spirits. Another woman rubs a quartz bowl with a wand, making tunes that mix with the beeping monitors and hissing respirator keeping the man alive.
Senate near key vote on new tobacco rules
Bill would give FDA broad new authority to regulate how cigarettes are made, marketed
WASHINGTON: Sweeping changes in how the government controls tobacco content and marketing could be approved by the U.S. Senate this week, despite a strong last-ditch effort by tobacco interests and skepticism from some experts that smokers will kick their habit.
'Billy Elliot' captures 10 Tonys
KSU's Alice Ripley triumphs for best leading actress in a musical. Angela Lansbury takes 5th award
NEW YORK: Billy Elliot, the big British musical about a coal miner's son who dreams to dance, bowled over Broadway on Sunday, winning 10 Tonys, including best musical and a unique best actor prize for the three young performers who share the title character.
Abortion foe warns of more violence
Man charged in Kansas doctor's slaying calls news agency from jail cell
WICHITA, KAN.: The man charged with murdering a high-profile abortion doctor claimed from his jail cell Sunday that similar violence is planned around the nation for as long as the procedure remains legal, a threat that comes just days after a federal investigation was launched into his possible accomplices.
National news - June 8
Islamic militants wary of Obama
President's remarks appear to undercut stance of extremists. Some groups respond positively
RAMALLAH, WEST BANK: From Lebanese guerrillas to Saudi preachers, Islamic extremists have warned followers not to be taken in by President Barack Obama's conciliatory words — a sign that some may be nervous about losing support if animosity toward the United States fades.
Two Pennsylvania state troopers shot, wounded; suspect dead
TOBYHANNA, PA.: Two Pennsylvania state police troopers have been shot and seriously wounded following a car chase in the Pocono Mountains.
Oregon woman charged in death of pregnant woman
PORTLAND, ORE.: A pregnant 21-year-old found dead with her baby no longer in her womb befriended the woman charged with killing her through Craigslist, her mother said Sunday.
National news - June 7
President hails the heroes of D-Day
He reflects on 'improbability' of victory, sacrifices made by ordinary men
OMAHA BEACH, FRANCE: President Barack Obama honored the valiant dead and the ''sheer improbability'' of their D-Day victory, commemorating Saturday's 65th anniversary of the decisive invasion even as he remakes the two wars he inherited and tries to thwart potential nuclear threats in Iran and North Korea.
Family, friends recall kindness of doctor
Hundreds of mourners at funeral for physician who ran abortion clinic
Associated Press
WICHITA, KAN.: Hundreds of people gathered Saturday to honor slain abortion doctor George Tiller, eulogized by a longtime friend as a passionate and generous man who repeatedly overcame difficult challenges.
Bank accused of targeting blacks for subprime loans
Former Wells Fargo employees say officials marked certain areas
As she describes it, Beth Jacobson and her fellow loan officers at Wells Fargo Bank ''rode the stagecoach from hell'' for a decade, systematically singling out blacks in Baltimore and suburban Maryland for high-interest subprime mortgages.
Land prices propelling Amish flight to the West
Colorado and Montana are welcoming families looking for open space
WESTCLIFFE, COLO.: A new road sign cautions drivers to watch for Amish horse-drawn carriages in the valley beneath Colorado's Sangre de Cristo mountains. Highway pull-offs and dedicated horse-and-buggy paths are in the works.
Older applicants beating teenagers to summer jobs
Millions of 16- to 19-year-olds are competing with experienced, reliable, laid-off work force
WASHINGTON: After three years of braving Alaska's minus-50-degree winters and round-the-clock summer sunshine, architect Victoria Schmitz is taking a break. She's going to summer camp for two months outside Boulder, Colo.
Cuban spies difficult to uncover, officials say
Couple accused of giving Havana intelligence for 30 years leaves few traces behind
WASHINGTON: Hunting spies is difficult, but Cuban spies are notoriously hard to detect, former senior intelligence officials said a day after an American husband and wife were indicted on charges of spying for Cuba.
No one federal lawyer to blame
E-mail, documents show Justice Dept. attorneys agreed brutal tactics legal
WASHINGTON: When Justice Department lawyers engaged in a sharp internal debate in 2005 over brutal interrogation techniques, even some who believed that using tough tactics was a serious mistake agreed on a basic point: The methods themselves were legal.
Obama's biggest challenges lie ahead
President's accomplishments in first 100 days may seem easy in face of the coming campaigns
WASHINGTON: Forget the first 100 days. How hard was it, after all, for President Barack Obama to get a Democratic Congress to spend gobs of money? Now come the first real political tests of his presidency, a summer of mounting challenges that will be much more difficult than anything else he's faced and will force him to navigate through pressures from both right and left.
National news - June 6
Can't refinance? Call your lawmaker
Members of Congress contacting bank officials on behalf of their constituents facing foreclosure
WASHINGTON: Can't afford your mortgage payment? If the bank won't take your call, your representative in Congress just might.
Obama to visit D-Day site today on 65th anniversary
Cemetery, memorial in France on agenda. Buchenwald tour emotional for president
PARIS: President Barack Obama will visit the American cemetery and memorial in the French region of Normandy today to commemorate the 65th anniversary of D-Day and the U.S. role in ending the Nazi occupation of Europe.
Veterans to gather at museum
Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS: It's ''A Gathering of the Greatest Generation'' — though this year, only a small group of that era's aging heroes will commemorate the invasion of France at Normandy 65 years ago.
Just 345,000 jobs lost in May
Economists encouraged that pace of layoffs tapering off, though U.S. unemployment rate rises to 9.4%
WASHINGTON: Employers throttled back on layoffs in May and cut the fewest jobs in any month since the financial crisis erupted last fall — raising the brightest hope yet that an economic recovery will take hold later this year.
NYPD looking at futuristic weapons technology
NEW YORK: The New York Police Department is looking into futuristic technology that would allow officers' guns to recognize one another. It is aimed at avoiding the type of shooting that killed a plainclothes police officer in Harlem last week.
Mom charged with beating infant with crib part
UNIONTOWN, PA.: A western Pennsylvania woman is in jail on charges she fatally beat her 3-month-old son with a piece of a crib she was assembling last August.
Connecticut governor vetoes measure to end death penalty
HARTFORD, CONN.: Connecticut's governor has vetoed legislation that would have abolished the death penalty.
Indiana money manager guilty in Florida plane crash
PENSACOLA, FLA.: An Indiana money manager pleaded guilty today to federal charges that he crashed his airplane near a Florida Panhandle neighborhood, part of an elaborate scheme to fake his death and escape financial problems and a crumbling marriage.
Biden says White House to 'ramp up' economic recovery
WASHINGTON: Vice President Joe Biden said today the White House plans to ''ramp up'' the pace of its economic recovery efforts as the government reported the unemployment rate jumped to it highest level in over a quarter-century.
Michigan shutting 3 prisons, 5 camps to save money
LANSING, MICH.: Michigan officials say three prisons will close this year, along with five minimum-security prison camps, to save more than $118 million.
Government reverses course on Flight 93 memorial land
SOMERSET, PA.: The federal government backtracked today and decided not to seize the western Pennsylvania property needed to build a Flight 93 memorial, saying instead it would renew negotiations with landowners.
Michigan body matches description of missing girl
MONROE, MICH.: Authorities say a body discovered along a Michigan river appears to be a female roughly the same age as a 5-year-old girl who disappeared nearly two weeks ago.
Tennessee lawmakers approve allowing guns in bars
NASHVILLE, TENN.: Handguns will soon be allowed in bars and restaurants in Tennessee under a new law passed by state legislators who voted to override the governor's veto.
Muslims deem speech unifying
U.S. faithful say Obama may help mend relations
CHICAGO: Muslims across the country who woke to early alarms, stayed up well past their bedtimes and scoured the Internet for clips to hear President Barack Obama's address from Egypt on Thursday said his words could be a catalyst toward repairing strained U.S. relations with Muslims worldwide.
Nagasaki atomic-bomb co-pilot dies at 88
Associated Press
ORLANDO, FLA.: Charles DonaldAlbury, co-pilot of the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, has died after years of congestive heart failure. He was 88.
Obama is praised, panned in Mideast
Speech seeks 'new beginning' in Muslim world
CAIRO, EGYPT: On one level, President Barack Obama's speech Thursday succeeded in reaching out to Muslims across the Middle East, winning widespread praise for his respectful approach, his quotations from the Quran and his forthright references to highly fraught political conflicts.
Deadly bat disease spreading
Scientists warn lawmakers of extinction threat to insect-eating machine in U.S.
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON: A mysterious disease that's killing tens of thousands of bats in the Northeast is spreading so fast that it could reach California within five years, biologists and officials of the Agriculture and Interior departments told lawmakers Thursday.
'Kung Fu' actor David Carradine dead at 72
Manager doubts claim of suicide in Bangkok
New York Times
David Carradine, an enigmatic actor who never outran the cult status he earned in the 1970s television series Kung Fu — even though he went on to star as Woody Guthrie in the film Bound for Glory and as the title character in Quentin Tarantino's twin thrillers, Kill Bill Volumes I and II — was found dead Thursday in a hotel room in Bangkok, Thailand, where he was filming a new movie. He was 72 and lived in the San Fernando Valley, outside of Los Angeles.
National news - June 5
Teen 'radicalized' on trip to Yemen
Lawyer blames terrorists for converting suspect in shooting of soldier
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, ARK.: A man accused of fatally shooting a soldier outside a recruiting center begged for FBI agents to free him from a Yemeni jail where he was ''radicalized'' by Islamic terrorists, his lawyer told the Associated Press on Thursday.
Scientists find Huntington's deadly protein
Discovery spurs hope to treat other diseases, including Alzheimer's
WASHINGTON: Scientists have solved a mystery surrounding a horrific illness: Why people with Huntington's disease harbor a faulty protein throughout their bodies but it destroys only certain brain cells.
Gender and heritage a frequent topic for Sotomayor
WASHINGTON: Sonia Sotomayor told the Senate on Thursday that the White House never questioned her about cases or issues she might have to decide as a Supreme Court justice, a disclosure gleaned from reams of documents that reveal she has spoken repeatedly about how her gender and Latina heritage affect her judging.
FBI: Airline worker helped friend get gun on plane
PHILADELPHIA: The FBI charged a US Airways employee with helping his roommate get a concealed, semiautomatic handgun onto a plane departing Philadelphia early Thursday.
Man charged in Utah with threatening Obama
The Salt Lake Tribune reported on its Web site Thursday that Daniel James Murray allegedly made the remark to a teller at a bank in St. George on May 27 as he withdrew $13,000 from an account.
Text of Obama's speech to Muslims
Text of President Barack Obama's speech at Cairo University, as provided by CQ Transcriptions. Good afternoon. I am honored to be in the timeless city of Cairo and to be hosted by two remarkable institutions. For over a thousand years, al-Azhar has, had stood as a beacon of Islamic learning. And for over a century, Cairo University has been a source of Egypt's advancement. Together, you represent the harmony between tradition and progress.
New swine flu deaths reported in four states
Patients in California, Illinois, Utah and Wisconsin had other health problems
MILWAUKEE: Health officials in Wisconsin, California, Illinois and Utah reported deaths from swine flu on Thursday, and said all four patients had had other health problems.
Clemson official says school manipulated rankings
A rogue Clemson University staffer has accused the South Carolina school of manipulating its U.S. News & World Report ranking — reviving a debate over what critics call the pernicious influence of the magazine's annual college ratings.
Deep-sea explorers may lose vast treasure to Spain
TAMPA, FLA.: Florida deep-sea explorers who raised an estimated $500 million treasure from the 200-year-old wreck of a Spanish galleon should give all the loot back to Spain, a federal magistrate judge said.
Testimony ends in 'Rockefeller' kidnapping trail
BOSTON: Testimony has ended in the kidnapping trial of the man who calls himself Clark Rockefeller. The final witness today was psychiatrist Dr. James Chu. He says he believes Rockefeller exaggerated his symptoms and was not insane when he kidnapped his 7-year-old daughter.
Ha-Ha! Ape study traces evolution of laughter
NEW YORK: When scientists set out to trace the roots of human laughter, some chimps and gorillas were just tickled to help. Literally.
Bishop sentenced for church bell noise
PHOENIX: A Phoenix church leader has received a suspended 10-day jail sentence because his tolling church bells violated a city noise ordinance.
Obama nominee reportedly tied to harsh CIA interrogation program
WASHINGTON: The Obama administration's pick for a top intelligence post at the Homeland Security Department has ties to the CIA's harsh interrogation program, a congressional aide said.
American soldier killed in northern Iraq
BAGHDAD: The U.S. military says an American soldier was killed in a grenade attack in northern Iraq. A statement says the Multi-National Division — North soldier died today from injuries sustained while on patrol in the province that includes the disputed city of Kirkuk.
IRS to seek more regulation of tax preparers
WASHINGTON: The IRS is working on new rules that could require paid tax preparers to be licensed to improve tax compliance and reduce fraud, IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman announced today.
Neighbors who beat man over child's rape won't be charged
PHILADELPHIA: Philadelphia's police commissioner says there will be no charges against neighbors who beat a man sought for questioning in the rape of an 11-year-old girl.
Grade-change scam delays diplomas for Pennsylvania students
READING, PA.: Graduates at one eastern Pennsylvania high school donned caps and gowns and marched in their graduation ceremony, but didn't get their diplomas because of a grade-changing scheme.
White House uses Web during speech to Muslims
WASHINGTON: President Obama in Egypt told Muslims he wants to engage them and their countries. More than 5,000 miles away, U.S. administration officials sent notes to supporters — and critics — via Twitter, Facebook and text messages to reinforce the point.
Obama appoints czar for Great Lakes cleanup
TRAVERSE CITY, MICH.: President Barack Obama has appointed a Great Lakes czar to oversee the administration's initiative to restore the Lakes' environment.
Pennsylvania woman sues Victoria's Secret over bra design
PITTSBURGH: A western Pennsylvania woman claims in a federal lawsuit that lingerie store Victoria's Secret infringed on her patent for a bra design.
Government studies playground risks
Rita Beamish
Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO: The federal government is reconsidering whether sports fields and playgrounds made from ground-up tires could harm children's health after some Environmental Protection Agency scientists raised concerns, documents show.
Police say mom stabbed bus driver in stroller dispute
NEW ORLEANS: Authorities say a woman who was repeatedly asked to fold up her baby's stroller on a New Orleans city bus refused, then poured milk on the driver before stabbing her in the chest.
Man charged with arranging wife's rape online
CHARLOTTE, N.C.: A man who police say arranged on Craigslist for his wife to be raped by another man was in jail on $200,000 bond today as investigators probed computer and telephone records for the attacker's identity.
Obama plan would provide health care for all
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama says he's open to requiring all Americans to buy health insurance, as long as the plan provides a ''hardship waiver'' to exempt poor people from having to pay.
Triplet gives birth to her own set of 3
DETROIT: A Michigan woman who's one-third of a set of triplets is celebrating the birth of her own three babies.
Queen of blues K. Taylor dies at 80
Grammy winner sang often in Northeast Ohio
CHICAGO: Koko Taylor, a sharecropper's daughter whose regal bearing and powerful voice earned her the sobriquet ''Queen of the Blues,'' has died after complications from surgery. She was 80.
Senators grill GM, Chrysler on dealers
Spurned franchise owners appeal to Congress for help
WASHINGTON: Partners no more, bankrupt automakers and small-town car dealers who are being stripped of their livelihood brought the anguish of their sinking fortunes into the halls of Congress on Wednesday and sparred over the companies' plans to slash franchises nationwide.
Obama to offer vision for Mideast
Saudi king welcomes American president. Egypt's best-known dissidents to attend Cairo speech
CAIRO, EGYPT: In his speech today to Muslims around the world, President Barack Obama will speak in detail about extremism, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and ''what he thinks needs to be done on all sides'' to reach peace between Israelis and Palestinians, his aides said Wednesday.
National news - June 4
FEMA weighs housing proposal
Fla.'s foreclosed homes might shelter evacuees
MIAMI: Trying to make the best of a bad situation, federal officials might use foreclosed homes as temporary housing for hurricane evacuees in Florida as soon as this summer.
First lady joins Sotomayor push
With Republicans taking aim, Michelle Obama offers subtle defense of Supreme Court nominee
WASHINGTON: The White House dispatched first lady Michelle Obama to defend Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor on Wednesday, part of a broad offensive to humanize the judge that came as former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich backed off his harsh criticism of her as a racist.
Obama details his proposals for health care
Overhaul would allow Americans to purchase government insurance
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama, providing the first real details on how he wants to reshape the nation's health care system, urged Congress on Wednesday toward a sweeping overhaul that would allow Americans to buy into a government insurance plan.
Test patients open mouths for obesity surgery
Doctors staple stomach through tube inserted down throat in scar-free procedure; early results positive
CHICAGO: Doctors are testing a new kind of obesity surgery without any cuts through the abdomen, snaking a tube as thick as a garden hose down the throat to snap staples into the stomach.
Blunder puts list of nukes online
Details of nuclear sites posted; U.S. officials say no threats to security
WASHINGTON: The government's inadvertent and red-faced Internet posting of a 266-page list of U.S. nuclear sites provided a one-step guide for anyone wanting details about such sensitive information.
Southern California 10-year-old coping with rare breast cancer
LA MIRADA, CALIF.: Ten-year-old Hannah Powell-Auslam said she's trying to remain brave as she battles an extremely rare, adult form of breast cancer that led to a mastectomy.
Kerry says $819,848 tax lien is clerical error
WASHINGTON: Internal Revenue Service has filed a $819,848 tax lien against Sen. John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign, but Kerry today blamed IRS clerical error for the claim and said his campaign owes no tax penalties.
Police: Toy gun led to lockdown at Princeton University
PRINCETON, N.J.: Police say a gun scare at Princeton University began when four teen boys found a toy gun on campus.
4 teen teammates face adult sex assault charges
TAMPA, FLA.: Four middle-school students in the Tampa, Fla., area are being charged as adults with sexually assaulting a younger flag-football teammate in a locker room.
Ex-Detroit mayor late, $3,500 short on restitution
DETROIT: Former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was three days late and $3,500 short on a May restitution payment ordered as part of the criminal case that drove him from office, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections.
FDA approves cancer treatment for dogs
WASHINGTON: The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first drug made specifically to treat cancer in dogs.
FEMA may put storm victims in foreclosed homes
MIAMI: The federal government is exploring how to put Florida hurricane evacuees in foreclosed homes if a Katrina-like storm devastates the region and shelters, hotels and other housing options are full, the Associated Press has learned.
Topless coffee shop gutted by overnight fire
VASSALBORO, MAINE: A topless coffee shop that sparked controversy went up in flames early today, just hours after the owner talked with local officials about making the business more like a strip club.
Man accused of posting sex assault live on Web
PHOENIX: Authorities in Arizona say a man has been accused of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman and broadcasting it live on the Internet.
Store owner gives would-be thief $40 and bread
GARDEN CITY, N.Y.: A rifle-toting convenience store owner said he decided to show mercy on a would-be robber after seeing the man collapse into tears and claim he was only committing the crime to support his starving family.
Couple to plead guilty in toxic pet food case
KANSAS CITY, MO.: A Las Vegas-based company and its owners have agreed to plead guilty in connection with tainted pet food in 2007 that may have killed thousands of dogs and cats.
Government posts sensitive list of U.S. nuclear sites on Internet
WASHINGTON: The government accidentally posted on the Internet a list of all civilian nuclear sites and their activities in the United States.
Public, corporate roles could blur GM restructuring
Obama wants green cars, more jobs. Administration eyes return to profitability
WASHINGTON: As majority stakeholder in General Motors, the government is straddling two responsibilities that could be awkwardly at odds: corporate ownership and public policy making.
Abortion doctor offers his services
Nebraska colleague of slain Kansas physician wants to continue doing late-term procedures
OMAHA, NEB.: Physician LeRoy Carhart wants to continue providing third-term abortions after the slaying of his friend and colleague George Tiller, but the Nebraska doctor doesn't have anywhere to perform them — and he's one of only a handful of people who will.
National news - June 3
Top court nominee stays silent at Senate
First Capitol Hill visit for Sotomayor shows restraint and discipline
WASHINGTON: Judge Sonia Sotomayor is not shy. By all accounts, her hearing is fine. But Sotomayor stayed nearly silent in public during her debut Tuesday on Capitol Hill under a guiding principle more associated with the practice of medicine than law or politics: Above all, do no harm.
D-Day Memorial near closing in financial ruin
Known for its realistic portrayal, its biggest boosters, vets, are dying off
BEDFORD, VA.: On the eve of the 65th anniversary of D-Day, the foundation that runs the National D-Day Memorial is on the brink of financial ruin.
Car plows into Massachusetts Wal-Mart, injuring 3
DANVERS, MASS.: Police in Massachusetts say a car being driven by a 93-year-old man plowed through the front entrance of a Wal-Mart, ending up about 25 feet inside the store. Three people were injured.
Group says New Jersey tops list in anti-Semitic hate crimes
PARAMUS, N.J.: New Jersey had more anti-Semitic incidents reported in 2008 than any other state. However, the Anti-Defamation League says the number of incidents reported in the United States declined for the fourth straight year.
Minnesota governor reportedly won't seek third term
NEW YORK: Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty won't seek a third term, GOP officials said today ahead of the expected announcement that will fuel speculation of a 2012 presidential run by the Republican.
Body found in river identified as missing philanthropist
ST. LOUIS: The body of a 102-year-old builder and philanthropist and leader of the region's Jewish community was found today in the Missouri River more than two weeks after a witness saw an elderly man jump from a bridge.
Senate advances bill to regulate tobacco
The 84-11 Senate vote to consider the bill came a month after the House overwhelmingly passed a similar measure giving the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Obama picks N.Y. Republican for Army secretary
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama has chosen a Republican congressman to be the new secretary of the Army, adding to the ranks of opposition party figures in his administration.
Washington man sentenced for having sex with dogs
CHEHALIS, WASH.: A Washington state man has been sentenced to 30 days in jail for having sex with his two dogs.
Police say recruiting center gunman targeted military
LITTLE ROCK, ARK.: Police describe it as a killing motivated by politics and religion: A Muslim convert upset with the U.S. military drove to a recruiting center and opened fire on two soldiers, fatally wounding one.
Kansas doctor refused to quit: 'I know they need me'
To some he was an unflinching hero, to others a remorseless villain. As a late-term abortion doctor, George Tiller knew he had chosen a dangerous career, one that made him a lightning rod. His clinic was a fortress, his days marred by threats, but he refused to give up what he saw as his life's mission.
Child with swine flu dies in New York City
NEW YORK: A child has become the fifth person in New York City to die with swine flu. The medical examiner is conducting tests to determine what role the virus played in the child's death.
Hawaii's governor orders furloughs 3 days a month
HONOLULU: Describing a ''fiscal emergency,'' Gov. Linda Lingle has ordered three days of unpaid furloughs each month for 14,500 state employees to help erase a $729 million budget shortfall.
Doomed jet equipped to withstand lightning
Strikes common, suggesting other factors present
BRUSSELS: The lightning and turbulence that might have hit an Air France jet flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris are rarely the cause of plane crashes, analysts say. But they note that rough weather might have triggered a series of malfunctions that led to the disappearance of the jetliner.
Taxpayers take a stake in humbled GM's fate
60 percent of automaker to be held by government under bankruptcy terms required by Obama team
WASHINGTON: It was a line that resonated from the past: ''What is good for General Motors and all who work there is good for the United States of America.''
Folic acid may have more benefits
Research indicates it prevents premature births, heart defects, in addition to neural tube defects
Baby-protecting folic acid is getting renewed attention: Not only does it fight spina bifida and some related abnormalities, new research shows it also may prevent premature birth and heart defects.
National news - June 2
Obama's plans to reach out to Muslims a gamble
Some don't think president's efforts will have a notable impact on relations
WASHINGTON: Barack Obama began on Day One of his presidency to ''reboot'' America's damaged relationship with the world's 1.5 billion Muslims. With this week's Middle East trip and long-promised speech in Cairo, he takes a perilous leap into the effort.
Murder suspect is against abortion
Man accused of killing doctor is said to have likened him to a Nazi
WICHITA, KAN.: Scott Roeder harbored a burning, ''eye-for-an-eye'' anger toward abortion doctors. He once subscribed to a magazine suggesting ''justifiable homicide'' against them, and apparently likened Dr. George Tiller to the Nazi death-camp doctor Josef Mengele.
Sotomayor prepares for Senate courtship
High court nominee to begin meeting today with legislative leaders
WASHINGTON: Venturing into a tradition of protocol and politics, Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor prepared Monday to greet the senators who will decide her judicial future as control of her Supreme Court journey shifts to Capitol Hill.
Newlywed, in wedding gown, alerts family about house fire
BRIDGEPORT, CONN.: A Connecticut newlywed is credited with helping save a family from a house fire while in her wedding gown.
Wisconsin man pleads to kidnappings, sexual assaults
WISCONSIN RAPIDS, WIS.: A Wisconsin man pleaded no contest today to charges he kidnapped and sexually assaulted two young men who were held captive in chains at his home.
Prosecutors say college student was budding terrorist
ATLANTA: A former Georgia Tech student was a budding terrorist who took choppy videos of potential targets in Washington, D.C., hoped to join the Taliban and desperately tried to prove himself to jihadist groups overseas, prosecutors said today.
Byrd, longest serving senator, has staph infection
WASHINGTON: Sen. Robert C. Byrd, who has served in the Senate longer than anyone in history, has developed a staph infection that has prolonged his stay in a Washington-area hospital.
Military recruiter killed in Arkansas shooting
LITTLE ROCK, ARK.: One Army recruiter was killed today and a second was wounded in a shooting at a recruiting office, and a suspect was arrested, police said.
Health industry to deliver plan to White House
WASHINGTON: Health industry officials pushed to get a plan to the White House today documenting how they'd save $2 trillion over a decade through measures like reducing hospitalizations and cutting down on paperwork.
National letter carriers food drive sets record
WASHINGTON: The annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive collected a record 73.4 million pounds of food this year despite the weak economy.
High court rules for Ohio in death penalty case
WASHINGTON: The Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that the state of Ohio should have another chance to sentence a convicted killer to death, despite a previous factual finding that the man is mentally retarded.
Police continue search for 5-year-old Michigan girl
MONROE, MICH.: Michigan investigators looking for a 5-year-old girl missing for more than a week want to talk to the owner or driver of a minivan that was parked at a school playground near the spot where she was last seen.
FBI: Crime falls, but small-town violence rises
WASHINGTON: Cities in the United States got safer in 2008, while small towns grew more dangerous, according to FBI data released today.
Suspect jailed in Kansas abortion doctor's killing
WICHITA, KAN.: A man suspected of fatally shooting abortion doctor George Tiller in church was in jail today while investigators sought to learn more about his background, including his possible connections to anti-abortion groups.
Abortion doctor dies in shooting at church
Suspect is detained in killing of clinic operator in Kansas
WICHITA, KAN.: Services were just starting Sunday morning at Reformation Lutheran Church when members heard a pop. Someone thought it sounded like a balloon bursting.
GM to file for bankruptcy today
Taxpayers to have 60 percent ownership stake; feds to pump $30 billion more into company
From Beacon Journal wire services
WASHINGTON: General Motors, the humbled auto giant that has been part of American life for more than 100 years, will file for bankruptcy protection today in a deal that will give taxpayers a 60 percent ownership stake and expand the government's reach into big business.
Hurricanes threatening empty foreclosed homes
Further damage possible if houses aren't prepared for storms' wind and rain
LEHIGH ACRES, FLA.: Mike Manikchand points toward his neighbors — a half-dozen empty, foreclosed-upon homes, sitting on weed-strewn yards — and he wonders: What will happen if a hurricane slams into southwestern Florida this year?
National news - June 1
Vaccines instruct body to fight cancerous cells
Cures still distant, but new therapies use immune system to buy time
First there was surgery, then chemotherapy and radiation. Now, doctors have overcome 30 years of false starts and found success with a fourth way to fight cancer: using the body's natural defender, the immune system.
GOP senators sidestep blasting of Sotomayor
Limbaugh, Gingrich call Hispanic nominee to top court a racist
WASHINGTON: Leading GOP senators on Sunday offered more subtle criticism of the first Hispanic nominated to the Supreme Court, but passed up the chance to stifle racially charged critiques of Sonia Sotomayor by some fellow Republicans.
Millvina Dean, survived sinking of Titanic
British woman dies after pneumonia bout
Associated Press
LONDON: Millvina Dean, who as a baby was wrapped in a sack and lowered into a lifeboat in the frigid North Atlantic, died Sunday, the last survivor of the 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic.
National news - May 31
Catholicism no longer seen as roadblock to high office
If Sotomayor wins confirmation, 6 of 9 justices will be Catholic
For the first 50 years of the Supreme Court, there were no Roman Catholics on the bench, and for years after that, there was generally a single ''Catholic seat.''
Korean DMZ remains quiet despite threats
Rest of the world debates the North's threats and missile tests, but troops in border village are calm
PANMUNJOM, KOREA: The thin North Korean guard shuffles around in his dull green uniform, a pair of binoculars fixed to his eyes, while a squad of South Koreans in black helmets glare back silently from positions across the border.
FEMA sending evictions to Katrina trailer residents
Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS: The only thing keeping Gerard Rigney from getting back into his home is the FEMA trailer in his front yard.
Death of Ohioan shows how cartels extending reach of heroin sales
Drug now infiltrating America's suburban and rural byways. Ohio of particular concern as hub because of freeway network
GROVE CITY, Ohio: For five hours, Dana Smith huddled stunned and bewildered in her suburban living room while the body of her son Arthur Eisel IV, 31, lay slumped in an upstairs bathroom, next to a hypodermic needle.
Hackers hot commodity in evolving defense
Military contractors compete for talent to protect American networks, exploit those of rival nations
MELBOURNE, FLA.: The government's urgent push into cyberwarfare has set off a rush among the biggest military companies for billions of dollars in new defense contracts.
New rules to start Monday for traveling across borders
Requirement to show passport or other documents could back up traffic
BLAINE, WASH.: New rules requiring passports or new high-tech documents to cross the United States' northern and southern borders are taking effect Monday, as some rue the tightening of security and others hail it as long overdue.
Drug combinations may raise breast cancer risk
Some antidepressants might interfere with medicine taken to fight disease
ORLANDO, FLA.: Breast cancer survivors risk seeing their disease come back if they use certain antidepressants while also taking the cancer prevention drug tamoxifen, new research shows.
Portrait of soldier takes shape in time for D-Day
Writings from contemporaries of Obama's 'Gramps' describe a well-liked, hard-working soldier from Kansas
WASHINGTON: Surely, Stanley Dunham was gazing skyward 65 years ago, on D-Day. Dunham, the man whom Barack Obama would one day call Gramps, was a 26-year-old supply sergeant stationed near the English Channel with the U.S. Army Air Forces when the invasion of Normandy at last began. Six weeks later, he crossed the Channel, too, and followed the Allied front across France. A year later, he was on track to fight in Japan when the atom bomb sent him home instead.
Police nightmare in N.Y.: shooting a fellow officer
Risk of armed confrontation is covered in training but accidents still occur
NEW YORK: It's a police officer's nightmare scenario: Confronting someone who appears to be an armed suspect and opening fire, only to discover that person is actually an officer not in uniform.
Boyle finishes reality show in 2nd place
But unlikely star leaves 'Britain's Got Talent' with notice worldwide
Associated Press
LONDON: She gave a final curtsy, a shimmy of her hips, and walked off stage, leaving the winners to perform an encore.
GM board goes into secrecy mode
Bondholders' deadline to accept offer to trade debt for stake in company passes. Bankruptcy decision undetermined
DETROIT: General Motors Corp.'s board of directors met for a second day Saturday to decide whether the automaker would complete its restructuring by filing for bankruptcy protection Monday.
Judge poised to rule on Chrysler sale
Fiat deal is expected to win approval; debt holders may appeal
NEW YORK: A bankruptcy judge said Friday that he will rule by Monday on whether Chrysler LLC can go forward with its plan to sell most of the company to a group headed by Italy's Fiat and take a big step toward its goal of a speedy exit from Chapter 11.
Judge sentences Spector to prison
Music producer to serve 19 years to life in death of actress six years ago
LOS ANGELES: Phil Spector was sentenced Friday to 19 years to life in prison for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson, who was shot through the mouth in the music producer's home six years ago.
National news - May 30
Corruption probe gains heat
Grand jury subpoenas congressman in investigation of a top lobbying firm
Associated Press
WASHINGTON: A federal grand jury has subpoenaed a Democratic congressman in a corruption probe, the first concrete indication that a long-simmering Justice Department investigation of a top lobbying firm also has the potential to seriously damage congressional careers.
Long journey to Judaism
First black female rabbi spends years searching for religious connection
Associated Press
CINCINNATI: Alysa Stanton began quenching her spiritual thirst early, discovering Judaism after a search that began at age 9 and worried her mother only when a man called the house one night asking for her youngest child.
Amputee to sue again
Judge reverses jury verdict in case of woman whose arms, legs were cut off
DAVIE, FLA.: When the sharp pain shooting through Lisa Strong's back got worse, she thought it was another kidney stone and expected the discomfort to pass. This time was different.
Holdup victim free on bond in murder case
Some say pharmacist was right; NAACP disagrees
OKLAHOMA CITY: Confronted by two holdup men, pharmacist Jerome Ersland pulled a gun, shot one of them in the head and chased the other away. Then, in a scene recorded by the drugstore's security camera, he went behind the counter, got another gun, and pumped five more bullets into the wounded teenager as he lay on the floor.
GM downsizes holdings, cars
Subcompact car model, concessions by UAW among drastic changes
DETROIT: With an almost certain bankruptcy filing days away, General Motors is beginning its reinvention, planning to retool one factory to make its smallest vehicles ever in the United States and rid itself of the biggest.
Defense contractor with ties to Rep. Murtha suspended
WASHINGTON: A Pennsylvania defense contractor who got millions of dollars in congressional earmarks from Rep. John Murtha has been blocked from doing business with the Navy amid allegations of fraud.
Obama setting up better security for computers
WASHINGTON: America has failed for too long to adequately protect the security of its computer networks, President Barack Obama said today, announcing he will name a new cyber czar to press for action.
Quick-thinking pizza man leads cops to rape victim
SEVIERVILLE, TENN.: An alert deliveryman spotted a woman tied up inside a remote cabin in Tennessee's Smoky Mountains while dropping off a pizza, and police said his call to police helped rescue the kidnapping and rape victim.
Driver takes empty Illinois school bus on police chase
GLENWOOD, ILL.: Authorities say a person driving a school bus with no children on board led police on a chase, ramming cars before stopping in the yard of a house in a Chicago suburb.
Wrong remains delivered for Kansas soldier's funeral
KANSAS CITY, KAN.: A funeral procession for a soldier killed in Germany during World War II abruptly ended at a Kansas City, Kan., cemetery when military officers realized they had the remains of the wrong soldier.
Husband of woman in abduction hoax seeks answers
PHILADELPHIA: The husband of the woman who police say orchestrated an abduction hoax that began near Philadelphia and ended at Disney World said today he is struggling to sort out the rumors of theft and marriage problems surrounding her disappearance.
Schwarzenegger plan would close 220 California parks
SACRAMENTO, CALIF.: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget cuts could mean the closing of up to 220 state parks, among them the home of the world's tallest tree and other attractions that draw millions of visitors.
Aspiring neurosurgeon from Kansas is top speller, wins with 'Laodicean'
WASHINGTON: It's safe to say the best is yet to come for the new national spelling champion. She's only just become a teenager. She'll probably keep her competitive juices flowing by entering the International Brain Bee, the perfect contest for an aspiring neurosurgeon.
Off-duty New York City cop fatally shot by fellow officer
NEW YORK: A New York City plainclothes policeman who drew his gun while chasing someone he found rummaging through his car has been shot to death by a fellow officer.
No eating for two with new pregnancy guidelines
Weight gain recommendations include the first for obese women: 11 to 20 pounds
Eating for two? New guidelines are setting how much weight women should gain during pregnancy — surprisingly little if they're already overweight.
GM offers bondholders new deal
Troubled automaker begins discussing how it would look once it emerges from expected bankruptcy reorganization
DETROIT: As General Motors moved closer to a bankruptcy filing, possibly early next week, attention on Thursday turned again to the bondholders, the most important group that the company has yet to win over for its efforts to start fresh.
National news - May 29
Bacterial zoo thrives on healthy skin
Scientists conduct census of microbes that naturally coexist in human body
WASHINGTON: Eeeww. There's a zoo full of critters living on your skin — a bacterial zoo, that is. Consider your underarm a rain forest.
Clock ticking for gay Air Force pilot
Aviator hopes Obama will end 'don't ask, don't tell' policy soon enough to save career
BOISE, IDAHO: Barack Obama's campaign promise to scrap the military's ''don't ask, don't tell'' policy gave Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach hope. Now the aviator is wondering if the president will deliver in time to save his 18-year Air Force career.
Natural gas in Arctic is mostly Russian
Geological survey attempts to predict undiscovered supply
WASHINGTON: Nearly one-third of the natural gas yet to be discovered in the world is north of the Arctic Circle and most of it is in Russian territory, according to a new analysis led by researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey.
High court nominee's views on abortion rights unknown
Both sides of issue want Sonia Sotomayor to clarify her position
WASHINGTON: One of the few things conservatives and liberals agree on when it comes to Sonia Sotomayor is that her views on abortion rights are a mystery — and one that must be solved before she can be confirmed as a Supreme Court justice.
Obama presses Mideast peace issues
Palestinians and Israel urged to keep obligations on settlements, security
WASHINGTON: Gingerly trying to advance Mideast peace, President Barack Obama on Thursday pushed Palestinians for progress despite reluctance from Israel.
Prosecutors say pregnant girl paid man to beat her up
VERNAL, UTAH: Prosecutors say a 17-year-old girl allegedly paid a man to beat her up so she would have a miscarriage.
New York man sues police for $220 million over alleged assault
NEW YORK: A man who says he was assaulted and sodomized by New York City police officers has sued the city and the department.
Car driven by mother plows into preschool, 5 hurt
HUNTINGTON BEACH, CALIF.: A car plowed into a bustling preschool today, injuring five youngsters, two seriously.
Journalist says she falsely confessed to spying in Iran
WASHINGTON: Journalist Roxana Saberi, who spent four months in an Iranian prison on espionage charges, said in her first in-depth interview that she initially confessed to being a spy but later recanted.
Ex-soldier apologizes to relatives of slain Iraqis
LOUISVILLE, KY.: A former soldier convicted of raping and murdering an Iraqi teen and killing her family has apologized for the slayings.
Bob Hope honored on new postage stamp
WASHINGTON: Bob Hope is making one more appearance with the troops. The comedian famed for his tireless travel to entertain American servicemen and women around the world is being honored with a 44-cent postage stamp Friday in ceremonies aboard the USS Midway in San Diego.
Delaware Supreme Court gives OK to sports betting
DOVER, DEL.: The Delaware Supreme Court has ruled that a law allowing sports betting does not conflict with the state constitution, paving the way for Delaware to become the only state east of the Rocky Mountains to allow wagering on the outcome of games.
Ohio couple guilty in 'sugar daddy' extortion
STAMFORD, CONN.: An Ohio man and his wife have pleaded guilty to cheating a Connecticut man out of $100,000 in a ''sugar daddy' scam.
Nebraska lawmakers approve lethal injection bill
LINCOLN, NEB.: Nebraska lawmakers have approved a bill giving the state the legal means to carry out its death penalty.
Drugmaker to pay nearly $100 million settlement
WASHINGTON: Drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis has agreed to pay nearly $100 million to settle allegations it cheated Medicaid on the cost of nasal sprays.
$232 million Powerball ticket sold in Winner, S.D.
PIERRE, S.D.: The town of Winner, S.D., has produced a winner — and a multimillion dollar one at that.
Pennsylvania mom who reported being abducted faces charges
PHILADELPHIA: A suburban mother tracked to Disney World after claiming she and her young daughter had been abducted by two black men and stuffed into a car trunk will be extradited from Florida and charged with making false reports and identity theft, a prosecutor said.
Police say boy, 12, hits car while driving drunk dad
TAMPA, FLA.: Tampa Police have arrested a man they say sat drunk in the passenger seat of his SUV while he let his 12-year-old son drive. Authorities say the boy hit a pregnant woman's car while making a turn.
Government poised to own most of GM
U.S., Canada could end up with 70% stake if auto giant seeks bankruptcy protection
WASHINGTON: Government Motors. A new name for Detroit's weakened auto giant GM is making the rounds, sometimes with irony, sometimes with dread, suggested by the deepest Washington industrial intervention in a half-century. The Obama administration is planting itself at the wheel of General Motors with a major ownership stake — and all that goes with it for the U.S. taxpayer.
National news - May 28
Calif. seeks loan guarantees
Governor seeks U.S. help to trim borrowing costs amid projected $24 billion deficit
SACRAMENTO, CALIF.: If AIG was too big to fail, how about the world's eighth-largest economy? In a move with only one modern-day precedent, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic lawmakers are pressing the Obama administration and members of Congress for federal loan guarantees to help the state out of a desperate, multibillion-dollar jam.
Heat effective treating throat condition
Precancerous cells in esophagus zapped. Ailment is linked to heartburn
Zapping away abnormal, precancerous cells in the throat may lower the risk of developing esophageal cancer, the first major study to test this technique finds.
Homeland chief tries to move past 9/11 error with Canada
Associated Press
OTTAWA: U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano wanted to make it clear to Canada on Wednesday that she knows she misspoke when she erroneously said that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists entered the United States through Canada.
DA: Missing Pa. mom, girl found at Disney World
PHILADELPHIA: A suburban mother who claimed she and her daughter had been abducted and stuffed in a car trunk is in custody in Florida after theyr were found at Disney World, where they had flown hours after reporting their abduction, a prosecutor said Wednesday.
Muslim charity member gets 65 years in prison
DALLAS: A founding member of a Muslim charity in Texas has been sentenced to 65 years in prison for sending millions of dollars to terrorists overseas.
Police continue search for missing Michigan girl
MONROE, MICH.: More than 100 searchers are trying to find a 5-year-old Michigan girl who disappeared three days ago and might have been kidnapped.
Colorado police say 3 dead in planned murder-suicide
BOULDER, COLO.: Three people have been found dead in a home in Colorado in what police are calling a ''planned homicide-suicide.''
7-year-old drives for help after crash in New Mexico
CLOVIS, N.M.: Police in New Mexico say a 7-year-old girl drove the family's damaged vehicle to get help after her father was killed in a crash.
4 bodies left behind in vacant Indiana funeral home
GARY, IND.: Church leaders who bought a defunct Indiana funeral home in a tax sale have stumbled upon four bodies that had been left behind in the vacant building.
Pennsylvania mom, 9-year-old daughter are rear-ended, report abduction
PHILADELPHIA: Police are searching for a woman and her young daughter, who were allegedly abducted in broad daylight by men who rear-ended their car near Philadelphia.
Obama chooses Hispanic woman for court
Judge Sonia Sotomayor, daughter of immigrants, would be historic first if confirmed by Senate
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama said Tuesday that he would nominate Sonia Sotomayor, a federal appeals court judge in New York, to the Supreme Court, choosing a daughter of Puerto Rican parents raised in a Bronx public housing project to become the nation's first Hispanic justice.
U.S. drug appetite fuels Mexican cartels
Forty-six percent of Americans 12 and older have indulged in illicit substances, survey says
NEW YORK: The Mexican drug cartels battling viciously to expand and survive have a powerful financial incentive: Across the border to the north is a market for illegal drugs unsurpassed for its wealth, diversity and voraciousness.
National news - May 27
California Supreme Court upholds gay-marriage ban
6-1 verdict sets off cheers and protests. Ruling doesn't apply to those already wed
SAN FRANCISCO: California's Supreme Court upheld the state's gay-marriage ban Tuesday but said the 18,000 same-sex weddings that took place before the prohibition passed are still valid — a ruling decried by gay-rights activists as a hollow victory.
Cancer death rate declines in 2006
Drop is approximately 2%. Doctors disagree on causes and significance of results
The U.S. cancer death rate fell again in 2006, a new analysis shows, continuing a slow drop that experts attribute to declines in smoking, earlier detection and better treatment.
Road blast kills three Americans in western Iraq
Reconstruction official among bomb victims. Explosion wounds two
BAGHDAD: A roadside bomb blasted a U.S. convoy west of Baghdad, killing three Americans, including a State Department reconstruction official who had been a prominent figure in Illinois politics, U.S. authorities said Tuesday.
Sen. Burris offers Blagojevich money on recorded call
Illinois lawmaker tells governor's brother he's interested in seat
CHICAGO: A transcript of a secretly recorded phone call between the brother of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and U.S. Sen. Roland Burris was released in federal court Tuesday, a call in which Burris, then seeking the Senate seat, was recorded offering the Blagojevich campaign a check.
Champion spellers united by dreams of achievement
Three top competitors share an Indian heritage and say they will study to become neurosurgeons
WASHINGTON: The reigning national spelling champion is a 14-year-old kid whose one-liners kept everyone laughing a year ago. His parents moved to the United States from central India, and he wants to be a neurosurgeon when he grows up.
Ethnic politics boost nominee's confirmation chances
Republicans will have to tread carefully if they oppose first Hispanic justice
WASHINGTON: On the often bumpy road to confirmation to the nation's highest court, Sonia Sotomayor has a crucial dynamic smoothing her path: ethnic politics.
National news - May 26
Obama observes Memorial Day
President sends wreaths to monuments for Confederate, black soldiers
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama avoided a racial controversy on his first Memorial Day in office by sending wreaths to separate memorials for Confederate soldiers and for blacks who fought against them during the Civil War.
Canadian union votes for GM cuts
86 percent of workers approve concessions to help reduce costs
TORONTO: Canadian Auto Workers members voted 86 percent in favor of a cost-cutting deal with General Motors Canada as the automaker bids to qualify for more government loans and assure its future in Canada.
Republicans set sights on races for governor
New Jersey, Virginia to have key contests in GOP bid for revival
MORRISTOWN, N.J.: Republicans are dreaming big in the swamps of New Jersey and the rural outposts of Virginia. After crushing losses at all levels of government in back-to-back elections, the GOP has pinned its hopes on the only major contests this year — governors' races in two states that Democrats control. Downtrodden Republicans hope victories this fall will revive the party heading into crucial congressional elections in 2010.
Study finds few retail clinics in poorest neighborhoods
Financial incentives might be needed to lure facilities to low-income areas
CHICAGO: Walk-in retail clinics in grocery and drugstore chains can help the uninsured find health care, proponents say. But a new study suggests most retail clinics aren't in the poorest neighborhoods.
British researchers show rooks are latest birds to use tools
WASHINGTON: Yet another animal has picked up a tool and put it to use. Once thought a unique primate trait, toolmaking and tool use have been seen in a variety of animals in recent years.
U.N. Security Council condemns nuclear test
Panel says North Korea violated 2006 resolution; country expected to fire short-range missiles today
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA: The United Nations swiftly condemned North Korea for its test of a powerful nuclear bomb and South Korea announced today it would join a U.S.-led initiative to intercept ships suspected of spreading weapons of mass destruction.
U.S. troops recognize their lost comrades
Military fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan show respect for more than 4,900 dead
BAGHDAD, IRAQ: American troops on Memorial Day honored their fallen on two battlefields, one war winding down and another ramping up. In Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military remembered the toll so far on the troops — more than 4,900 dead — with the outcome still unclear.
North Korea fans nuclear threat
Defiant country leaves U.S., its allies with limited options, diplomatic or otherwise
WASHINGTON: North Korea's nuclear test makes it no likelier that the regime will actually launch a nuclear attack, but it adds a scary dimension to another threat: the defiant North as a facilitator of the atomic ambitions of others, potentially even terrorists.
Survivalists gaining popularity
Ordinary people troubled by declining economy are taking precautions in case the worst happens
SAN DIEGO: Six months ago, Jim Wiseman didn't even have a spare nutrition bar in his kitchen cabinet. Now, the 54-year-old businessman and father of five has a backup generator, a water filter, a grain mill and a 4-foot-tall pile of emergency food tucked in his home in the expensive San Diego suburb of La Jolla.
Powell rebuts Cheney on Bush legacy
Moderate Republicans push back against ex-vice president
WASHINGTON: Colin Powell challenged Dick Cheney on the legacy of the Bush administration and the future of the Republican Party on Sunday, declaring that Republicans should not bow to dictates ''that come from the right wing.''
North Korea nuclear test alleged
North Korea today confirmed news reports from South Korea that the North had successfully conducted an underground nuclear test.
National news - May 25
Pressure for Guantanamo plan
Legislators in both parties want Obama's details before they'll fund closing
WASHINGTON: Members of Congress from both parties clamored Sunday for President Barack Obama to develop a plan for dealing with the suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay if he intends to fulfill his promise to close the prison there by early 2010. The top U.S. military officer also awaited a decision from the commander in chief.
Atlantis returns to Earth after fix of Hubble
Weather forces California landing
Associated Press
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, CALIF.: Space shuttle Atlantis and its seven astronauts returned safely to Earth on Sunday, detouring from stormy Florida to sun-splashed California to end a 13-day mission that repaired and enhanced the Hubble Space Telescope.
Liberals frustrated over key votes
Dems control Congress but not the legislation on Guantanamo, guns
WASHINGTON: Frustrated liberals are asking why a Democratic-controlled Congress and White House can't manage to close the Guantanamo prison or keep gun-rights laws from passing.
New law needed to reverse gay ban
Obama hasn't acted yet to change military rules
Associated Press
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama's top military adviser said Sunday the Pentagon has enough challenges — including two wars — without rushing to overturn a decade-old policy that bans gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military and incites political and social factions on both sides.
Casinos bet on buffets
Bargain food, cheaper rooms bring customers back to Las Vegas, Atlantic City
LAS VEGAS: It's back to the buffet, bargains and customer bonuses for Las Vegas casinos. Fast food is up, fine dining tabs are down and hotel rooms are available for under $50 in a city that has been calling on recession-weary tourists to come back and play the quarter slot machines.
Pelosi tarnished but not defeated by attacks
House speaker's ratings down but she has string of legislative victories
WASHINGTON: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has avoided serious damage from the relentless Republican effort to discredit her, though there's some evidence that the GOP is making small inroads.
Iran trying Washington's, Israel's patience
Islamic state may drive wedge between U.S., ally, even as Jewish nation, Arabs face a common fear
WASHINGTON: An increasingly emboldened Iran is both complicating and giving promise to the Obama administration's efforts to forge peace in the Middle East.
Prospects dim for Iraqis returning to homeland
Families find jobs are scarce, shortages of electricity, water, schools, soaring rents and political instability
BAGHDAD: When Dhafir Hussein left Iraq last year for Sweden, he hoped it would be for good. Sectarian killings and armed gangs had turned his old Baghdad neighborhood, Sheik Omar, into a ghost town. Business had disappeared at the small engine-repair shop where he once made a decent living.
Farm internships are hot commodity
Liberal arts students seek work, life experience, plus pay from summer spent among cows, corn
Erin Axelrod, who graduated from Barnard College recently with an urban studies degree, will not be fighting over the bathroom with her five roommates in Manhattan this summer. Instead she will be living in a tent, using an outdoor composting toilet and harvesting vegetables on an organic farm near Petaluma, Calif.
Clues to lucid, happy old age lie at the bridge table
California researchers in decades-long study explore mental acuity of elderly
LAGUNA WOODS, CALIF.: The ladies in the card room are playing bridge, and, at their age, the game is no hobby. It is a way of life, a daily comfort and challenge, the last communal campfire before all goes dark.
Gay U.S. diplomats to get equal benefits
Associated Press
WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will soon announce that gay American diplomats will be given benefits similar to those that their heterosexual counterparts enjoy, U.S. officials said Saturday.
/p>1HONOLULU All-digital elec...
/p>1HONOLULU
All-digital election
Voting has ended in what is being touted as the nation's first all-digital election, and city officials say it has been a success. Some 115,000 voters in Honolulu's neighborhood council election were able to pick winners entirely online or via telephone. The voting, which started May 6, ended Friday. City officials say the experiment appears to have generated few problems; it has even saved the financially strapped city around $100,000.
Obama asks all to honor veterans
He lists ways nation can pay its respects
Associated Press
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama saluted veterans and urged all Americans to do the same this Memorial Day weekend, saying the nation has not always paid them proper respect.
NASA delays landing again
Weather keeps space shuttle in orbit. Officials hope for Florida return today
CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA.: Thunderstorms prevented space shuttle Atlantis from returning to its home base Saturday for the second day in a row, keeping the astronauts circling Earth after a successful repair job at the Hubble Space Telescope.
Former astronaut nominated as new head of NASA
Bolden would take the helm as space program faces uncertainty
HOUSTON: The nation's turbulent space program may be run by one of its own, a calming well-liked former space shuttle commander.
Obama defines ideal Supreme Court pick
Nominee must have empathy, smarts and political acumen to navigate confirmation
WASHINGTON: On the verge of choosing his first Supreme Court nominee, President Barack Obama has already provided a profile of the person he is likely to pick: an intellectual heavyweight with a ''common touch,'' someone whose brand of justice means seeing life from the perspective of the powerless.
U.S. is shifting custody of terrorist cases to its allies
Cooperation is being pushed to new limits in capture, interrogation and detention
WASHINGTON: The United States is now relying heavily on foreign intelligence services to capture, interrogate and detain all but the highest-level terrorist suspects seized outside the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, according to current and former U.S. government officials.
National news - May 23
1CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA.
NASA delays return
Thunderstorms raking NASA's spaceport kept space shuttle Atlantis in orbit an extra day Friday, giving the crew unwanted downtime waiting for a landing today.
Veterans focus of new program
Special courts, with former military as judge, lawyers, allow soldiers to help soldiers
EDWARDSVILLE, ILL.: After a high-speed back-and-forth with a driver he says nearly ran him off the road, Army Lt. Andrew Myatt was arrested by police in Illinois and accused of waving a pistol.
Propane suppliers reducing size of refills
Many customers unaware because the tank hasn't changed
Associated Press
DENVER: Backyard grillers may get a little steamed this holiday weekend when buying refilled propane tanks: They will be getting less fuel for their money than they did last Memorial Day.
Golden State faces its financial day of reckoning
Recession, defeat of budget-balancing package will force California to make deep, painful cuts
SACRAMENTO, CALIF.: The day of reckoning that California has been warned about for years has arrived. The longest recession in generations and the defeat this week of a package of budget-balancing ballot measures are expected to lead to state spending cuts so deep and so painful that they could rewrite the social contract between California and its citizens. They could also force a fundamental rethinking of the proper role of government in the Golden State.
Obama signs credit-card law
President cautions that measure is not just blind protection for spenders
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama warned overeager shoppers and greedy credit-card companies alike on Friday to act responsibly as he signed into law a bill designed to protect debt-ridden consumers from surprise charges.
Times Square closes Sunday to all vehicles
Pedestrians will rule as NYC tries to unclog streets, cut pollution
Associated Press
NEW YORK: Take a walk through Manhattan and it's clear that pedestrians think they own this city. They dash through red lights on the way to work, meander through traffic-clogged streets and can sometimes bring cars to a standstill with their power in numbers.
Iraqi official predicts more attacks after U.S. leaves
Associated Press
BAGHDAD: A top Iraqi security official predicted Friday that insurgent groups will attempt more attacks similar to those that killed at least 66 people this week after U.S. combat soldiers leave Baghdad and other cities by the end of next month.
Defense chief sings praises of soldier in pink boxers
Routed by enemy fire in Afghanistan, he grabs rifle, armor but forgets his pants
Associated Press
WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Robert Gates says American soldiers have more than their military might and training on their side in the war in Afghanistan. Some have pink underwear.
Tobacco companies lose appeal in 2006 landmark ruling on labels
Associated Press
WASHINGTON: A federal appeals court on Friday agreed with the major elements of a 2006 landmark ruling that found the nation's top tobacco companies guilty of racketeering and fraud for deceiving the public about the dangers of smoking.
44 states lost jobs in April, led by California; Ohio loses fourth most
WASHINGTON: Forty-four states lost jobs in April, led by California where employers slashed 63,700 positions, as the recession took a further toll on U.S. workers.
Military wants more time before gay ban ends
WASHINGTON: The Pentagon wants more time before the ban on gays serving openly in the military is reversed.
Seattle deputy's shove leaves innocent man in coma
SEATTLE: Authorities have released surveillance video showing a burly sheriff's deputy slamming a man head first into a wall earlier this month, leaving him in a coma.
Defense chief praises soldier in pink boxers
WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Robert Gates says American soldiers have more than their military might and training on their side in the war in Afghanistan. Some have pink underwear.
Swine flu genes circulated undetected for years
WASHINGTON: Genes included in the new swine flu have been circulating undetected in pigs for at least a decade, according to researchers who have sequenced the genomes of more than 50 samples of the virus.
Bush: It's 'liberating' to be out of office
ARTESIA, N.M.: It was a humbling moment for the former commander in chief: President George W. Bush was walking former first dog Barney in his new Dallas neighborhood when it stopped in a neighbor's yard for relief.
California military jet crashes; pilot killed, 1 hurt
CALIFORNIA CITY, CALIF.: A military jet crashed during a training mission over the Mojave Desert, killing the pilot and injuring another crewman who ejected, the Air Force said today.
Boy, 6, takes wheel after dad passes out
NORTH PLATTE, NEB.: A 6-year-old boy grabbed the wheel of his family's pickup truck when his father passed out from low blood sugar, keeping the vehicle from crashing until an officer could bring it to a halt, police said.
Police say New Mexico mom charged in son's death was homeless
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.: A single mother accused of suffocating her 3-year-old son and burying him at a playground was recently homeless and sleeping in the park, having been kicked out of her mother's house and a friend's apartment in the days before the boy's death, investigators said.
Father gets 100 years for poisoning kids' soup
JONESBORO, GA.: A Georgia man is sentenced to 100 years in prison for poisoning his children to extort money from Campbell's Soup Co.
Ex-soldier gets life in prison for Iraqi slayings
PADUCAH, KY.: An ex-soldier convicted of raping and killing an Iraqi teen and murdering her family has been sentenced to life in prison in a case that drew attention to the emotional and psychological strains on soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Stormy weather keeps space shuttle up extra day
CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA.: Thunderstorms prevented space shuttle Atlantis and its crew from landing today, leaving them to circle the Earth hoping the weather would improve by the following day.
Perry Township flag flap prompts bill in Congress
CANTON: An Ohio congressman has introduced legislation prompted by a constituent's recent dispute with her condominium association over a Blue Star service flag.