02/19/2010

Dick Armey calls Obama 'shallow,' 'incompetent' in speech at Conservative Political Action Conference
WASHINGTON – Dick Armey, former House majority leader and a force in the Tea Party movement, issued a scathing critique Thursday of President Barack Obama.

02/18/2010

1 year later, results mixed on economic stimulus
WASHINGTON – Did the stimulus work or not? A year after Congress passed President Barack Obama's huge economic revival plan, the results are mixed – and hardly final.

U.S. religious freedom agency criticized for alleged bias
WASHINGTON – Allegations of religious bias are being leveled against a federal body responsible for monitoring international religious freedom.

Officials try to weed out mock pot
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Some industrious marijuana users have seized on an obscure but easily accessible substance that mimics the drug's effects on the brain – creating a popular trade in legal dope that has stymied law enforcement authorities.

02/17/2010

Tiger Woods to break silence with statement Friday at PGA Tour HQ
Woods will speak to a small group of reporters at 11 a.m. Friday from the clubhouse of the TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., home of the PGA Tour.

02/18/2010

Astronauts treated to view like no other from International Space Station's new observation deck
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – In a highly anticipated grand finale to their mission, astronauts opened the shutters on the International Space Station's new observation deck Wednesday and were humbled by "absolutely spectacular" views of Earth from inside the elaborate atrium of windows.

A dangerous commute
3 killed when plane crashes into home

Obama, Dalai Lama to meet, discuss keeping peace with China over Tibet issue
WASHINGTON – Months after he postponed their first meeting in a gesture to China, President Barack Obama will sit down today with the Dalai Lama – two Nobel Peace Prize winners with a mutual interest in coaxing changes from the Chinese and keeping peace in the region.

National Guard soldiers to finally get pay for long tours of duty
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Thousands of National Guard soldiers who served extra-long deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan and other conflicts were supposed to get paid time off when they came home three years ago.

Lawmakers reduce number of earmarks, but their value rises to $15.9 billion
WASHINGTON – Some lawmakers contend they corrupt the process, and President Barack Obama has vowed to sharply reduce them. But Congress devoted nearly $16 billion in earmarks to lawmakers' pet projects in their home states and districts last year – a slight increase over the previous year, although the overall number of earmarks decreased.

Safety commissioner warns of tougher policies on children's products
WASHINGTON – One of the nation's top safety officials is delivering a stern warning to the makers of toys, cribs and other children's products, telling them to put safety first – or face potential fines, lawsuits or other actions.

Conservatives tout 'constitutional' values
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – With polls and recent elections suggesting a possible comeback for Republicans, a group of prominent conservatives unveiled a statement of principles Wednesday called "constitutional conservatism" that they hope will guide a new era of governing.

Program would let high schoolers enter college early
Dozens of public high schools in eight states will introduce a program next year allowing 10th-graders who pass a battery of tests to get a diploma two years early and immediately enroll in community college.

U.S. Catholic bishops: Don't remove feeding tubes
CHICAGO – If ever Carol Gaetjens becomes unconscious with no hope of awakening, even if she could live for years in that state, she says she wants her loved ones to discontinue all forms of artificial life support.

The exceptions
Catholic medical institutions are weighing a new directive by U.S. bishops saying that it is not permissible to remove a feeding tube from someone who is unconscious but not dying. There are a few exceptions, including:

Army formulating plans to develop unmanned airship for gathering intelligence
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command and the Army Forces Strategic Command are continuing their multiyear search for a futuristic, self-powered, intelligence-gathering airship.

02/15/2010

Sixth Floor Museum releases amateur footage of JFK's Dallas arrival
The Sixth Floor Museum announced Monday that it had obtained what is being called the best home movie known to exist of President Kennedy’s arrival in Dallas on the day he was assassinated.

02/17/2010

Bayh's retirement underscores Congress' inertia
WASHINGTON – The often dysfunctional 111th Congress got a loud wakeup call this week from retiring Sen. Evan Bayh, setting off alarms that moderates and party leaders hope will help them start to make long-sought progress on debt reduction, job creation and even health care.

U.S. backing two new nuclear reactors in effort to promote fuel's use
WASHINGTON – More than $8 billion in new federal loan guarantees to build two nuclear reactors in Georgia could be the first step toward a nuclear renaissance in the United States, three decades after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident halted all new reactor orders.

University of Alabama-Huntsville professor says shooter acted methodically
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – A professor who survived a deadly university shooting rampage said Tuesday that the colleague charged in the attack methodically shot her victims in the head until the gun apparently jammed and she was pushed out of the room.

National briefs

Mardi Gras still a hot time despite the cold in New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS – Pete Fountain, clarinet in hand and looking dapper in a white tuxedo and fedora trimmed in gold, kicked off Mardi Gras with his "Half Fast Marching Club" the way they have for 50 years: with beads and jazz.

King sculptures ready for shipment
WASHINGTON – Sometime in the next several weeks, if all goes as planned, 159 huge blocks of granite will be loaded aboard ships in the seaport of Xiamen, China, for an 11,000-mile journey to Washington.Bound for a site on the Tidal Basin, the cargo includes one block that bears the likeness of Martin Luther King Jr. and the dreams of generations of African-Americans.

Critics blast script for new JFK miniseries
A new miniseries about John F. Kennedy's presidency that is being prepared by the History channel does not yet have a cast or a premiere date. Not a frame of footage has been shot. It does, however, have prominent critics who want it brought to a halt.

Inherited diseases dwindle as more use genetic testing
Some of mankind's most devastating inherited diseases appear to be declining, and a few have nearly disappeared, because more people are using genetic testing to decide whether to have children.

Protesters steal spotlight at dog show
NEW YORK – A Scottish terrier won America's top dog show Tuesday, and that was pretty predictable. What happened moments before Sadie took the title at Westminster was far more startling.

U.S. ill-prepared for cyberattack, panel warns
WASHINGTON – The United States isn't prepared to respond to an attack on its computer networks that could cripple communications and electrical power systems, a bipartisan group of former government officials said Tuesday.

Federal investigators say Census Bureau wasted $3M on temporary workers
WASHINGTON – Were those pricey Super Bowl ads a waste? Maybe not, but paying $3 million to census employees who didn't do any work surely was.

02/13/2010

Local outfitter's crusade against Amazon sex tourism: true or fish tale?
Phil Marsteller of Colleyville had a story of death threats, drug use, cutthroat competition and middle-age Americans paying 13-year-old Brazilian villagers for sex.

02/15/2010

Memorial remembers Charlie Wilson with laughter
LUFKIN, Texas – Former Rep. Charlie Wilson was remembered Sunday as a man who helped change history in Afghanistan after the Soviet Union invaded but at the same time didn't take himself too seriously.

Texas voters favor cutting highway funds first, poll finds
AUSTIN – Highways would be bye-ways if voters were in charge of cutting the state budget.

02/14/2010

U.S. offers to bless American's transatlantic alliance, with one main condition
The U.S. Department of Transportation told American Airlines Inc. and its trans-Atlantic partners Saturday that they could have their coveted joint venture if they would surrender a handful of valuable landing slots at London Heathrow Airport.

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