03/12/2010

Crime blog: Government wants heightened security for some Holy Land defendants
Prosecutors are asking the United States Bureau of Prisons to move the leaders of the defunct Holy Land Foundation to more secure facilities so that their communications with the outside world can be more closely monitored.

Democrats pare differences over health overhaul
President Barack Obama delayed a scheduled Asian trip as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi forecast final passage of sweeping legislation in days.
For Obama, big agenda and small window for results
Full coverage: Health care reform
Blogs: Politics | Opinion

Al-Qaeda may move to more small attacks
WASHINGTON – Ever since al-Qaeda launched the 9/11 attacks, U.S. authorities have worked to detect and prevent the next big terrorist strike.

Workers sickened at Ground Zero could get $657.5 million
NEW YORK – A settlement of up to $657.5 million has been reached in the cases of thousands of rescue and cleanup workers at Ground Zero who sued the city over damage to their health, according to city officials and lawyers for the plaintiffs.

Obama says he's committed to repairing immigration system
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Thursday assured frustrated supporters of a promised overhaul of U.S. immigration laws that he remains committed to fixing a system he says is broken.

Wife, daughter of Sen. Reid injured in wreck
WASHINGTON – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's wife and daughter were hospitalized Thursday – the wife with a broken back and neck – after their minivan was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer truck on an interstate in suburban Virginia, authorities said.

Yemen recaptures escaped U.S. al-Qaeda suspect
BUENA, N.J. – Yemen counterterrorism authorities recaptured a U.S. citizen of Somali origin after he shot his way out of a hospital in the Middle Eastern country, where he was being held after a sweep of al-Qaeda members, authorities said Thursday.

Fake kid's notes get real replies from notables
WASHINGTON – Over the years, "Little Billy" learned much from the country's top minds.

Highway deaths fall to lowest level since 1954
WASHINGTON – The roads today are full of hazards: Runaway Toyotas, teen drivers texting, commuters using the rearview mirror to check their hair while juggling cups of scalding coffee. Nonetheless, the number of people dying on the highway is the lowest since the 1950s.

House Dems can't resolve abortion issue
WASHINGTON – House Democratic leaders Thursday abandoned a long struggle to strike a compromise on abortion in their ranks, gambling that they can secure the support for President Barack Obama's sweeping health care legislation with showdown votes looming as early as next week.

House GOP agrees to keep earmarks out of spending bills
WASHINGTON – In an election-year appeal to voters frustrated with Washington, House Republicans promised Thursday not to stuff any of this year's spending bills with pet projects for their districts.

Appeals court backs God references
SAN FRANCISCO – A federal appeals court in San Francisco upheld the use of the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance and "In God We Trust" on U.S. currency, rejecting arguments Thursday that the phrases violate the separation of church and state.

Cadmium content spurs recall of holiday-themed children's bracelets
LOS ANGELES – Federal regulators recalled a line of holiday-themed bracelets Thursday, expanding their effort to purge children's jewelry boxes and store shelves of items containing high levels of the toxic metal cadmium.

03/11/2010

Poll: Approval rating for Congress falls 10 points, but support for president remains steady
WASHINGTON – Americans have come to detest Congress ever more deeply as it nears the end of a nasty fight over health care. But more than half still back President Barack Obama, a bright spot for a Democratic Party counting on its leader to help stave off expected losses in elections this fall.

03/12/2010

2 Dallas-Fort Worth singers booted in surprising 'American Idol'
At the start of Thursday's elimination round of American Idol , Ryan Seacrest hinted that "we could be in for a surprise or two."

03/11/2010

Women need choice of avoiding repeat C-sections, panel says
Vaginal birth after Caesarean, or VBAC, is reasonably safe and should be more widely available, a National Institutes of Health advisory panel concluded Wednesday.

Jobless aid, hiring incentives win bipartisan OK in U.S. Senate
WASHINGTON – The Senate on Wednesday passed a $137.9 billion package aimed at helping jobless people to get more benefits and businesses to hire more workers, but only after controversy about the bill's cost and impact. The rare bipartisan vote was 62-36.

Endangered-species protection sought for loggerhead turtles
BOSTON – The federal government has recommended an endangered species listing for loggerhead turtles in U.S. waters, a decision that could have big implications for the fishing industry.

House Democrats ban budget earmarks to for-profit companies
WASHINGTON – House Democratic leaders banned budget earmarks to private industry Wednesday, ending a practice that has steered billions of dollars in no-bid contracts to companies and set off corruption scandals.

03/10/2010

Collin County at bottom of federal funds distribution
Collin County, known for its corporate headquarters and explosive growth, has a new distinction: The county reportedly receives the smallest amount of federal funds per person among the country's 200 largest counties.

03/11/2010

Women who flew in WWII to free men for battle receive Congressional Gold Medals
WASHINGTON – A long-overlooked group of women who flew aircraft during World War II were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on Wednesday.

Yeah Nation briefs
House panel drops investigation of ex-lawmaker

'JihadJane' suspect led a troubled life
The Pennsylvania woman who allegedly used the Internet alias JihadJane to recruit people for violent jihad had dropped out before reaching high school and was married in Tarrant County at age 16, the start of a bumpy life that might have left her vulnerable to radical beliefs, according to federal sources and public records.

Study: Too many patients are getting angiograms
NEW YORK – A troublingly high number of U.S. patients who are given angiograms to check for heart disease turn out not to have a significant problem, according to the latest study to suggest Americans get an excess of medical tests.

Obama targets insurance fraud
ST. CHARLES, Mo. – President Barack Obama continued his ramped-up drive for a health care overhaul Wednesday, ordering a crackdown on Medicare and Medicaid waste and fraud and dispatching his secretary of health and human services, Kathleen Sebelius, to take on insurance companies that have been lobbying against many of his proposals to remake the health care system.

Genome coding has promise
Research teams in Houston and Seattle have independently decoded the entire genome of patients to find the exact genetic cause of their disease. The approach may offer a new start in the effort to identify the genetic roots of major killers such as heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer's.

House Democrats ban budget earmarks to for-profit companies
WASHINGTON – House Democratic leaders banned budget earmarks to private industry Wednesday, ending a practice that has steered billions of dollars in no-bid contracts to companies and set off corruption scandals.

Emergency vehicles are increasingly wired, but are the gadgets an unsafe distraction?
They are the most wired vehicles on the road, with dashboard computers, sophisticated radios, navigation systems and cellphones.

Alleged assassination target says he wanted drawing of Muhammad to offend
The point of a caricature depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a dog was to show that artistic freedom allows mockery of all religions, including the most sacred symbols of Islam, the Swedish artist who created it said Wednesday.

03/10/2010

Young adults admit financial worries
Young adults are financially anxious, worried that they can't meet their educational, housing and health care needs, according to a new poll that exposes a growing pessimism about achieving the American dream. Some of the findings of the poll by Harvard's Institute of Politics:

Minority births may exceed those of whites this year, demographers say
WASHINGTON – Minorities make up nearly half the children born in the U.S., part of a historic trend in which minorities are expected to become the U.S. majority over the next 40 years.

Common U.S. standard sought for English, math classes
The nation's governors and state school chiefs will propose standards today for what students should learn in English and math, from kindergarten through high school, a crucial step in President Barack Obama's campaign to raise academic standards across the country.

03/09/2010

Dallas-area women among World War II pilots to receive nation's top medal today

Thirty-one Texans, including six women from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, are among the surviving members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots who will accept the Congressional Gold Medal today. Betty Jo Reed (left) of North Richland Hills will be in Washington for the presentation.
Link: National WASP World War II Museum

03/10/2010

Nation briefs
Janitor targeted for firing kills supervisor

At a glance: population shift
A snapshot of the nation's minority population, which researchers say could overtake whites as the majority by 2050:

More college professors hitting delete on laptops in classrooms
WASHINGTON – A generation ago, academia embraced the laptop as the most welcome classroom innovation since the ballpoint pen.

Accused jihadist has Texas ties
PHILADELPHIA – A former Texas woman "desperate to do something" to help suffering Muslims has been accused of using the Internet to recruit jihadist fighters and help terrorists overseas, prosecutors said Tuesday.

AT A GLANCE: HEALTH CARE POLL
Some of the finds of a new Associated Press-GfK Poll, conducted last Wednesday through Monday with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points:

Obama presents anti-fraud plan for health care
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said Tuesday that he'll bring in high-tech bounty hunters to help root out health care fraud, grabbing a populist idea with bipartisan backing in his final push to overhaul the system.

Remote learning
BOULDER, Colo. – The students in Michael Dubson's physics class at the University of Colorado fell silent as a multiple-choice question flashed on a screen, sending them scrambling for small white devices on their desks.

03/09/2010

Seniors pinched by new charges for home care help
Rising property taxes, failing eyesight and even a tumble that cracked her tailbone haven't forced 89-year-old Angeline DiBeneditto from the home she's had for more than six decades.

Pregnancy-related deaths in U.S. appear to be rising
WASHINGTON – Eleven days after her son Benjamin's birth by Caesarean section, Linda Coale awoke in the middle of the night in pain, one leg badly swollen. Just as her doctor returned her phone call asking what to do, she dropped dead from a blood clot.

Focus on education equality renewed
SELMA, Ala. – Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Monday that the federal government will become more vigilant to make sure students have equal access and opportunity to everything ranging from college-prep classes to science and engineering programs.

Supreme Court to decide if parents can sue drug makers over vaccines
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court will decide whether drug makers can be sued by parents who claim their children suffered serious health problems from vaccines.

03/08/2010

Obama appeals for public support on health care
The president ratcheted up his attacks against insurance companies in a last-ditch attempt to get a reluctant public and skittish Democrats behind his health overhaul.
White House tweeting spreads president's message
Link: President's health care plan
Blogs: Politics | Opinion

03/06/2010

Ex-Detroit mayor facing probation violation hearing
DETROIT – Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, desperate to stop a judge from forcing him to come up with $320,000 in special restitution payments, struck out Friday with a higher court and now faces a hearing on whether he violated his probation.

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