News For Wednesday Nov 19, 2008 News For Wednesday Nov 19, 2008

U.S. U.S.

Officer: Ex-Blink 182 drummer in intense pain - Added 7 weeks ago

One of the first responders to a fiery South Carolina plane crash said Wednesday that a pair of musicians escaped the flaming wreckage by sliding down the wing. "They said the plane went down. They didn't say how or if...

House moves to double home heating aid - Added 7 weeks ago

The House voted Wednesday to nearly double federal money to help poor people cope with record home heating bills expected this winter. Spending for the government's Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program would rise...

Fla. man: 15 years in prison for homeless beatings - Added 7 weeks ago

A Florida man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for his part in three attacks on homeless men in Fort Lauderdale in 2006. A judge on Wednesday said she was prepared to sentence William Ammons to 20 years in...

$80M in cuts coming to Ohio agency for poor - Added 7 weeks ago

The state agency that administers programs for poor and low-income families is cutting almost $80 million from its budget, including millions of dollars for a welfare program. Records obtained Wednesday by The...

Woman who fled Mich. prison in '76 gets probation - Added 7 weeks ago

A California woman who escaped from a Michigan prison 32 years ago and lived on the lam as a suburban mother was sentenced to probation Wednesday, five months after her capture. "I knew for years this was coming," said...

Mexico quietly helps emigrants to US learn Spanish - Added 7 weeks ago

For more than a decade, as the immigration debate has swelled on both sides of the border, the Mexican government has been quietly providing money, materials and even teachers to American schools, colleges and nonprofit...

Corruption trial begins but will Stevens testify? - Added 7 weeks ago

For more than a year, the normally outspoken Sen. Ted Stevens has kept mum about the FBI corruption investigation that has swirled around him. There will be time for answering questions, he said. With opening arguments...

Commuter train strikes, kills man in Los Angeles - Added 7 weeks ago

A commuter train struck and killed a man in Los Angeles Wednesday and witnesses told police they saw him jump onto the tracks, police said. The man, who was approximately 50 years old, died at the scene, said Fire...

Mail volume down in slow economy - Added 7 weeks ago

The economic slowdown means business is off sharply for the post office, Postmaster General John E. Potter said Wednesday. Potter said mail volume could decline by as much as nine billion items in the current fiscal...

MISSING TITLE - Added 7 weeks ago

John McCain wants to delay debate with Obama to focus on economic crisis. ...

Analysis: Bailout blues may help define Bush term - Added 7 weeks ago

Talk about a rough way for a Republican president to end two terms in office: The era of big government is back. Just when the war in Iraq is going better, President Bush finds himself with a domestic crisis so vast it...

US court: Monitoring Muslims was constitutional - Added 7 weeks ago

A federal appeals court says it was constitutional for the United States to require visitors from two dozen Arab and Muslim countries and North Korea to register with immigration authorities. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court...

'Virtual kidnappers' target immigrant families - Added 7 weeks ago

Families of illegal immigrants in Arizona are increasingly being targeted by an extortion scam in which criminals falsely claim to have kidnapped their loved ones as the immigrants tried to sneak across the U.S. border...

New Smithsonian Ocean Hall opens Saturday - Added 7 weeks ago

Covering more than 70 percent of the planet's surface, the ocean is both a life-giving resource and a highway. Yet it's also a life-threatening obstacle, hiding untold mysteries. More people have stood on the moon than...

Health insurance costs grow more gradually in 2008 - Added 7 weeks ago

Health insurance premiums rose a modest 5 percent this year for coverage that's getting skimpier, researchers say. The 5 percent increase was comparable to last year's uptick. Overall, premiums for family coverage...

Study looks at beetles' effects on weather - Added 7 weeks ago

Can a plague of beetles change the weather? That's one question researchers hope to answer in a four-year research program in Western forests that are being infested by pine mountain beetles, leading to the deaths of...

Anthrax suspect was barred from labs after spill - Added 7 weeks ago

Anthrax mailing suspect Bruce E. Ivins' access to Army biodefense laboratories was revoked in March after he spilled anthrax on his pants and went home to wash them instead of immediately reporting the accident,...

Court mulls if Jefferson indictment is tainted - Added 7 weeks ago

A Louisiana congressman accused of taking bribes challenged his indictment before a federal appeals court Wednesday, claiming grand jury testimony infringed on his constitutionally protected activities. Democratic U.S....

Bush, Clinton team up again to aid Ike victims - Added 7 weeks ago

Former presidents Bush and Clinton are joining forces again to help out the victims of Hurricane Ike. The former presidents first teamed up to raise $11 million for tsunami victims, then worked to raise private money...

Lector removed from Mass. church after gay memoir - Added 7 weeks ago

A Roman Catholic church in Boston has removed a man from lay leadership posts over a book he wrote describing himself as "a happy porn-writing Sodomite." Scott Pomfret served eight years at St. Anthony Shrine. The...

Main Street voices irritation with Wall Street - Added 7 weeks ago

Mark Endres has 19 years left to pay on his mortgage and the Philadelphia barber is not expecting anyone to cut him any slack. So what's all this talk about the government writing a $700 billion check to Wall Street? ...

Coast Guard reopens Mississippi River stretch - Added 7 weeks ago

A stretch of Mississippi River near St. Louis is back in business for recreational traffic. The Coast Guard has reopened a 75-mile stretch of the river from about Chester, Ill., to just north of St. Louis. It had been...

Highlights of offshore drilling, budget measure - Added 7 weeks ago

Highlights of a Democratic bill that would lift a moratorium on more offshore oil drilling and provide funding for federal agencies after the 2009 budget year that starts Oct. 1. The bill would: ___ OFFSHORE DRILLING ...

NIH director to leave office - Added 7 weeks ago

The director of the National Institutes of Health is resigning, after retooling the premiere research agency to spur innovative science while it struggles for sufficient funding. Dr. Elias Zerhouni, 57, announced...

House takes up Senate-passed tax break package - Added 7 weeks ago

Major tax legislation that would save 20 million people from the clutches of the alternative minimum tax and renew dozens of popular tax breaks for businesses and individuals is being taken up in the House, where its...

Bystanders pull students from burning bus in Fla. - Added 7 weeks ago

!!-- pobj:FLOCA104-0923081919 -->!!-- pobj:FLOCA101-0923081920 -->!!-- pobj:FLOCA103-0923081920 -->Passers-by are being credited with pulling students from a school bus that caught fire after it was rear-ended by a...

Fired Philly TV anchor sues colleague, station - Added 7 weeks ago

A fired Philadelphia newscaster has filed a lawsuit accusing her former co-anchor of invading her privacy and leaking personal information to the media. Alycia Lane's lawsuit was filed Tuesday. Her former co-anchor,...

NJ farm flings pumpkins with giant catapult - Added 7 weeks ago

One New Jersey farm has a special attraction to go with the season's hay rides and corn mazes: giant pumpkin catapult. A group of middle school students who became obsessed with the medieval weapon asked northern New...

FBI investigating companies at heart of meltdown - Added 7 weeks ago

The FBI is investigating four major U.S. financial institutions whose collapse helped trigger a $700 billion bailout plan by the Bush administration, The Associated Press has learned. Two law enforcement officials said...

Department of Defense launches 2 rockets - Added 7 weeks ago

Two rockets were fired into the sky within the space of a few hours, one carrying a commercial satellite and the other as part of a test of the U.S. missile defense system. The Department of Defense rocket was...

Democrats to let offshore drilling ban expire - Added 7 weeks ago

Democrats have decided to allow a quarter-century ban on drilling for oil off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to expire next week, conceding defeat in a months-long battle with the White House and Republicans set off by...

Companies can bid on casino for southeast Kansas - Added 7 weeks ago

Southeast Kansas is once again welcoming a state-owned casino, but the question is whether anyone wants to compete with a thriving tribal casino just across the state line in Oklahoma. The Kansas Racing and Gaming...

Probe: Medicare paid billions in suspect claims - Added 7 weeks ago

The government paid more than $1 billion in questionable Medicare claims for medical supplies that showed little relation to a patient's condition, including blood glucose strips for sexual impotence and special...

Western cap and trade initiative faces obstacles - Added 7 weeks ago

A new Western regional plan to cap and trade greenhouse gas emissions faces a tough road in state legislatures, where the details still must be worked out. The Western Climate Initiative would establish a regional...

Ariz. official lifts stay on speed photo contract - Added 8 weeks ago

Motorists speeding on Arizona highways will soon run the risk of getting tickets generated from a groundbreaking photo enforcement system. The state on Friday will begin to deploy some mobile camera units that will...

Highlights of offshore drilling, budget measure - Added 8 weeks ago

Highlights of a Democratic bill lifting a moratorium on additional offshore oil drilling and providing funding for federal agencies after the 2009 budget year that starts Oct. 1: ___ OFFSHORE DRILLING Lifts...

Key elements of Senate tax relief package - Added 8 weeks ago

Key components and costs of the Senate tax relief package. Cost estimates are spread over 10 years: Energy incentives _Extends for one or two years and expands production tax credits for wind, refined coal, biomass...

Alarms sounded in push for $700 billion bailout - Added 8 weeks ago

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson aren't saying it will be a return to the Great Depression if the government doesn't pass a $700 billion bailout bill, but their views are...

Analysis: Bailout blues may help define Bush term - Added 8 weeks ago

Talk about a rough way for a Republican president to end two terms in office: The era of big government is back. Just when the war in Iraq is going better, President Bush finds himself with a domestic crisis so vast it...

FAA suspends sleeping airline pilots - Added 8 weeks ago

Two pilots for Hawaii's Go airlines who slept through their flight's landing procedure were suspended for the careless and reckless operation of an aircraft, the Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday. The...

Fed plows $30 billion in money markets overseas - Added 8 weeks ago

The Federal Reserve, in coordinated action with foreign central banks, plowed $30 billion into money markets overseas Wednesday, part of an ongoing effort to fight a global credit crisis. The Fed's action _ taken at 1...

Children seized in Ark. raid to remain with state - Added 8 weeks ago

Six girls removed from an evangelical compound as part of an investigation into the possible sexual abuse of minors will remain in state custody for the near future, a state official said Tuesday. The Arkansas...

Today in History - Sept. 24 - Added 8 weeks ago

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 24, the 268th day of 2008. There are 98 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Sept. 24, 1789, Congress passed a Judiciary Act which provided for an Attorney General and a...

Christian soldier ruled a conscientious objector - Added 8 weeks ago

A federal judge has ordered the Army to grant conscientious objector status and an honorable discharge to a soldier who says he experienced a religious awakening in Iraq. The ruling supersedes the Army's decision last...

Mayor in Texas charged with more sex offenses - Added 8 weeks ago

The mayor of a South Texas town who is already required to register as a sex offender has been indicted on three new charges related to indecency with a child. An Atascosa County grand jury Monday indicted Mayor Lino...

Boy dies week after being shot by dad, Chicago cop - Added 8 weeks ago

Authorities say a 9-year-old boy has died about a week after his father, a Chicago police officer, shot his two children in a murder-suicide. The Cook County Medical Examiner's office says Anthony Marchan died Tuesday...

Separate trials set in upstate NY body-parts case - Added 8 weeks ago

A judge Tuesday ordered separate trials for three funeral home directors and four former employees of a biomedical supply company accused of looting body parts from three dozen corpses. Judge Joseph Valentino decided...

1 Philadelphia officer killed, 1 wounded on duty - Added 8 weeks ago

A city police officer pursuing an armed suspect Tuesday afternoon was fatally shot, the fourth Philadelphia officer to die in the line of duty in the last year, authorities said. Another officer was wounded and the...

Witness: Another $4.2M was on plane to Argentina - Added 8 weeks ago

A businessman who prosecutors say flew to Argentina with a suitcase full of Venezuelan government cash testified Tuesday he was told a second suitcase holding $4.2 million was aboard the plane. Prosecutors also...

Former US attorney relieved with Ariz. murder case - Added 8 weeks ago

A former U.S. attorney fired in 2006 after clashing with his boss over a death penalty case says he's relieved the Justice Department is no longer seeking to execute the defendant. Federal prosecutors made a plea deal...