Some families of service members killed in the war say the rules of engagement protect Afghan civilians at the expense of American troops. U.S. combat tolls have peaked this summer.Bill and Beverly Osborn still can't bring themselves to erase the phone...
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Author Archive
As U.S. deaths in Afghanistan rise, military families grow critical
Discovery Channel hostage crisis ends with gunman’s death
James J. Lee, who was protesting what he said was the network's promotion of overpopulation, was fatally shot by police after taking three people captive at the company headquarters in Maryland.Police shot and killed a gunman after he took three people...
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Hurricane Earl approaches East Coast
Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia declare states of emergency, and the evacuation of the Outer Banks is underway.Powerful Hurricane Earl spun toward the East Coast on Wednesday, driving tourists from North Carolina's vacation islands and threatenin...
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Obama’s Oval Office gets makeover
The West Wing office in the White House has new furnishings, all of which were U.S.-made. The changes, which represent President Obama's stamp on his office, came at no taxpayer expense.While President Obama was on vacation, his West Wing office got a ...
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Yemeni men arrested in Amsterdam on terror fears after flight from U.S.
Suspicious items — including cellphones taped together and a phone taped to a bottle of Pepto-Bismol — are found in the pair's luggage, which was on a different flight. Two Yemeni men arriving in Amsterdam on a flight from Chicago were arre...
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Earl batters Caribbean, may sideswipe East Coast
Residents from North Carolina to Maine are advised to keep a close watch.SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Hurricane Earl battered tiny islands across the northeastern Caribbean with heavy rain and winds Monday as it intensified into a Category 4 storm and...
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No Beck-Palin ticket in 2012, talk show host says
The pair draw a big crowd at Saturday's rally, but Glenn Beck insists they won't team up to run for office: 'There are far too many people that are far smarter than me to be president.'Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin won't be teaming up on a presidential ti...
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Obama not worried about Muslim rumors
The fact that only 34% of people correctly identify him as Christian doesn't bother the president, he tells NBC. 'There is a mechanism, a network of misinformation… in a new-media era.'President Obama said in an interview Sunday that he can't wor...
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Alaska Senate contender calls for ‘belt tightening’
The national debt requires less reliance on federal resources, says Joe Miller, who leads Sen. Lisa Murkowski by 1,668 votes after the GOP primary. Thousands more ballots will be counted this week.Joe Miller, the surprise leader in Alaska's unresolved ...
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Women in Washington, your seats are at risk
A political season dubbed 'the year of the woman' may turn out to be just the opposite. If large numbers of Democratic incumbents lose in November, many women could be replaced by men.With this fall's midterm elections, the number of women serving in C...
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Louisiana town buries Katrina in symbolic funeral
Residents find some closure in notes dropped into a hurricane casket.CHALMETTE, LA. — Hundreds of mourners dropped notes, cards and letters — many of them stained with tears — into a steel-gray casket on Saturday in a symbolic burial ...
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Beck, others exhort conservatives to action at Washington rally
Before a vast crowd on the National Mall, the media commentator and Sarah Palin stress religious themes but hit political notes too. The Rev. Al Sharpton follows with a smaller counter-rally.Conservative radio and television commentator Glenn Beck urge...
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Two new solar systems join the cosmic roster
The discovery includes two planets only slightly larger — but much hotter — than Earth.Astronomers have found two new solar systems circling distant stars, one with as many as seven planets and both with planets only slightly larger than Ea...
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Investigators focus on possible design flaws in BP well
One Houston-based supervisor is said to have had primary authority over the design. Meanwhile, preparations are to begin over the weekend for replacing the broken well's blowout preventer.Federal investigators are homing in on the role that BP's Housto...
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Figures on flu deaths are misleading, usually too high, CDC says
In a typical season, about 36,000 deaths are reported, but that number is too high and grossly misleading, analysts say. Depending on the influenza strain, actual rates vary widely from year to year.Most reports about seasonal influenza cite an average...
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Charges may be warranted for New York governor
An investigation finds that David Paterson's testimony about World Series tickets was misleading.A special investigation has concluded that New York Gov. David Paterson's testimony about his plans to pay for World Series tickets last year was "inaccura...
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Obama on vacation, but mostly out of sight
A week into the president's trip to Martha's Vineyard, he hasn't mingled much with the locals. He has spent his time reading and playing board games with his family.Get a glimpse of President Obama? No?
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Oil industry’s answers frustrate federal panel
The lead investigator examining the Deepwater Horizon disaster appears to be losing patience with vague or nonresponsive responses from officials including a BP vice president.Federal investigators are showing increasing frustration at murky or nonresp...
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Election surprises show ‘tea party’ strength
An outsider's victory in Florida and another's lead in Alaska indicate that public anger toward Washington remains a considerable force this campaign season.For months, skeptics questioned the staying power of the "tea party" movement. But surprise pri...
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Lawmaker reaches out to his constituents about 100 times a day
Rep. Timothy Johnson constantly calls those he represents on his cellphone. Critics say the practice takes the Illinois Republican's time away from other House business, but others marvel at his discipline."I'm not a telemarketer," the friendly voice s...
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Labor officials slam SeaWorld for safety violations in whale trainer’s death
Report says Dawn Brancheau's death was the result of a 'willful' workplace safety violation, and urge the company to severely restrict workers' proximity to killer whales.Federal regulators criticized SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment on Monday for allowi...
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In New York, hundreds protest planned Islamic center
'Build it somewhere else,' says one protester about the project blocks from the former World Trade Center. Nearby, counterdemonstrators protest what they see as bigotry.Kathy O'Shea lost her firefighter nephew in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New Y...
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Blogger beware: Postings can lead to lawsuits
A false sense of Internet security can mean legal quagmires for critics who are careless about facts.The Internet has allowed tens of millions of Americans to be published writers. But it also has led to a surge in lawsuits from those who say they were...
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Palin an interested spectator in Alaska primary
The ex-governor supports a political unknown campaigning against Sen. Lisa Murkowski. A Murkowski win would be the latest in a string of setbacks for Palin.After a string of her candidates fell short in recent election primaries, Sarah Palin takes a tr...
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Racial strife escalates in Staten Island
In a working-class area, 10 Mexicans have been attacked by blacks since April in suspected hate crimes. Some community leaders say tensions have grown along with anti-immigrant sentiment in the U.S.There's no doubt in Christian Vazquez's mind why he wa...
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Arizona fugitives captured at campsite
Escaped prison inmate John McCluskey and his fiancee Casslyn Welch are apprehended at the Gabaldon Campground in eastern Arizona after a ranger spots their car.The fugitive couple had zigzagged across much of the West, ducking authorities, kidnapping t...
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Report details security flaws at Arizona private prison
Questions were raised after three inmates escaped, including one suspected in a couple's killing days later.Just after sunset on July 30, three inmates in a remote Arizona prison skulked out of their dormitories and commenced a brazen getaway. They sco...
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Well’s blowout preventer to be replaced before ‘bottom kill’
BP and U.S. officials decide to move ahead with caution to prepare for complications.BP and government officials said Thursday that they planned to remove the damaged existing blowout preventer on top of the company's troubled oil well and replace it w...
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New York sues for return of Central Park drawings
A man trying to sell the design illustrations says his father found them in a trash bin decades ago.Central Park is almost synonymous with New York. But historians have long wondered whether the city's signature park was originally conceived the way it...
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Hurricane season about to begin in earnest
The period from mid-August to early October typically has the most intense activity. Forecasters say 18 to 20 named storms will develop, possibly with help from La Nina.Hurricane season might seem pretty tame so far, particularly in light of the predic...
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