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Cost of World Trade Center rises to $14.8B

Tue, 2012-02-07 21:33

NEW YORK — The agency building the new World Trade Center is "dysfunctional" and has let costs get out of control on the $14.8 billion project, auditors said Tuesday.

The projected cost of the complex has risen $3.8 billion since 2008, when it was estimated at $11 billion, Navigant Consulting, ...

Categories: General News

Student debt often leads to bankruptcy, lawyers find

Tue, 2012-02-07 20:01

For an increasing number of young Americans, the postcollege journey leads to the office of a bankruptcy lawyer.

A report released Tuesday by the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA) shows that more and more graduates and parents are turning to bankruptcy as their final option to deal with ...

Categories: General News

Komen VP quits over funding flap

Tue, 2012-02-07 19:43

ATLANTA — The vice president of public policy at Susan G. Komen for the Cure who backed the breast cancer charity's move to strip Planned Parenthood of funding resigned Tuesday, saying the now-abandoned decision "has unfortunately been turned into something about politics."

Karen Handel supported a decision Komen announced last ...

Categories: General News

Plan B sold at campus vending machine

Tue, 2012-02-07 19:43

SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. — Students at a central Pennsylvania university can now obtain the "morning-after" contraceptive pill from an unusual source - a vending machine at the campus health center.

Students at Shippensburg University can obtain the pill by sliding $25 into a vending machine installed at the request of the ...

Categories: General News

Bread beats out chips as biggest source of salt consumed in U.S.

Tue, 2012-02-07 18:22

ATLANTA | Bread and rolls are the No. 1 source of salt in the American diet, accounting for more than twice as much sodium as salty junk food like potato chips.

That surprising finding comes in a government report released Tuesday that includes a list of the top 10 sources ...

Categories: General News

School staff removed, face questions after child abuse charges

Tue, 2012-02-07 18:07

LOS ANGELES — The entire staff at a Los Angeles elementary school is being removed while authorities investigate horrific allegations of sexual abuse by two of the school's teachers, one of whom is accused of blindfolding children, taping their mouths and photographing them in a classroom.

Los Angeles Unified School ...

Categories: General News

Appeals court rules Calif. gay-marriage ban unconstitutional

Tue, 2012-02-07 14:36

A federal appeals court declared California's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional Tuesday, requiring the state to recognize such unions and setting the stage for a showdown before the Supreme Court.

The three-member panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that Proposition 8, a voter-passed state constitutional ...

Categories: General News

CDC: Breads top list of salt sources in U.S. diet

Tue, 2012-02-07 13:31

ATLANTA (AP) — Bread and rolls are the No. 1 source of salt in the American diet, accounting for more than twice as much sodium as snacks such as potato chips and pretzels.

That surprising finding comes in a government report released Tuesday that includes a list of the top ...

Categories: General News

Pa. college vending machine dispenses 'morning-after' pill

Tue, 2012-02-07 12:13

Students at Shippensburg University in central Pennsylvania can get the "morning-after" pill by sliding $25 into a vending machine installed at the request of the student government.

The Etter Health Center at Shippensburg, a public school of 8,300 students in Appalachia's scenic Cumberland Valley, provides the Plan B ...

Categories: General News

Blood-clot guidelines challenge economy-class risk

Tue, 2012-02-07 12:06

CHICAGO (AP) — Good news for budget-minded travelers: There's no proof that flying economy class increases your chances of dangerous blood clots, according to new guidelines from medical specialists.

Travelers' blood clots have been nicknamed "economy-class syndrome," but the new advice suggests this is a misnomer.

The real risk is not getting ...

Categories: General News

Job openings jump to near a 3-year high

Tue, 2012-02-07 12:01

WASHINGTON — The number of available jobs in the United States jumped in December to near a three-year high, supporting other data that show a brighter outlook for hiring.

Companies and governments posted 3.38 million jobs in December, the Labor Department said Tuesday. That's up from the 3.12 million advertised ...

Categories: General News

Komen official quits over Planned Parenthood dispute

Tue, 2012-02-07 11:34

ATLANTA — The vice president of public policy at Susan G. Komen for the Cure who backed the breast cancer charity's move to strip Planned Parenthood of funding resigned Tuesday, saying she stands by the now-abandoned decision that set off a storm of controversy.

Karen Handel, who had denounced Planned ...

Categories: General News

Dad who killed self, sons in blaze left voice mail

Tue, 2012-02-07 10:24

GRAHAM, Wash. — Before setting his house ablaze and killing himself and his two young sons, Josh Powell left a voice mail for family members saying he couldn't live without the boys and didn't want to go on anymore.

ABC News obtained what it says was a voice mail Powell ...

Categories: General News

Appeals court rules California gay-marriage ban unconstitutional

Tue, 2012-02-07 09:56

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal appeals court has declared California's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional, paving the way for a likely U.S. Supreme Court showdown on the voter-approved law.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled 2-1 Tuesday that a lower court judge interpreted ...

Categories: General News

Staff removed at L.A. school during abuse probe

Tue, 2012-02-07 09:06

LOS ANGELES — The entire staff at a Los Angeles elementary school is being removed while authorities investigate horrific allegations of sexual abuse by two of the school's teachers, one of whom is accused of blindfolding children, taping their mouths and photographing them in a classroom.

Los Angeles Unified School ...

Categories: General News

PRUDEN: Romney waiting for the big cupcake

Tue, 2012-02-07 07:13

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

There are no East Carolinas in the National Football League, as a wise man (John Madden? Pat Summerall?) famously put it, but the field in the Republican presidential primaries this year is studded with cupcakes.

Mitt Romney, who if he were a football team might have been an East ...

Categories: General News

A method to a madman's madness

Mon, 2012-02-06 23:19

GRAHAM, Wash. — Josh Powell's boys were coming for a visit, and he had preparations to make.

He boxed up their books and toys and brought them to a charity. He carried heavy cans of gasoline inside his house.

He thought about what to write in the final emails he'd send ...

Categories: General News

Abramoff says he wants to clean up lobbying

Mon, 2012-02-06 22:53

Disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who says he once made $20 million in a year before going to federal prison on public corruption charges, wants to produce movies and a reality television show. And he would like to help reform the political system he exploited for years.

Abramoff, at the ...

Categories: General News

Kaptur, Kucinich face off in Ohio

Mon, 2012-02-06 22:53

They have served a combined 46 years in the House of Representatives, ethnic Catholic liberals born four months apart representing districts along their state's northern border.

But now, redistricting in Ohio, drawn up by a Republican-led General Assembly, has left two powerhouse liberal Democrats, Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich and Rep. ...

Categories: General News

American Scene

Mon, 2012-02-06 20:02

PENNSYLVANIA

Official says bankruptcy possible for state capital

HARRISBURG — The state official in charge of figuring out how to fix an enormous financial shortfall in Pennsylvania's capital city said in a proposed recovery plan released Monday that "significant and difficult" steps lie ahead, and that Harrisburg may end up ...

Categories: General News