26 minutes ago
(AP) President George W. Bush, increasingly reflective as he caps two turbulent terms in the White House, said Thursday that the pressures of the job have brought him closer to his wife, Laura."I give her all the credit about why I can say a good marriage has gotten better," Bush told ...
26 minutes ago
(AP) Democrats are growing impatient with President-elect Barack Obama's refusal to inject himself in the major economic crises confronting the country.Obama has sidestepped some policy questions by saying there is only one president at a time. But the dodge is wearing thin."He's going to have to be more assertive than he's ...
26 minutes ago
(AP) Desperate U.S. automakers ran into fresh obstacles from skeptical lawmakers Thursday as they appealed with rising urgency _ and a new dose of humility _ for a $34 billion bailout. Without help, said one senator, "we're looking at a death sentence."With lawmakers in both parties pressing the automakers to consider ...
38 minutes ago
(AP) The 19-year-old son of former California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and three other men have pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges in the October stabbing death of a college student in San Diego.Esteban Nunez entered his plea Thursday along with 22-year-old Ryan Jett and Rafael Garcia and Leshanor ...
50 minutes ago
(AP) California Congressman Xavier Becerra has met with President-elect Barack Obama to discuss the job of U.S. trade representative.The meeting took place Thursday at Obama's transition office in Chicago. It was confirmed by a Democratic official who spoke on condition of anonymity because no public announcement has been made.Becerra, a Democrat ...
1 hour, 5 minutes ago
(AP) A district executive says St. Louis public schools will seek at least $4.5 million in outside funds to correct potential lead paint hazards at 27 elementary schools.Rick Sullivan told The Associated Press on Thursday that a three-person board appointed last year to oversee the troubled school district became aware of ...
1 hour, 5 minutes ago
(AP) Nov. 30The San Jose Mercury News: "Community colleges need support more than ever"The outlook for higher education in California is bleak.Faced with massive budget cuts, the state's four-year college systems plan to deny admission next fall to 20,000 students, including 10 percent of freshmen, in a year of record applications. ...
1 hour, 5 minutes ago
(AP) Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. says the vice chairman of its board of directors plans to retire Dec. 19, after about 30 years with the company.The casino operator announced Charles L. Atwood's retirement in a Thursday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.In an internal memo provided by Harrah's, Atwood says he ...
1 hour, 5 minutes ago
(AP) Texas juries this year sentenced the fewest number of inmates to death row since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976, according to a report Thursday from an anti-death penalty group.Nine people convicted by the state's juries in 2008 were sentenced to die, according to an ...
1 hour, 14 minutes ago
(AP) Microsoft says it's bringing in a former Yahoo search executive to lead its online push.Microsoft Corp. says Qi (pronounced 'CHEE') Lu will be president of its Online Services Group. He'll be responsible for search and online advertising, where Microsoft lags far behind the leader, Google Inc.Lu worked for Yahoo Inc. ...
1 hour, 14 minutes ago
(AP) Electronic books are the persistent wallflowers of the gadget world. Consumers have snubbed them again and again in favor of a 500-year-old technology: ink printed on paper.Mindful of the dominance of paper, devices for reading electronic books so far have focused on providing an experience that's as close to traditional ...
1 hour, 29 minutes ago
(AP) Reno police say they've arrested a third person suspected in a string of residential burglaries.Sean Crawford, 38, was arrested Wednesday at a home in Reno and charged with 11 counts of burglary. Police say he also was wanted on a federal fugitive warrant.Two others, 32-year-old Mikal Thompson and 43-year-old Regina ...
1 hour, 29 minutes ago
(AP) Hospital workers at Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center in Reno have voted for union representation by the Communication Workers of America.Officials with CWA Local 9413 say the 540 employees supported unionization by a four-to-one margin in an election held this week.The employees include certified nursing assistants, environmental services staff, food ...
1 hour, 29 minutes ago
(AP) A man who struck his girlfriend's 3-year-old nephew and caused the child to fall down a staircase was convicted Thursday of second-degree murder.Gilbert Delestre, 27, also was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Thomas "T.J." Wright. He faces life in prison.Prosecutors said he and his girlfriend, ...
1 hour, 32 minutes ago
(AP) A Pakistani militant group apparently used an Indian operative as far back as 2007 to scout targets for the elaborate plot against India's financial capital, authorities said Thursday, a blow to Indian officials who have blamed the deadly attacks entirely on Pakistani extremists.As investigators sought to unravel the attack on ...
1 hour, 38 minutes ago
(AP) For more than two months, Somali pirates and their hostages aboard a Greek cargo ship played cards, caught fish under the blazing sun, and swapped tales of home. By the time all 25 hostages were released unharmed last week, the pirates even made one of the captives a startling offer: ...
1 hour, 38 minutes ago
(AP) Online spending at U.S. retailers on Monday jumped 15 percent over with the comparable day a year ago to $846 million, comScore said Thursday, as consumers sought out bargains in a tough economy.The Monday after Thanksgiving was nicknamed "Cyber Monday" by the National Retail Federation to describe the surge in ...
1 hour, 38 minutes ago
(AP) Blackwater Worldwide guards involved in the deadly 2007 Baghdad shooting of Iraqi civilians could face mandatory 30-year prison sentences under an aggressive anti-drug law being considered as the Justice Department readies indictments, people close to the case said.Charges could be announced as early as Monday for the shooting, which left ...
1 hour, 53 minutes ago
(AP) Mary Jurkonis is leaving her job as publisher of the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza in Incline Village to become the publisher of the Tahoe Daily Tribune in South Lake Tahoe, Calif.Both newspapers are members of the Sierra Nevada Media Group owned by the Reno-based Swift Communications.Jurkonis replaces Gail Powell-Acosta, who ...
1 hour, 56 minutes ago
(AP) The Chicago City Council has approved a more than $1.1 billion deal to lease city parking meters to a private operator.Mayor Richard Daley pushed for the deal passed Thursday as a way for the city to weather tough economic times.But the 75-year lease means hourly meter rates will climb. In ...
1 hour, 56 minutes ago
(AP) Depending on your political tastes, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Sarah Palin or even Tina Fey could be considered Woman of the Year. But here's the harder question: Was this the Year of the Woman?Some touted it as such, and in many ways it was a watershed election season: The first viable ...
1 hour, 56 minutes ago
(AP) The people of Kansas City thought they were getting a straight-shooter with financial smarts as their new mayor. What they got, critics say, is a henpecked husband who needs his wife to tell him what to do.In an era when politicians get in trouble for infidelity, Mayor Mark Funkhouser finds ...
1 hour, 56 minutes ago
(AP) A California couple has been charged with kidnapping and torturing a 17-year-old boy police say they sometimes kept shackled in their home.The boy's one-time guardian, who also stayed in the couple's home with the teenager, was also charged with similar abuse allegations.Kelly Layne Lau and her husband, Michael Schumacher, both ...
2 hours, 8 minutes ago
(AP) President Bush has called Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to thank him for pushing through an agreement that sets a three-year time frame for American troops to leave the country.Bush also thanked Iraqi President Jalal Talabani for his work on the deal between the two countries.Iraq's three-member presidential council agreed ...
2 hours, 8 minutes ago
(AP) The Bush administration is trying to make it tougher for Congress to block mining and oil and gas drilling on public lands.The Bureau of Land Management, which manages 258 million acres of federal property, stripped from its regulations Thursday a provision that gives two Congressional committees the power to compel ...
