-
Kentucky lawmakers are at the center of a political feud over how to best derail the so-called "pain-pill pipeline" from Florida to the Bluegrass State, a multi-state trafficking scheme that has contributed heavily to the state's crippling prescription drug addiction epidemic. A program that bears a powerful Kentucky congressman's name has received four times more funding than another program backed by other less senior lawmakers from the state.
-
Lawyers for two Florida men who were sentenced to life without parole as juveniles will argue to the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday that the penalty is cruel and unusual punishment.
-
After nearly a dozen delays and a final, rowdy session, Iraq's parliament on Sunday passed a law setting national elections for January, averting for now a political crisis that threatened to unravel the country's slow progress toward stability. Two major issues were decided: Officials will use voter rolls from 2009 to decide who can vote in the conflicted Kirkuk area and candidates will be listed by name on the ballot so voters can vote for individuals, not parties.
-
In the world of dog mushing, there aren't many jobs with a steady paycheck. Professional mushers live off the bounty of their race earnings, dog breeding skills and marketing savvy. And within a federal government that employs 19.7 million people, there is one — exactly one — dog mushing job. And it's open.
-
Off the coast of Washington state, mysterious algae mixed with sea foam have killed more than 8,000 seabirds, puzzling scientists. A thousand miles off California, researchers have discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a swirling vortex roughly twice the size of Texas filled with tiny bits of plastic and other debris.
-
Keeping a campaign promise, President Barack Obama hosted 386 heads of state — leaders from more than half of the United States' 564 federally recognized Indian tribes. Tribal leaders were able to ask questions and express concerns over issues, such as reservation shopping, that effect their tribes.
-
Miners are digging gold out of the ground in Alaska at a faster clip than they have in almost a century. Last year's gold production tipped the scales at 800,000 ounces. The last time that much gold was mined in Alaska was 1916.
-
As if the Taliban, car bombs, roadside bombs, leftover Soviet land mines, political unrest and errant NATO air attacks weren't enough, Afghans are facing a new killer: the H1N1 flu pandemic. The government has declared a state of emergency, and closed schools, universities and even wedding halls and public bathrooms for three weeks to slow the spread of the virus, which has killed 10 people in the capital in less than two weeks.
-
The Haitian Senate unanimously approved Jean-Max Bellerive, a longtime technocrat, as prime minister Friday, hoping that a man with long ties to Haiti's political power brokers and the international community can lead this nation through its fifth change of cabinets in five years.
-
A certain wisdom comes with being poor. Be grateful if you can't lay claim to it.
Miss enough paychecks, fall behind on enough bills and people get savvy quick to the ways of making do.
