state/national
New Orleans Saints fan Shannon Sims greets the team at Louis Armstrong International Airport in Kenner, La., on Monday. The Saints defeated the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 in the NFL football Super Bowl, attaining its first championship in franchise history and restoring hope to the city. New Orleans' victory transcends football
NEW ORLEANS – People lined up by the hundreds to buy Monday’s Times-Picayune, which hollered “ AMEN !” from its front page. The Saints’ Super Bowl victory was a p...
February 09, 2010 01:00 AM | 0 0 comments | 1 1 recommendations | email to a friend
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Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) meets with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington. Rep. Murtha dies of complications from surgery
HARRISBURG , Pa. – Rep. John Murtha, the tall, gruff-mannered former Marine who became the de facto voice of veterans on Capitol Hill and later an outspoken and influential critic of the Ir...
February 09, 2010 01:00 AM | 0 0 comments | 1 1 recommendations | email to a friend
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Health summit: For show?
WASHINGTON – Could this turn into something more than political theater? President Barack Obama’s televised dialogue with Republican lawmakers on health care, promised for later this...
February 09, 2010 01:00 AM | 0 0 comments | 1 1 recommendations | email to a friend
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Military supplier faces court hearing
ATLANTA (AP) — A major military food supplier charged with inflating prices and defrauding the U.S. government faces a key court hearing in Georgia. The first appearance hearing is scheduled Mon...
February 08, 2010 11:04 AM | 0 0 comments | 2 2 recommendations | email to a friend
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Peter Wolf, co-founder of TheVoicesOfAmerica.org Web site, addresses attendees at the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville on Saturday. Tea Party is democracy in action
NASHVILLE , Tenn. – First, the independent Ross Perot contingent. Then, the liberal “netroots” mobilization. Now, the conservative “tea party” coalition. No doubt th...
February 08, 2010 01:00 AM | 0 0 comments | 1 1 recommendations | email to a friend
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Powerful allies sit in Toyota's corner
WASHINGTON – Toyota has friends in high places in Washington, including some of the very people now investigating the Japanese automaker. The company has sought to sow good will and win al...
February 08, 2010 01:00 AM | 0 0 comments | 1 1 recommendations | email to a friend
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wears eye protection goggles as he visits an exhibition of Iran’s laser science in Tehran, Iran, on Sunday. Iranian leader moves forward with nuke plan
TEHRAN , Iran – Iran’s president on Sunday ordered his atomic agency to significantly enrich the country’s stockpile of uranium, angering Western nations who want to the Islamic...
February 08, 2010 01:00 AM | 0 0 comments | 1 1 recommendations | email to a friend
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Signs missed in Toyota's recall
WASHINGTON – When Peter Boddeart’s Lexus lurched forward and rear-ended another vehicle in Fauquier County, Va., earning him a police citation, he wrote to federal regulators implor...
February 07, 2010 01:00 AM | 0 0 comments | 1 1 recommendations | email to a friend
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Travis Grout uses his cross country snow skis to get around the West Front of the Capitol in Washington on Saturday. Snow covers Mid-Atlantic area in white
WASHINGTON – Cross-country skiers lapped the Reflecting Pool along the National Mall. Hundreds crowded Dupont Circle for a snowball fight organized with the help of the Internet. The famou...
February 07, 2010 01:00 AM | 0 0 comments | 1 1 recommendations | email to a friend
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Tattnal County Chairman Frank Murphy, above, said Monday that officials told members of Ella Grove Baptist Church it would be OK for them to display the biblical text inside the courthouse because it’s a historical document.  What they didn t realize is a 2006 state law requires eight other documents, such as the Declaration of Independence, to be posted alongside the Ten Commandments to give them a historical context.  Ten Commandments shalt not be displayed by thems
REIDSVILLE — With the blessing of local officials, members of a Baptist church came to the Tattnall County courthouse last week with a hammer, nails and a large framed copy of the Ten Commandmen...
February 09, 2010 01:00 AM | 0 0 comments | 1 1 recommendations | email to a friend
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Uncertainty in search after Conn. blast
MIDDLETOWN , Conn. (AP) — A section of an under-construction power plant that exploded was too unstable to search Monday, and left questions about whether anyone was trapped inside because author...
February 08, 2010 12:47 PM | 0 0 comments | 2 2 recommendations | email to a friend
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Schumer to fight Coast Guard restructuring
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said Sunday he will fight a federal budget proposal to transfer elite Coast Guard teams from four cities, including one stationed at New York Harbor since the Sept. 11, 2...
February 08, 2010 01:00 AM | 0 0 comments | 1 1 recommendations | email to a friend
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A member of the Mystic Krewe of Barkus tosses beads as he parades in the Mystic Krewe of Barkus Mardi Gras Parade during its march through the French Quarter of New Orleans on Sunday. The theme of this year’s parade is ‘Barkus Goes tailgating’ in honor of the New Orleans Saints appearing in the Super Bowl in Miami. Revelers flood New Orleans' streets ahead of big game
NEW ORLEANS – Dogs dressed in Saints jerseys and gaudy floats carrying masked riders provided a rolling pre-game tailgate party for thousands as New Orleans started partying long before ...
February 08, 2010 01:00 AM | 0 0 comments | 1 1 recommendations | email to a friend
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Stacks of boxed donated goods are stored at the Notre Dame d Haiti Catholic Church in Miami. More than three weeks after the earthquake, donated goods are accumulating at small charities, sitting in shipping limbo because of costs and a complex web of transportation logistics. The heaps of donations are evidence that many people ignored the advice to just give cash. Cash only, please
MIAMI – Cases of bottled water and cardboard boxes full of blue jeans, diapers and cans of tuna are piled several feet high in Ruth Estriplet’s living room. The charity worker doesn&...
February 07, 2010 01:00 AM | 0 0 comments | 1 1 recommendations | email to a friend
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Monument honors historic black soldier
ZEBULON – When Virginia genealogist Joseph Dooley visited Pike County last weekend, he brought along a print of the famous painting, “Washington Crossing the Delaware,” by Eman...
February 07, 2010 01:00 AM | 0 0 comments | 1 1 recommendations | email to a friend
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Judy Elliott: When sports magic fades, life needs definition
When I asked to see the sports section of the newspaper, my husband left his coffee and oatmeal, opened the back door and peered heavenward. “Just checking,” he smiled, “to see i...
February 07, 2010 01:00 AM | 0 0 comments | 1 1 recommendations | email to a friend
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Man convicted of killing 2 facing execution
ATLANTA – A judge signed a warrant Friday for the execution of Melbert Ray Ford, who was convicted in the 1986 killings of his former girlfriend and her 11-year-old niece after she broke u...
February 06, 2010 01:00 AM | 0 0 comments | 1 1 recommendations | email to a friend
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Georgia public defender's office hires attorneys to handle appeals
ATLANTA – Georgia’s cash-strapped public defender’s office has hired attorneys to handle the appeals of more than 100 convicted criminals who are pressing a class-action lawsui...
February 06, 2010 01:00 AM | 0 0 comments | 1 1 recommendations | email to a friend
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One of two American-born giant pandas, Tai Shan, arrives at Chengdu airport in southwest China’s Sichuan province on Friday. Tai Shan was born in Washington, D.C., and Mei Lan lived at Zoo Atlanta. Both pandas arrived at their new China home Friday to find just what they’d left in the United States, live TV coverage and a passionate crowd. U.S.-born pandas reach new home in China
Two American-born pandas arrived in their new China home Friday, bringing a welcome dose of cuddly to the countries’ currently strained relations. Special crates carrying Mei Lan, Tai Shan ...
February 06, 2010 01:00 AM | 0 0 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend
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