House Dems unveil health bill, cheered on by Obama
WASHINGTON (AP) - Cheered by President Barack Obama, House Democrats rolled out landmark legislation Thursday to extend health care to tens of millions who lack coverage, impose sweeping new restrictions on the insurance industry and create a government-run option to compete with private insurers. But even as party leaders pointed toward a vote next week, there were fresh questions that went to the heart of their ambitious drive to remake the nation's health care system.
Passports linked to 9/11 found along Afghan border
SHERWANGAI, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistani soldiers battling their way into a Taliban stronghold along the Afghan border have seized passports that may be linked to 9/11 suspects, as they confront an enemy skilled in operating in a mountainous terrain with endless ways to wage a guerrilla war. The military on Thursday took foreign and local journalists for a first look inside the largely lawless territory since it launched a ground offensive here in mid-October. The U.S.-backed operation is focused on a section of the tribal region where the Pakistani Taliban are based and are believed to shelter al-Qaida.
STIMULUS WATCH: Stimulus jobs overstated in report
WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House is promising that new figures being released Friday will be a more accurate showing of progress in President Barack Obama's economic recovery plan. It aggressively defended an earlier, faulty count that overstated by thousands the jobs created or saved so far. Ed DeSeve, serving as Obama's stimulus overseer, said the administration has been working for weeks to correct mistakes in early counts that identified more than 30,000 jobs paid for with stimulus money. He said a new stimulus report Friday should correct many mistakes an Associated Press review found that showed the earlier report overstated thousands of stimulus jobs.
It's alive! End-of-life counseling in health bill
WASHINGTON (AP) - It's alive. The Medicare end-of-life planning provision that 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin said was tantamount to "death panels" for seniors is staying in the latest Democratic health care bill unveiled Thursday. The provision allows Medicare to pay for voluntary counseling to help beneficiaries deal with the complex and painful decisions families face when a loved one is approaching death.
Big snowstorm moving out of Colorado to Kan., Neb.
DENVER (AP) - A large, powerful autumn snowstorm slowly moved out of Colorado Thursday and trudged toward Nebraska and Kansas, causing blizzard-like conditions on the eastern plains and leaving in its wake treacherous roads and hundreds of canceled flights. The storm dropped more than 3 feet of snow in areas of the foothills west of Denver and closed schools and businesses. Roads across the region remained snowpacked and icy, shutting down the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in western South Dakota.
Texas law on children seeing porn being challenged
DALLAS (AP) - A 1970s-era Texas law that allows parents to show "harmful material" to their children has come under fire after a prosecutor said he couldn't file charges against a man accused of forcing his 8- and 9-year-old daughters to watch hardcore online pornography. Randall County District Attorney James Farren has asked the Texas attorney general's office to review his decision not to pursue charges in the case, which has prompted at least one lawmaker to vow to change the state's public indecency law.
Al-Qaida agent sentenced to 8 years in prison
PEORIA, Ill. (AP) - A federal judge sentenced an al-Qaida sleeper agent to a relatively light eight years in prison Thursday because the man received what the judge called "unacceptable" treatment in a U.S. Navy brig. U.S. District Judge Michael Mihm could have sentenced Ali al-Marri to as many as 15 years. But Mihm handed down the lighter sentence of eight years and four months in consideration of what he called "very severe" conditions under which al-Marri was kept during the almost six years he was held without charges in a U.S. Navy brig in South Carolina.
Randy Quaid and wife no-shows for Calif. court
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) - California prosecutors say they will seek the extradition of Randy Quaid and wife Evi after the couple were no-shows for a felony court hearing. The Quaids were due in court in Santa Barbara, Calif., on Thursday afternoon to answer to felony charges that they defrauded an innkeeper. They have been given multiple chances to appear in court but never have.
Cops: Fla. man stole ferret by shoving it in pants
JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. (AP) - It's one thing for shoplifters to hide plunder in their pants. But a live ferret? Police said a homeless man in north Florida did just that. And he made it out the door before being challenged. Rodney Bolton, 38, was charged with theft over the $129 animal that police say he took from a pet store in Jacksonville Beach. A 17-year-old witness confronted Bolton in the parking lot and was bitten by the animal after the man allegedly shoved it in the teen's face.
Postseason pressure can bite baseball's best
NEW YORK (AP) - Mark Teixeira swings at a pitch near his eyes for strike three. Chase Utley makes a wild throw into the stands. Hideki Matsui freezes on a popup and gets doubled off first base. Sometimes it's hard to fathom: the dropped balls, the baserunning blunders, the embarrassing at-bats. Hey, this is the postseason, these guys are supposed to be baseball's best! But playoff pressure can create all sorts of jitters. And even at this level, elite players make the most elementary mistakes.
