national

SALT LAKE CITY - An F-16 fighter pilot dropped a 500-pound bomb and two external fuel tanks onto an uninhabited area of Hill Air Force Base in Utah this week in response to an in-flight emergency.

They want to work when it's convenient to their lives -- not punch in at some 9-to-5 job and be stuck sitting in a cubicle. They relish a challenge more than a paycheck, and resent it when bosses look over their shoulders or fail to reward them for a job well done.

A little-noticed part of the health care reform plan proposed by Senate Democrats would create a temporary high-risk pool that would cover people turned down for health care insurance because of pre-existing medical conditions.

Even now, 20 years later Aaron Larson plays it back daily, wondering what he might have done, said or seen to make things turn out differently.

SALT LAKE CITY - Could lawmakers end up bumping elbows with lobbyists instead of shaking hands to prevent the spread of H1N1 flu?

Or could the whole Legislature up and relocate to another part of the state?

What about the possibility of scrapping face-to-face interaction altogether and holding the entire session via videoconference?

SAN FRANCISCO - When the balloon boy story broke last week -- about the 6-year-old who was supposed to be helplessly soaring through Colorado in a balloon -- there were lots of reactions.

But Marin County, Calif. contractor Dan Nowell had the most unusual.

Been there. Done that.

Have you ever thought you would like to write a novel in the method and style of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Cormac McCarthy?

Now is your chance. Sort of.

LAS VEGAS - The state's casino cops have been busy lately. Could recession-fueled money troubles be blamed for the brazen acts of theft that have been reported in recent months? Among them:

ABILENE, Texas - Nonprofit organizations -- from food banks and the arts community to churches and hospice centers -- have largely been left out of the debate over health care reform, advocates say.

That is the conclusion of Tim Delaney, president and chief executive officer of the National Council of Nonprofit Associations.

Twenty years later Carmina Salcido still vividly remembers her 4-year-old sister Sofia trying to protect her. She remembers her father's eyes when he came for baby Teresa.

She remembers the deadly silence that followed as he walked away.

"He was in a hurry to do what he was going to do," Carmina Salcido said.