Latest Stories

Polygamist sect member found guilty of sexual assault

By TRISH CHOATE, Scripps Howard News Service

ELDORADO, Texas - The jury in the trial of polygamist sect member Raymond Merril Jessop found him guilty of sexual assault of a child Thursday evening after deliberating fewer than three hours.

Washcall: Fake H1N1 ... Congress takes a hit ... Deadspeak

By LISA HOFFMAN and LEE BOWMAN, Scripps Howard News Service

WASHINGTON - Federal law-enforcement and national-security authorities are on alert for counterfeit doses of H1N1 vaccine and anti-viral medications that they expect to surface in the United States, particularly as shortages of both continue to grow.

Editorial: Welcome to America. That'll be $10

An editorial / By Dale McFeatters, Scripps Howard News Service

Even though more people want to visit the States than the U.S. can handle, the federal government is planning a $10 fee on visitors that will be used to attract even more of them.

How to avoid alcohol poisoning

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Poisoning caused by binge drinking -- drinking excessively within a short period. For men, that's five standard-sized alcoholic beverages within two hours. For women, it's four or more standard-sized drinks, which is defined as a 12-ounce beer, a 5-ounce glass of wine or a mixed drink with one shot.

Parents start foundation to end fraternity booze hazing

By MARYLYNN URICCHIO, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Everybody liked Lynn Gordon Bailey Jr. He was smart, funny, handsome, a gifted athlete and a talented performer. In his senior year at Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, "Gordie" was co-captain of the varsity football team and started on defense for the school's New England championship lacrosse team.

Social Web sites may turn into dating sites

By ALEJANDRO MARTINEZ-CABRERA, San Francisco Chronicle

In the online dating business, where new sites close as quickly as they open and only a handful have mastered the art of matchmaking, a new generation of services is courting the billion-dollar industry by leveraging all that personal information on social networks.

Tuned In: Julian Casablanca ... Way Out West ... Heavy Trash

By CHUCK CAMPBELL, Scripps Howard News Service

"PHRAZES FOR THE YOUNG," Julian Casablancas (Cult Records/RCA)

When The Strokes emerged earlier this decade some talked as though the New York City garage band would save rock music -- a ridiculous notion since rock wasn't dying and even if it were, one band certainly wouldn't save it.

Inspect your luggage quickly after a plane trip

By STEVE HUETTEL, St. Petersburg Times

Somewhere between a curb at Boston's Logan Airport and luggage claim at Tampa International, somebody snuck a bottle of pure maple syrup and some change from Millard Keller's black bag recently.

Keller went home, then to bed. He didn't open the bag until morning. So the 57-year-old retiree lost the chance to get reimbursed by the airline, JetBlue Airways.

How to avoid luggage theft

St. Petersburg Times

Time limits to report luggage theft (from arrival)

JetBlue: 4 hours

Southwest: 4 hours

Continental: 4 hours (see note)

American: 24 hours

United: 24 hours

US Airways: 24 hours

Delta: 10 days

(Note: From discovery of theft)

Sources: Airline Web sites

FAST FACTS

Tips to avoid baggage theft

IRS may have a refund for you

By PATRICIA SABATINI, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Wouldn't it be great if the Internal Revenue Service were looking for you to give you money?

For nearly 108,000 taxpayers nationwide, that's exactly the case.

The agency is holding federal income tax refunds totaling about $124 million that it tried to distribute this tax season but were returned as undeliverable.

A historical perspective on Obama's war with Fox

By MACKENZIE CARPENTER, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

When Abraham Lincoln was confronted with unflattering press editorials during the Civil War that described him as "a blockhead," "a moron" and a "widow maker," he shrugged it off with a joke.

"Having an hour to spare on Sunday I read this batch of editorials and when I was through reading I asked myself, 'Abraham Lincoln, are you a man or a dog?' " he was quoted as saying.

Mosque worshipers knew Fort Hood suspect Hasan was troubled

By ISAAC WOLF, Scripps Howard News Service

SILVER SPRING, Md. - Those who knew Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan knew he was troubled.

Adnan Haider prayed with Hasan -- an Army psychiatrist now accused of a mass shooting at a Texas Army base -- at a suburban Washington mosque. After they met last year, Hasan immediately said he was looking for a Muslim woman to date.

Blount: NFL players sacrificing healthy brains to game

By RACHEL BLOUNT, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Bob Stein wants the league to own up, and pay up, for its role.

Despite an expanding body of evidence linking brain damage to violent collisions on the football field, Bob Stein can still indulge in a little gallows humor. "The good news," he said, "is that I can't remember how many concussions I had."

Editorial: A number to keep Obama up at night

An editorial / By Dale McFeatters, Scripps Howard News Service

This week's number that President Barack Obama needs to worry about is not two, the number of governorships the Democrats lost on Tuesday. It is 10.2 percent, the unemployment rate for October announced Friday by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Walters: Earmark story underscores big difference

By DAN WALTERS, Sacramento Bee

A batch of amendments to a massive water-bond bill was submitted to the state Senate's clerical desk Monday, and one, as it turned out, had nothing to do with water.

Later that evening, as the bond bill was being debated, Sen. Dave Cox, R-Fair Oaks, asked about the opaquely worded new provision and was given a misleading answer about its effect.

By DOUGLAS QUAN and JANET ZIMMERMAN, The Press-Enterprise

Videos have become key weapon for groups to illuminate causes

When Michael Markarian watched video of workers at the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. in Chino, Calif., jabbing cows with forklifts and shooting water up their noses, it wasn't just the images that gave him chills.It was the cows' moans and cries, said Markarian, executive vice president of the Humane Society of the United States."Haunting," he said.

Dead Wrong

A seven-month investigation into federal mortality records reveals hundreds of thousands of death certificates filed every year in the United States are wrong, meaning we don't really know what's killing Americans. A first-of-its-kind study also found that younger, well-educated and wealthy people are more likely to be autopsied when they die. More men than women are autopsied. And blacks, Hispanics, Asians and Native Americans are more likely to be autopsied than whites.

Autopsy rates differ by race, age, sex, education

Cause of death investigations often dead wrong

Accurate death certificates challenged by poor training

Poll: Doubts persist over accuracy of death certificates

Survey results among different groups

Death poll findings, by questions

What to do if you distrust the death diagnosis

Where to find death records

Deaths by heart disease by state

Editorial: We don't know what's really killing Americans