By LEE BOWMAN and THOMAS HARGROVE, Scripps Howard News Service

For millions of Americans living in flood-prone places, all that stands between the waters of mayhem and safety is a pile of dirt.

Earthen berms, dikes and levees identical to those overtopped and breached in scores of places along swollen Midwest rivers in recent weeks, make up the vast majority of flood protection efforts across the United States.

Faced with mounting evidence that a majority of sudden unexpected infant deaths are related to unsafe sleep conditions, several states are intensifying efforts to keep babies out of adult beds and sleeping alone.

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Barack Obama on Tuesday proposed legislation aimed at improving the way America investigates and accounts for sudden infant deaths as well as stillbirths.

Florida authorities have issued a wide-ranging call for improved standards of infant death investigation and review in the state, citing some of the deficiencies brought to light by recent Scripps