Economy

Bales faces 17 counts of murder in Afghan killings

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military intends to tell Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales Friday he faces 17 counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder, along with other charges, in connection with a shooting rampage in two southern Afghanistan villages that shocked Americans back home and further roiled ...

Parents: Chief's stepping down is not enough

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — The parents of an unarmed black teenager who was shot to death by a neighborhood watch volunteer say they are not satisfied that the Sanford police chief is temporarily stepping down.

Tracy and Sybrina Martin told hundreds of supporters at a rally Thursday that they want ...

Ex-Philadelphia priest pleads guilty to sex-abuse charge

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A defrocked Philadelphia priest pleaded guilty Thursday to a sex-abuse charge, just days before a landmark priest abuse trial is set to start.

Edward Avery, 69, pleaded guilty to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and conspiracy to endanger the welfare of a child. He immediately was sentenced to 2½ ...

IRS chief: Average tax refund this year about $3,000

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nice Internal Revenue Service refund check that many families eagerly await this time of year is down slightly from 2011 but still not too shabby: an average of about $3,000.

Through March 10, the IRS had issued 59.2 million refund checks totaling $174.4 billion, Douglas ...

Cohabitation no longer a predictor of divorce

ATLANTA (AP) — Nearly half of first marriages break up within 20 years, a new government study has found. With those odds, one might wonder: Would we be better off living together first?

The new research, part of a marriage survey of 22,000 men and women, suggests times have changed ...

Bagel guru Murray Lender dies at age 81 in Fla.

HARTFORD, Conn. — Murray Lender, who helped turn his father's small Connecticut bakery into a national company credited for introducing bagels to many Americans, has died in Florida. He was 81.

Lender, perhaps best known from promoting Lender's Bagels in TV commercials, died Wednesday at a hospital in Miami from complications ...

Radio campaign next step against Rush Limbaugh

NEW YORK — Rush Limbaugh's opponents are starting a radio campaign against him Thursday, seizing upon the radio star's attack of a Georgetown law student as a "slut" to make a long-term effort aimed at weakening his business.

The liberal Media Matters for America is using a past campaign against Glenn ...

Experts: Neighborhood watches shouldn't be armed

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Neighborhood watch groups were designed to be the eyes and ears of police — passively observing what they see and reporting back to law enforcement — not to enforce the law themselves.

Most neighborhood watches follow the rules, and confrontations are rare. But after the killing of ...

'Stand Your Ground Law' at center of Fla. shooting

MIAMI — Florida is among 21 states with a "Stand Your Ground Law," which gives people wide latitude to use deadly force rather than retreat during a fight. The self-defense law helps explain why a neighborhood watch captain has not been arrested in the shooting death of an unarmed teenager.

...

College degree, religious faith help marriages 'survive' to 20th year

America's marriage culture may be changing, but two statistics look about the same as they did 30 years ago:

• By the time women reach age 40, about eight in 10 will have married for the first time, just as they did in the 1980s.

• And 20 years later, ...

Sanford city panel votes 'no confidence' in police chief

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — Sanford city commissioners have voted "no confidence" in their police chief over the handling of the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a neighborhood watch captain.

The commission voted 3-2 Wednesday night against Chief Bill Lee Jr.

Commissioner Mark McCarty said Lee, who was ...

Was Florida shooter a vigilante or diligent neighbor?

SANFORD, Fla. — George Zimmerman once took criminal justice classes at the community college and was practically a one-man neighborhood watch in his gated part of town, calling police close to 50 times over the past eight years to report such things as slow-driving vehicles, strangers loitering in the neighborhood ...

Habits vs. G-strings: Nuns clash with strip club site next door

On one side of the fence are women in habits and wimples who have taken vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

On the other side of that fence, if a developer gets his way, will be women in G-strings in the business of nudity, dollars and prurience.

The scene for ...

American Scene: Suspect in Amish attacks must fund his defense

CLEVELAND — The accused ringleader in beard-cutting attacks on fellow Amish in Ohio cannot rely on taxpayers to pay his legal bills, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Court Judge Dan Polster ruled that Samuel Mullet Sr., 66, who has a nearly 800-acre farm near Steubenville with oil and ...

Wisconsin town jolted by booms in night

CLINTONVILLE, Wis. — Sleepless families in a small Wisconsin town longed for quiet Wednesday after mysterious booming noises over the past few nights roused them from bed and sent residents into the street sometimes still in pajamas.

The strange disturbance sounds like distant thunder, fireworks or someone slamming a heavy ...

Court sides with property owners over EPA

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that property owners have a right to prompt review by a judge of an important tool used by the Environmental Protection Agency to address water pollution.

The court sided with an Idaho couple who object to an EPA order that blocked ...

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