Crashers probe may become criminal investigation
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Secret Service may begin a criminal investigation against the Virginia couple who crashed a high-profile White House dinner, an agency spokesman said Friday. Jim Mackin said the possible turn toward criminal charges is one reason the Secret Service has kept mum about what happened when Michaele and Tareq Salahi arrived at the security checkpoint Tuesday. They were not on the guest list for the dinner honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Military divorces edge up again in 9th year of war
WASHINGTON (AP) — The divorce rate in the armed forces increased slightly again in the past year as military marriages continued to bear the stress of the nation's ninth year at war. The Pentagon says that in the budget year that ended Sept. 30, there were an estimated 27,312 divorces among the nearly 765,000 married members of the active-duty Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.
Insuring young key to health care overhaul plans
WASHINGTON (AP) — The young invincibles. That's what the insurance industry calls them. They're the 13.7 million Americans under 30 who don't have health insurance because, they firmly believe, they just don't need it. Why waste money on something they're too healthy to ever use?
Off the mound, Pirates pitcher pursues farm policy
WASHINGTON (AP) — An e-mail requesting an internship arrived at the Agriculture Department this summer with an impressive resume: Princeton University degree in operations research and financial engineering, 3.8 college GPA, 1520 SATs. Ross Ohlendorf didn't mention his 95 mph sinking fastball, but it probably wouldn't have hurt his chances. Department officials were impressed that the Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher wanted to work for them in the offseason.
No decisions in high court's horn of plenty
WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time under Chief Justice John Roberts, the Supreme Court failed to issue opinions before Thanksgiving in any of the cases that were argued in recent months. The court operates under no deadlines, but usually produces an opinion or two by the middle of November, especially if Roberts or the equally speedy Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is writing for a unanimous court.
Obama telephones thanks to 10 US service members
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama enjoyed a quiet first Thanksgiving at the White House, telephoning U.S. servicemen and women stationed around the world and spending time in the company of his family and friends. Obama placed calls from the Oval Office to 10 U.S. servicemen and women — two each in the Army, Navy, Air Force, the Marines and the Coast Guard — stationed in combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as in the Persian Gulf.
INSIDE WASHINGTON: Stream of WH health care visits
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's top aides met frequently with lobbyists and health care industry heavyweights as his administration pieced together a national health care overhaul, according to White House visitor records obtained by The Associated Press. The records, obtained Wednesday, disclose visits by a broad cross-section of the people most involved in the health care debate, weighted heavily toward those who want to overhaul the system.
Lawyers: government misconduct in Blackwater case
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense lawyers are alleging misconduct by Justice Department prosecutors in the case against one of five Blackwater security guards accused in the killings of 17 Iraqis in Baghdad. Recent pretrial proceedings that took place behind closed doors led the Justice Department to seek dismissal of charges against Nicholas Slatten of Sparta, Tenn., one of the five guards accused in the shootings in busy Nisoor Square in September 2007.
Car insurance scofflaws raise health mandate doubt
DENVER (AP) — Thousands of drivers on the nation's roads don't carry auto insurance, despite laws in all but two states requiring it. Critics of President Barack Obama's health overhaul plan ask: What are the chances scofflaws will treat a requirement to carry health insurance any differently? Nearly 40 years of car insurance mandates — which the insurance industry says have failed to make roads safer or lower auto insurance costs — raise questions about how well such mandates work.
New climate targets may not change daily life much
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans' day-to-day lives won't change noticeably if President Barack Obama achieves his newly announced goal of slashing carbon dioxide pollution by one-sixth in the next decade, experts say. Except for rising energy bills. And how much they'll go up depends on who's doing the calculating.
