www.washingtontimes.com stories: National

PRUDEN: Condoms are only part of it

Wesley Pruden — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:37:05 -0500

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Barack Obama thought he was only picking a fight with the Roman Catholic bishops. He thought he could limit the argument over his health care mandate to a controversy over condoms.

He's getting a bigger fight than he imagined.

Condoms were once limited to dispensing machines in men's rooms ...

Nearly 1 in 20 U.S. adults over 50 have fake knees

Lindsey Tanner — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:43:00 -0500

CHICAGO — Nearly 1 in 20 Americans older than 50 have artificial knees, or more than 4 million people, according to the first national estimate showing how common these replacement joints have become in an aging population.

Doctors know the number of knee replacement operations has surged in the past ...

Report: Teacher in L.A. molestation case paid to resign

Christina Hoag — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:34:45 -0500

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The former third-grade teacher charged with committing lewd acts on students was paid $40,000 to drop an appeal of his firing, a newspaper reported Friday.

The Los Angeles Unified School District settled with Mark Berndt because it couldn't defend his February 2011 firing, district general counsel ...

Pa. judge to consider Sandusky jury, bail issues

Mark Scolforo — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:10:00 -0500

BELLEFONTE, Pa. (AP) — Former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky's request for greater freedom of movement — and visits from his young grandchildren — while he awaits trial on child sex-abuse charges was taken under advisement by a judge Friday, but prosecutors countered that Sandusky's home is not a ...

Serial killer's tip leads to remains of 2nd body

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:24:00 -0500

SAN ANDREAS, Calif. — Searchers using information provided by a convicted California serial killer have recovered the remains of a second person.

San Joaquin County sheriff's spokesman Les Garcia says specially trained dogs led searchers to a partial human skull and bones in Calaveras County around 11 a.m. Friday.

Authorities ...

Unemployment-aid applications near 4-year low

Christopher S. Rugaber — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:59:50 -0500

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people seeking unemployment aid neared a four-year low last week, an encouraging sign that strong hiring could continue in the coming months.

The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly applications for unemployment benefits fell 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 358,000. That's the second-lowest level ...

Official: 10 states get education waiver

Ben Feller and Kimberly Hefling — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 06:11:00 -0500

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Thursday will free 10 states from the strict and sweeping requirements of the No Child Left Behind law, giving leeway to states that promise to improve how they prepare and evaluate students, the Associated Press has learned.

The first 10 states to receive the ...

U.S. jobs gap between young and old is widest ever

Hope Yen — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 07:22:00 -0500

WASHINGTON — Squeezed by a tight job market, young Americans are especially struggling. They have suffered bigger income losses than other age groups and are less likely to be employed than at any time since World War II.

An analysis by the Pew Research Center, released Thursday, details the impact ...

Group wants Supreme Court to save war memorial cross

Julie Watson — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:55:38 -0500

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Supporters of a war memorial cross deemed unconstitutional last year by a federal court plan to ask the Supreme Court to reverse the decision, amid a growing fight nationwide over the use of religious symbols to honor fallen troops.

A nonprofit legal firm, Liberty Institute in Washington, planned ...

Kodak to stop making cameras, digital frames

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:52:22 -0500

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — Eastman Kodak Co. said Thursday it will stop making digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames, marking the end of an era for the company that brought photography to the masses more than a century ago.

Founded by George Eastman in 1880, Kodak was ...

L.A. abuse charges prompt awkward talks for parents

Michael R. Blood — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:17:00 -0500

LOS ANGELES — Sinister allegations of abuse by at least two teachers in a Los Angeles school have forced awkward discussions as parents warn youngsters that people they trust — pastors, teachers, even relatives — might do things that could hurt them.

It was a grim reminder of risks faced ...

Kline releases final bill to replace No Child Left Behind

Ben Wolfgang — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:41:00 -0500

The Republican chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce on Thursday released the final two pieces of his reform agenda, designed to replace the widely criticized and decade-old No Child Left Behind federal education law.

Rep. John Kline of Minnesota said he remains optimistic that, even in ...

NRC approves first new nuclear plant in 3 decades

Matthew Daly — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:50:41 -0500

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation's first new nuclear power plant in a generation won approval Thursday as federal regulators voted to grant a license for two new reactors in Georgia.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted 4-1 to approve Atlanta-based Southern Co.'s request to build two nuclear reactors at its Vogtle ...

FBI file: Steve Jobs was considered for government post

Pete Yost — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:03:00 -0500

WASHINGTON — FBI background interviews of some people who knew Apple founder Steve Jobs reveal a man so driven by power that he sometimes lost sight of honesty.

The newly released FBI interviews conducted in 1991 were part of a background check for an appointment to the President's Export Council ...

Sen. Coburn wants NYC museum funds cut

Susan Crabtree — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:59:00 -0500

Sen. Tom Coburn, a Republican from Oklahoma, isn't backing down from his decision to block $20 million a year in new funding for the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York City, despite pleas from museum officials who also had family members die in the attack.

Mr. Coburn ...

American Scene

THE WASHINGTON TIMES — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:41:06 -0500

COLORADO

Fugitive sibling pleads guilty to state charges

WALSENBURG | One of three siblings accused in a multistate crime spree pleaded guilty Thursday to charges stemming from the trio's capture in Colorado.

Under a deal with prosecutors, Lee Grace Dougherty, 29, pleaded guilty to one count of attempted first-degree assault ...

S. Dakota Indian tribe sues brewers over alcohol woes

Grant Schulte — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:42:08 -0500

LINCOLN, Neb. — An American Indian tribe sued some of the world's largest beer makers Thursday, claiming they knowingly contributed to devastating alcohol-related problems on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

The Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota said it is demanding $500 million in damages for the cost ...

Lawsuit seeks to keep cross on federal land

Julie Watson — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:43:07 -0500

SAN DIEGO — Supporters of a war memorial cross deemed unconstitutional last year by a federal court rallied at the landmark Thursday as they prepared to ask the Supreme Court to reverse the decision, amid a growing effort nationwide over the use of religious symbols to honor fallen troops.

...

Children return to California school after entire staff replaced

Christina Hoag — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:05:08 -0500

LOS ANGELES — Children returned Thursday to an elementary school where the entire staff was replaced after the arrests of two former teachers on charges of committing lewd acts with students in class.

Hundreds of students streamed through the front doors under the eyes of school police and some ...

10 states can drop No Child law, submit new plans

Ben Wolfgang — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:25:06 -0500

Ten states were given an exit from the mandates of the No Child Left Behind law Thursday, as the Obama administration followed through on its promise to overhaul federal education policy without Congress.

In exchange for submitting detailed reform plans that were recently approved by the Education Department, the 10 ...