WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders saw momentum gather behind their sweeping health-care legislation Wednesday, as they picked up commitments of support in the House from Democratic quarters where defections were most feared — liberals, abortion opponents and backbenchers.
WASHINGTON Biden botches blessing Vice President Joe Biden asked for God's blessing for the late mother of Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen during a White House celebration of St. Patrick's Day — except the elderly lady is very much alive. ''God rest her soul,'' Biden said Wednesday night as he introduced Cowen and President Barack Obama. He quickly caught himself and noted that it's Cowen's father who is no longer living. Of the prime minister's mother, Biden said, ''God bless her soul.'' Biden then cited the Irish proverb that ''a silent mouth is sweet to hear'' and yielded the podium to the president.
FARGO, N.D.: Schoolchildren, parents and hundreds of residents have spent days packing and stacking sandbags to protect their cities against the rising Red River. The National Guard is in place, keeping watch over the water. Dike builders are finishing last-minute work.
WASHINGTON: The Senate on Wednesday passed a $17.6 billion measure intended to spur hiring nationwide, sending the bill to the White House for the president's expected signature.
Associated Press BOISE, IDAHO: Idaho took the lead in a growing, nationwide fight against a health-care overhaul Wednesday when its governor became the first to sign a measure requiring the state attorney general to sue the federal government if residents are forced to buy health insurance.
Associated Press WASHINGTON: Products intended to treat cats and dogs for fleas and ticks kill hundreds of pets each year and injure tens of thousands, the Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday as it outlined plans to make the products safer.
SPARKS, NEV.: Workers at a Nevada research lab were checking on a primate room when they came across a ghastly sight: Thirty dead monkeys were essentially cooked alive after someone left the heater on. Two others were near death and had to be euthanized.
DETROIT: Doors are expected to shut on more than a quarter of Detroit's 172 public schools in June as the district fights through steadily declining enrollment and a budget deficit of more than $219 million, an emergency financial manager said Wednesday.
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C.: The kit-built single-engine plane was gliding quietly as it came down for an emergency landing on a beach. Pharmaceutical salesman Robert Gary Jones, listening to his iPod while jogging, likely never saw or heard it before the aircraft hit him from behind Monday evening and killed him.
BOSTON: A Boston family says their quadriplegic son died after his wheelchair malfunctioned during routine maintenance, pinning his legs under a table and causing him to suffer seizures.
House Democrats moved toward the majority they need to pass health care legislation, giving them confidence as they worked out details and girded for a historic showdown.
In the Senate, Alan K. Simpson, a Republican, treated serious issues with folksy phrases and stinging humor. He now brings that to the task of reducing the federal debt.
Porsche shot to the top of a closely watched study of long-term vehicle dependability, overtaking U.S. and Japanese rivals, J.D. Power and Associates said Thursday.
The Dow Jones industrial average has closed at a new 2010 high as investors grow more confident that interest rates will stay at their current low levels
Joseph Casias has been legally using medical marijuana to deal with the gnawing pain caused by sinus cancer and an inoperable brain tumor. But then was fired for it.
Comerica, a regional U.S. bank, on Wednesday said it had repaid $2.25 billion of federal bailout money, while Hartford Financial Services Group said it sold $1.95 billion of stock to help repay $3.4 billion of its bailout funds, Reuters reported.
Officials at the Federal Reserve are trying to alter a Senate proposal that would focus the Fed s regulatory attention on the nation s biggest banks and strip away its powers over small and medium-size banks.
The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, urged Congress on Wednesday to let the Fed keep all of its banking oversight, arguing that information gleaned from that process helps the central bank guide the economy.
In a House hearing, Ben S. Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, waged a fresh battle against efforts to scale back the Feds role in overseeing banks.
