AP Online back issues from Friday, December 7:
Bush on Hand at Christmas Tree Lighting
Dec 07, 2007 ... President Bush, keeping up a White House tradition that spans decades, ushered in the holidays Thursday as the National Christmas Tree came aglow in bright lights of gold, red and blue. The president thanked people across the country for upholding the spirit of the season. ...
Budget Battle Hinges on Iraq
Dec 07, 2007; ... Democrats controlling Congress sent the most explicit signals yet on Thursday that they are resigned to providing additional funding for the war in Iraq before Congress adjourns for the year. Conceding that President Bush is in a strong position as Congress seeks to wrap up its work, ...
Ex-UnitedHealth CEO Settles With SEC
Dec 07, 2007; ... Former UnitedHealth chief William McGuire will give back more than $400 million to settle claims that he boosted the value of his stock options by doing something no other stock buyer gets to do _ look back in time and pick favorable prices for his shares. Combined with a previously ...
Omaha Gunman Freed From Centers, Homes
Dec 07, 2007; ... The young man who killed eight people and committed suicide in a shooting rampage at a department store spent four years in a series of treatment centers, group homes and foster care after threatening to kill his stepmother in 2002. Finally, in August 2006, social workers, the courts ...
AP Top News at 7:00 p.m. EST
Dec 07, 2007 ... NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ Jose Guillen and Jay Gibbons were suspended Thursday for the first 15 days of next season for violating baseball's drug policy, an indication how the sport might ...
Mortgage Rate Freeze Reached
Dec 07, 2007; ... Distraught homeowners facing the grim prospect their monthly mortgage payments soon will surge found hope Thursday they can hold onto their houses by qualifying for a five-year freeze in loan rates. The plan is the Bush administration's biggest move yet to show it is dealing ...
Ex-UnitedHealth CEO Settles With SEC
Dec 07, 2007; ... Former UnitedHealth chief William McGuire will give back more than $400 million to settle claims that he boosted the value of his stock options by doing something no other stock buyer gets to do _ look back in time and pick favorable prices for his shares. Combined with a previously ...
AP Top News at 7:41 p.m. EST
Dec 07, 2007 ... NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ Jose Guillen and Jay Gibbons were suspended Thursday for the first 15 days of next season for violating baseball's drug policy, an indication how the sport might ...
Miles' Contract Extended
Dec 07, 2007; ... LSU head football coach Les Miles signed a contract extension Thursday to keep him at the university through 2012, apparently ending speculation that he might leave for a job at the University of Michigan. "I'm thrilled to be here. I'm thrilled to be LSU's head coach. I'm ...
Mortgage Rate Freeze Reached
Dec 07, 2007; ... Distraught homeowners facing the grim prospect their monthly mortgage payments soon will surge found hope Thursday they can hold onto their houses by qualifying for a five-year freeze in loan rates. The plan is the Bush administration's biggest move yet to show it is dealing ...
Bush Seeks Nuclear Disclosure From Kim
Dec 07, 2007; ... President Bush's personal letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, raising the possibility of normalized relations if he fully discloses his nuclear programs by year's end, is a turnabout for a president who has labeled the communist regime part of an "axis of evil." ...
Thursday's Sports Scoreboard
Dec 07, 2007; ... All Times Eastern National Football League Chicago vs Washington, 8:15 p.m. National Basketball Association Atlanta 29, Minnesota 15...
Obese Kids May Face Heart Risks Later
Dec 07, 2007; ... The chicken nuggets are coming home to roost. By the time today's teens are middle age, the rate of heart disease could be 16 percent higher because of the extra pounds they are carrying around today, a U.S. study suggests. A second study, by Danish researchers, documents a connection ...
Senate Passes Tax Fix
Dec 07, 2007; ... The Senate voted Thursday to block a looming tax increase averaging $2,000 for millions of taxpayers after Senate Republicans succeeded in thwarting a Democratic plan to also raise taxes on investors. The Senate bill, passed 88-5, provides a one-year fix for the alternative minimum ...
AP Top News at 7:38 p.m. EST
Dec 07, 2007 ... NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ Jose Guillen and Jay Gibbons were suspended Thursday for the first 15 days of next season for violating baseball's drug policy, an indication how the sport might ...
Ex-UnitedHealth CEO Settles With SEC
Dec 07, 2007; ... Former UnitedHealth chief William McGuire will give back more than $400 million to settle claims that he boosted the value of his stock options by doing something no other stock buyer gets to do _ look back in time and pick favorable prices for his shares. Combined with a previously ...
First Rise in U.S. Teen Births Since '91
Dec 07, 2007; ... In a troubling reversal, the nation's teen birth rate rose for the first time in 15 years, surprising government health officials and reviving the bitter debate about abstinence-only sex education. The birth rate had been dropping since its peak in 1991, although the decline had ...
Obama's Choice? Energy or Oprah
Dec 07, 2007 ... The latest dilemma facing Democrat Barack Obama? Energy or Oprah. The Illinois senator and presidential hopeful has scheduled two highly anticipated rallies in Iowa on Saturday with talk show host Oprah Winfrey. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday he may have to ...
Bush Seeks Nuclear Disclosure From Kim
Dec 07, 2007; ... President Bush's personal letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, raising the possibility of normalized relations if he fully discloses his nuclear programs by year's end, is a turnabout for a president who has labeled the communist regime part of an "axis of evil." ...
Senate-Passed Bill Blocks Tax Increase
Dec 07, 2007; ... The Senate voted Thursday to block a looming tax increase averaging $2,000 for millions of taxpayers after Senate Republicans succeeded in thwarting a Democratic plan to also raise taxes on investors. The Senate bill, passed 88-5, provides a one-year fix for the alternative minimum ...
Target, Krispy Kreme Among Big Movers
Dec 07, 2007 ... Stocks that were moving substantially or trading heavily Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market: NYSE Target Corp., down $4.56 at $55.57 Poor sales of holiday and apparel items caused sales at the retailer's established locations to ...
Niedermayer Laces Them Up
Dec 07, 2007; ... In a mostly deserted rink, a solitary figure zipped around the ice. Scott Niedermayer was back at work. After the Anaheim Ducks won their first Stanley Cup last summer, Niedermayer was almost completely convinced he had played his final NHL game. Gradually, as he ...
Hayden Says CIA Videotapes Destroyed
Dec 07, 2007; ... The CIA videotaped its interrogations of two top terror suspects in 2002 and destroyed the tapes three years later out of fear they would leak to the public and compromise the identities of U.S. questioners, the director of the agency told employees Thursday. CIA Director Michael ...
Ex-UnitedHealth CEO Settles With SEC
Dec 07, 2007; ... Former UnitedHealth chief William McGuire will give back more than $400 million to settle claims that he boosted the value of his stock options by doing something no other stock buyer gets to do _ look back in time and pick favorable prices for his shares. Combined with a previously ...
Gennifer Flowers Mulls Vote for Clinton
Dec 07, 2007; ... The one-time other woman in Hillary Rodham Clinton's life says she's considering casting her vote for the former first lady. "I can't help but want to support my own gender, and she's as experienced as any of the others _ except maybe Joe Biden," Gennifer Flowers said in a recent ...
Romney Vows to Serve 'The Common Cause'
Dec 07, 2007; ... His campaign at a crossroads, Republican Mitt Romney said Thursday his Mormon faith should neither help nor hinder his quest for the White House and vowed to serve the interests of the nation, not the church, if elected president. "When I place my hand on the Bible and take the ...
Mortgage Rate Freeze Reached
Dec 07, 2007; ... The Bush administration offered hope to beleaguered homeowners Thursday with a five-year freeze in loan rates for those who qualify, even as the number of bad mortgages jumped to the highest level ever. The plan represented the administration's biggest action yet to show it is dealing ...
FBI: Gitmo Detainee Was With Bin Laden
Dec 07, 2007; ... A Yemeni admitted he was a driver for Osama bin Laden and knew of the al-Qaida leader's role in the Sept. 11 attack, an FBI agent testified Thursday, countering defense assertions that the detainee was a minor employee with no role in terrorism. Salim Ahmed Hamdan told FBI agents that ...
AP Top News at 7:00 p.m. EST
Dec 07, 2007 ... NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ Jose Guillen and Jay Gibbons were suspended Thursday for the first 15 days of next season for violating baseball's drug policy, an indication how the sport might ...
AP Top News at 7:09 p.m. EST
Dec 07, 2007 ... NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ Jose Guillen and Jay Gibbons were suspended Thursday for the first 15 days of next season for violating baseball's drug policy, an indication how the sport might ...
UN to Get Report on Kosovo Friday
Dec 07, 2007; ... Three days ahead of a deadline, the United States, the European Union and Russia plan to inform the U.N. secretary-general formally on Friday that negotiations on the status of Kosovo have failed. The U.S. envoy in the negotiations, Frank Wisner, said a report on the failure of the ...
GOP Members Resign From House Page Board
Dec 07, 2007; ... Two Republican House members resigned Thursday from the board supervising teenage pages, accusing a Democratic official of failing to inform them about sexual and criminal activity by at least four youngsters. The resignations by Reps. Ginny Brown-Waite of Florida and Shelly Moore ...
Gigot Elected to Pulitzer Prize Board
Dec 07, 2007 ... Paul Gigot, the editorial page editor and vice president of The Wall Street Journal, has been elected to the Pulitzer Prize board, Columbia University announced Thursday. Gigot was selected during a recent board meeting in New York. He replaces Paul Steiger, the former ...
Target, Krispy Kreme Among Big Movers
Dec 07, 2007 ... Stocks that were moving substantially or trading heavily Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market: NYSE Target Corp., down $4.56 at $55.57 Poor sales of holiday and apparel items caused sales at the retailer's established locations to ...
Omaha Gunman Led Troubled Life
Dec 07, 2007; ... The young man who killed eight people and committed suicide in a shooting rampage at a department store spent four years in a series of treatment centers, group homes and foster care after threatening to kill his stepmother in 2002. Finally, in August 2006, social workers, the courts ...
AP Top News at 7:38 p.m. EST
Dec 07, 2007 ... NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ Jose Guillen and Jay Gibbons were suspended Thursday for the first 15 days of next season for violating baseball's drug policy, an indication how the sport might ...
Hayden Says CIA Videotapes Destroyed
Dec 07, 2007; ... The CIA videotaped its interrogations of two top terror suspects in 2002 and destroyed the tapes three years later out of fear they would leak to the public and compromise the identities of U.S. questioners, the director of the agency told employees Thursday. The disclosure brought ...
A Boozy Christmas Eve Brings Surprises
Dec 07, 2007; ... There's nothing like a little liquor to unlock a play and its characters. And the booze flows freely in "The Seafarer," Conor McPherson's haunting yet often hilarious tale of a memorable Christmas Eve ...
Thursday's Sports Scoreboard
Dec 07, 2007; ... All Times Eastern National Football League Chicago vs Washington, 8:15 p.m. National Basketball Association Minnesota 0, Atlanta 0 ...
LSU Extends Miles' Contract Through 2012
Dec 07, 2007; ... LSU head football coach Les Miles signed a contract extension Thursday to keep him at the university through 2012, apparently ending speculation that he might leave for a job at the University of Michigan. "I'm thrilled to be here. I'm thrilled to be LSU's head coach. I'm ...
AP Top News at 7:39 p.m. EST
Dec 07, 2007 ... NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ Jose Guillen and Jay Gibbons were suspended Thursday for the first 15 days of next season for violating baseball's drug policy, an indication how the sport might ...
Study: Calls Help Couch Potatoes Walk
Dec 07, 2007; ... Fitness research shows that when a computer talks the talk, even couch potatoes can be persuaded to walk the walk. Researchers at Stanford University, who studied sedentary people for a year, found that automated exercise reminder phone calls had about the same get-up-and-go power as calls from ...
Product Recalls
Dec 07, 2007; ... The following recalls have been announced: _ About 100,000 First Years Newborn-to-Toddler Reclining Feeding seats, distributed by RC2 Corp. and made in the United States, because the restraining straps can pull out of the waist strap slots, posing a fall hazard to young children. RC2 ...
Senate-Passed Bill Blocks Tax Increase
Dec 07, 2007; ... The Senate voted Thursday to block a looming tax increase averaging $2,000 for millions of taxpayers after Senate Republicans succeeded in thwarting a Democratic plan to also raise taxes on investors. The Senate bill, passed 88-5, provides a one-year fix for the alternative minimum ...
Senate Passes Tax Fix
Dec 07, 2007; ... The Senate voted Thursday to block a looming tax increase averaging $2,000 for millions of taxpayers after Senate Republicans succeeded in thwarting a Democratic plan to also raise taxes on investors. The Senate bill, passed 88-5, provides a one-year fix for the alternative minimum ...
Iraqi Parliament Closes Shop for Month
Dec 07, 2007; ... Iraqi legislators suspended parliamentary sessions Thursday until the end of the month because of the Muslim religious season _ the end of much-delayed efforts to pass U.S.-backed legislation aimed at achieving national reconciliation this year. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, ...
Panel Floats NYC Air Congestion Remedies
Dec 07, 2007; ... Remedies including express flight paths for congested routes could help ease the chronic flight delays that have turned the region's three major airports into a national headache, according to a report released Thursday. That suggestion was among 100 made by an aviation task force ...
Ex-UnitedHealth CEO Settles With SEC
Dec 07, 2007; ... Former UnitedHealth chief William McGuire will give back more than $400 million to settle claims that he boosted the value of his stock options by doing something no other stock buyer gets to do _ look back in time and pick favorable prices for his shares. Combined with a previously ...
Grammy Drama Ahead With Kanye, Winehouse
Dec 07, 2007; ... Grammy night was shaping up as high drama after Kanye West and Amy Winehouse _ two of music's most gifted and volatile performers _ were nominated for a leading eight and six trophies respectively. Other top nominees at the Los Angeles announcement included the Foo Fighters, whose ...
Mall Gunman Called Quiet and Depressed
Dec 07, 2007; ... A high school dropout with a criminal past, Robert A. Hawkins had struggled to overcome depression. But friends thought he was making strides. Then, about two weeks ago, he lost his girlfriend. A week later, it was his job. His friends worried he would regress. "He was ...
Mortgage Rate Freeze Reached
Dec 07, 2007; ... Distraught homeowners facing the grim prospect their monthly mortgage payments soon will surge found hope Thursday they can hold onto their houses by qualifying for a five-year freeze in loan rates. The plan is the Bush administration's biggest move yet to show it is dealing ...
Ex-UnitedHealth CEO Settles With SEC
Dec 07, 2007; ... Former UnitedHealth chief William McGuire will give back more than $400 million to settle claims that he boosted the value of his stock options by doing something no other stock buyer gets to do _ look back in time and pick favorable prices for his shares. Combined with a previously ...
Budget Battle Hinges on Iraq
Dec 07, 2007; ... Democrats controlling Congress sent the most explicit signals yet on Thursday that they are resigned to providing additional funding for the war in Iraq before Congress adjourns for the year. Conceding that President Bush is in a strong position as Congress seeks to wrap up its work, ...
Man Jailed for Not Taking TB Medication
Dec 07, 2007 ... A man was jailed for failing to take his tuberculosis medication after officials said he was a serious health risk. James Roman Pearson, 49, remained at the Pima County jail Thursday on a tuberculosis violation, more than two weeks after the county health department petitioned to have ...
Product Recalls
Dec 07, 2007; ... The following recalls have been announced: _ About 100,000 First Years Newborn-to-Toddler Reclining Feeding seats, distributed by RC2 Corp. and made in the United States, because the restraining straps can pull out of the waist strap slots, posing a fall hazard to young children. RC2 ...
Bush Announces Mortgage Rate Freeze Plan
Dec 07, 2007; ... The Bush administration offered hope to beleaguered homeowners Thursday with a five-year freeze in loan rates for those who qualify, even as the number of bad mortgages jumped to the highest level ever. The plan represented the administration's biggest action yet to show it is dealing ...
NASA Delays Atlantis Launch
Dec 07, 2007; ... NASA called off Thursday's launch of space shuttle Atlantis after a pair of fuel gauges in its big external tank failed to work properly, a recurring problem ever since the Columbia disaster. Shuttle managers said the next launch attempt would be no earlier than Saturday. ...
School Bans Students Without Mumps Shots
Dec 07, 2007; ... The University of Southern Maine began notifying more than 400 students Thursday that they're being banned from campus for failing to meet the latest vaccination requirements for mumps. Campus officials provided student lists to professors and were trying to reach about 50 on-campus ...
Holiday Cheer Shattered in an Instant
Dec 07, 2007; ... The Von Maur department store in December is so full of holiday spirit that one real estate agent took a job wrapping gifts _ not for the money but just to be part of the cheery bustle. Beverly Flynn, a mother of three, was among the eight people killed in a gunman's rampage that ...
Mortgage Rate Freeze Reached
Dec 07, 2007; ... The Bush administration offered hope to beleaguered homeowners Thursday with a five-year freeze in loan rates for those who qualify, even as the number of bad mortgages jumped to the highest level ever. The plan represented the administration's biggest action yet to show it is dealing ...
Fuel Tank Problem Delays Atlantis Launch
Dec 07, 2007; ... NASA called off Thursday's launch of space shuttle Atlantis after a pair of fuel gauges in its big external tank failed to work properly, a recurring problem ever since the Columbia disaster. Shuttle managers said the next launch attempt would be no earlier than Saturday. ...
A Look at War-Related Violence in Iraq
Dec 07, 2007; ... On Thursday, Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, cited a 60 percent decline in violence in the country over the past six months. A look at U.S. military deaths during this period, according to an Associated Press count: _U.S. military deaths dropped 63 ...
Senate Passes Tax Fix
Dec 07, 2007; ... The Senate voted Thursday to block a looming tax increase averaging $2,000 for millions of taxpayers after Senate Republicans succeeded in thwarting a Democratic plan to also raise taxes on investors. The Senate bill, passed 88-5, provides a one-year fix for the alternative minimum ...
Mortgage Rate Freeze Reached
Dec 07, 2007; ... The Bush administration offered hope to beleaguered homeowners Thursday with a five-year freeze in loan rates for those who qualify, even as the number of bad mortgages jumped to the highest level ever. The plan represented the administration's biggest action yet to show it is dealing ...
AP Top News at 7:43 p.m. EST
Dec 07, 2007 ... NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ Jose Guillen and Jay Gibbons were suspended Thursday for the first 15 days of next season for violating baseball's drug policy, an indication how the sport might ...