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O'Donnell to run for Senate seat in Delaware - 9 Mar 2010 at 3:57pm - WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) -- Christine O'Donnell is preparing to formally launch her Republican primary campaign for the U.S. Senate. Ms. O'Donnell, a conservative activist who lost the 2008 Senate race to now-Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., plans to announce officially that she will run for the seat at a news conference on Wednesday. Ms. O'Donnell will face Rep. Mike Castle in the Republican primary race. New Castle County Executive Chris Coons and Bob Franz are Democrats vying for the seat. Sen. Ted Kaufman, who was appointed to the seat when Mr. Biden became vice president, said he will not ...

Vasquez named ACC player of year - 9 Mar 2010 at 3:34pm - After a record-breaking senior season, the individual honors are rolling in for Greivis Vasquez. The Atlantic Coast Conference today named the Maryland guard the league's player of the year and, also today, The Sporting News named Vasquez a first-team All-American. Vasquez, who has averaged almost 20 points a game while leading the Terrapins to a share of the league's regular season title, on Tuesday won the ACC's top individual honor, receiving 39 votes from members of the ACC Sports Media Association. Duke's Jon Scheyer had 12 votes and Viginia Tech's Malcolm Delaney two. On Monday, Vasquez was a unanimous selection ...

Feds to probe runaway Prius in Calif. - 9 Mar 2010 at 2:38pm - EL CAJON, California (AP) -- Federal officials are sending two investigators to California to determine what caused a Toyota Prius to race out of control on a San Diego-area freeway. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Transportation said Tuesday that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will try to determine what caused the incident. Driver James Sikes sped along Interstate 8 for 20 minutes Monday before a Highway Patrol officer helped slow down the car. CHP Officer Brian Pennings says the 2008 Prius was towed to a Toyota dealership in El Cajon -- presumably for inspection. The incident took ...

Producer admits to Letterman blackmail - 9 Mar 2010 at 2:32pm - NEW YORK — A TV producer has pleaded guilty to trying to shake down David Letterman over the comic's sexual affairs. Robert "Joe" Halderman entered his guilty plea to attempted grand larceny Tuesday in a Manhattan court. He was charged last fall with demanding $2 million to keep quiet about Letterman's love life. The case spurred the late-night TV icon to tell viewers he'd had affairs with women on his staff. Halderman's lawyers initially said he was just offering to sell Letterman a thinly veiled screenplay about the comedian's life. Halderman is a producer for CBS' "48 Hours Mystery."

Crist uses NASA to split from Obama - 9 Mar 2010 at 11:47am - Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, is distancing himself from President Obama after months of criticism for supporting the president's $862 billion jobs stimulus plan. Mr. Crist said Tuesday he disagrees with Mr. Obama's decision to cancel a major NASA space-exploration program because it will cost Florida roughly 7,000 high-tech, high-paying jobs. "I'm disappointed, frankly," he told The Washington Times' "America's Morning News" radio show. "NASA is important to Florida and all of America." Mr. Obama has made the cultivating of high-tech jobs a major part of his plan to help the United States recover from ...

NASA: Money key to more shuttle flights - 9 Mar 2010 at 11:16am - CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA's space shuttle manager said Tuesday it wouldn't be hard to add more shuttle flights. The real question is money. Program manager John Shannon said it costs $200 million a month to keep the fleet flying. Four more shuttle missions are planned before the aircraft are to be retired this fall. Some in Congress, though, are pushing for additional flights. Last month, President Obama killed NASA's Constellation program, which would have created a shuttle successor. Mr. Shannon said NASA already has a fuel tank and set of boosters for one additional flight. He said getting other ...

Senate takes up unemployment insurance - 9 Mar 2010 at 10:21am - Legislation extending unemployment insurance for the long-term jobless faces a key test vote in the Senate, its momentum helped by about 60 popular tax breaks for individuals and businesses that expired at the end of last year. The measure also prevents doctors from absorbing a crippling cut in Medicare payments, extends health insurance subsidies for the unemployed and gives cash-starved states help with Medicaid, the federal-state program providing health care to the poor and disabled. The unemployment insurance alone -- to provide weekly unemployment checks averaging above $300 to people whose core 26-week benefit package has run out -- will ...

Gates praises troops in Afghanistan - 9 Mar 2010 at 10:00am - FORWARD OPERATING BASE FRONTENAC, Afghanistan (AP) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a hard-hit battle unit Tuesday that its heavy losses have helped the U.S. begin to push back against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. Gates visited a small, remote outpost 30 miles north of Kandahar, where the Fort Lewis, Washington-based Stryker unit has lost 22 men and suffered an additional 62 wounded since arriving here last summer. The latest injuries came Monday night, and the latest death three days ago. "You all have had a very tough time," especially at the start of the tour, Gates told members ...

First gay marriages performed in D.C. - 9 Mar 2010 at 9:22am - The first same-sex weddings in the District of Columbia are being performed Tuesday. The city is now the sixth jurisdiction in the county in which such marriages can be performed -- joining Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. More than 300 same-sex couples have applied for a license since the application process began Wednesday. The 13-member D.C. Council voted in December in favor of the Marriage Equality Act. Opponents of such marriages tried several ways to stop the legislation, including an unsuccessful, last-minute attempt to get the U.S. Supreme Court to issue a temporary injunction. They said D.C. residents ...

Stupak: Health bill abortion fray resolvable - 9 Mar 2010 at 8:32am - TAWAS CITY, Mich. -- Prospects are good for resolving a dispute over abortion that has led some House Democrats to threaten to withhold support of President Obama's health care overhaul, a key Michigan Democrat said Monday. Rep. Bart Stupak said he expects to resume talks with House leaders this week in a quest for wording that would impose no new limits on abortion rights but also would not allow use of federal money for the procedure. "I'm more optimistic than I was a week ago," Mr. Stupak told the Associated Press between meetings with constituents in his northern Michigan district, ...

Obama on the road to pitch health bill - 9 Mar 2010 at 5:00am - Seeking to close the deal on a health care overhaul, President Obama is getting out of Washington, leaving the city he loves to bash and giving himself a platform to portray himself as an outsider going up against big insurance companies and their Capitol Hill lobbyists. Just about every time Mr. Obama has faced a deadline or crunch on his marquee priority, he has exchanged a White House podium for a campaign-style forum outside the Beltway in a bid to break through the political wrangling, attack Republican detractors and reconnect with voters. On Monday, Mr. Obama - backed by a ...

Poll: U.S. has lost global standing under Obama - 9 Mar 2010 at 5:00am - A majority of Americans say the United States is less respected in the world than two years ago and believe President Obama and other Democrats fall short of Republicans on the issue of national security, according to a poll by two left-leaning groups. The Democracy Corps-Third Way survey released Monday finds that by a 10-point margin — 51 percent to 41 percent — Americans think the standing of the United States has dropped during the first 13 months of Mr. Obama's presidency. "This is surprising, given the global acclaim — and Nobel peace prize — that flowed to the new ...

Despite fears, big powers resist trade wars - 9 Mar 2010 at 5:00am - It's the trade war that wasn't. Fears that the deep global recession would fuel protectionist measures have not been borne out, a major survey found. Commissioned by the Group of 20 leading industrial powers, the study found that the United States and its major trading partners have cut back sharply on trade-killing restrictions since September, despite strong political pressures at home. "Most G-20 members continue to manage successfully the political process of keeping domestic protectionist pressures under control, despite a difficult environment for some of them where employment levels and new job opportunities are shrinking," the report said. The restrictions ...

Activists tell Obama to protect illegals - 9 Mar 2010 at 5:00am - Immigrant rights groups on Monday demanded that President Obama impose a full moratorium on deportations of illegal immigrants, arguing that his policies have been worse for their cause than those of his Republican predecessor. Saying they've been "betrayed" by and lost patience with Mr. Obama, the advocates suggested that the president could regain their support by leading a fight on Capitol Hill for a bill to legalize illegal immigrants. Mr. Obama took the first step toward legalization during a meeting Monday at the White House with two lawmakers working on a bill. But a bill could take months to pass. ...

U.S. to ease sanctions on software - 9 Mar 2010 at 5:00am - The Obama administration said Monday it will ease some sanctions on Iran, Sudan and Cuba to allow U.S. exports of social-media software to help those countries' citizens "circumvent" government censorship. The Treasury Department's decision to grant licenses to Google, Microsoft and other companies followed a request by the State Department, which cited national-interest reasons in seeking waivers from existing laws. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has spearheaded the administration's efforts to promote Internet freedom around the world, said Washington's move is aimed at making it possible for people to "have other sources of information about what is going ...

Obama picks retired general for TSA post - 9 Mar 2010 at 5:00am - President Obama on Monday nominated a retired Army general to fill the Transportation Security Administration's top job, a post that's been empty since his last nominee withdrew amid concerns from Republicans that he may have misled Congress about a 20-year-old FBI probe. The administration asked Congress to quickly confirm retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert A. Harding as assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security in response to criticism that Mr. Obama left the key terror-fighting job empty for too long. "The TSA administrator is among the most important unfilled posts in the Obama administration," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano ...

Detroit looks at downsizing to save city - 9 Mar 2010 at 5:00am - DETROIT | Detroit, the very symbol of American industrial might for most of the 20th century, is drawing up a radical renewal plan that calls for turning large swaths of this now-blighted, rusted-out city back into the fields and farmland that existed before the automobile. Operating on a scale never before attempted in this country, the city would demolish houses in some of the most desolate sections of Detroit and move residents into stronger neighborhoods. Roughly a quarter of the 139-square-mile city could go from urban to semi-rural. Near downtown, fruit trees and vegetable farms would replace neighborhoods that are ...

Twitter now talk of the White House - 9 Mar 2010 at 5:00am - Want to spin White House reporters? If you're PressSec - White House press secretary Robert Gibbs' username on Twitter - you join the powerful social media platform and push your message across the Internet, 140 characters at a time. Blending behind-the-scenes nuggets with a defense of President Obama's record, White House and administration officials increasingly are communicating via Twitter. The popular social network is operating as a Web-based clearinghouse for public statements on weighty subjects (the federal budget) and the mundane (personal grocery lists). It's similar to a bulletin board where anyone can post short notes and users cull the ...

Blacks politically motivated beyond Obama - 9 Mar 2010 at 5:00am - Democrats facing strong headwinds this election season have at least one reason for optimism, according to polling that found the party's large black voting bloc eager to stay involved even without Barack Obama on the ballot. About two-thirds of black adults in four states say they are closely following news about the upcoming midterm elections, and between 74 percent and 80 percent say they are very likely to vote, according to the poll, conducted by the nonpartisan Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. The organization surveyed 500 blacks in each state - Missouri, Indiana, Arkansas and South Carolina - ...

Political Scene - 9 Mar 2010 at 5:00am - PENTAGON Northrop drops out of tanker competition Northrop Grumman Corp. has decided not to compete against Boeing Co. for the $35 billion the Air Force will spend to buy its own fleet of refueling tankers. Congressional and industry officials confirmed the decision Monday. It puts the Pentagon on a path to do something President Obama didn't want to have done on his watch: pay large amounts of money to a company without its undergoing any competition. The Obama administration said such sole-source contracts aren't a good deal for taxpayers, but industry insiders say no other company is poised to meet ...

Inside the Beltway - 9 Mar 2010 at 5:00am - TEA REPORTERS Town halls are about to erupt in hallowed halls, particularly outside the doors of select Democrats. Prepare for a new wave of "tea party" citizen journalists: The Nationwide Tea Party Coalition - a broad federation of 30 local "tea parties" - has launched a proactive strike against the 50 or so House Democrats who have yet to reveal how they'll vote on health care reform legislation. The group is urging its activists to play reporter and find out what truly lurks in the hearts of undecided lawmakers. "We're finding that responsible, respectable constituents want to personally ask their ...

Court to consider protests at funerals - 9 Mar 2010 at 5:00am - The U.S. Supreme Court is entering an emotionally charged dispute between the grieving father of a Marine who died in Iraq and the anti-gay demonstrators who picket military funerals with inflammatory messages like: "Thank God for Dead Soldiers." The court agreed Monday to consider whether the protesters' message, no matter how provocative or upsetting, is protected by the First Amendment or limited by the competing privacy and religious rights of the mourners. The justices will hear an appeal from a Marine's father to reinstate a $5 million verdict against the protesters after they picketed outside his son's funeral in Maryland ...

Massa blames resignation on health care vote - 9 Mar 2010 at 5:00am - ROCHESTER, N.Y. | Former New York Rep. Eric Massa is now blaming his resignation announcement last week on a conspiracy by House Democratic leaders to force him out before a crucial vote on health care, his third explanation for leaving office after he earlier cited health issues and an ethics investigation. One of 39 Democrats who voted against an earlier House version of the health care bill in November, Mr. Massa said in his weekly radio address Sunday that Democratic leaders will "stop at nothing" to advance the health care overhaul. "Mine is now the deciding vote on the health ...

Palin takes celebrity to next level - 9 Mar 2010 at 5:00am - NEW YORK | For more than a year, Sarah Palin has been one of the most famous political and cultural figures in America. Even by that standard, though, last week was an extraordinary one. On Thursday came word that the former Alaska governor was working on a TV series about her home state, currently being pitched by one of television's top producers. A day before that, her publishers announced she was embarking on a second book, a follow-up to her blockbuster "Going Rogue." And a day before that, she was the prize guest on Jay Leno's second day back as ...

TONELSON: Failed trade policies a good focus for tea party - 9 Mar 2010 at 5:00am - ANALYSIS/OPINION: The battle for the "tea party" movement's hearts and minds hasn't yet extended to trade policy, but how far off can that be? After all, dealing with the world economy has often angrily divided conservatives since the Cold War ended. Future decisions on trade and related policies will surely affect U.S. employment and living standards — for good or ill — in increasingly prominent ways as the economic slump drags on. And clashing sentiments have already appeared in tea party ranks. From FreedomWorks, the advocacy group that's helped propagate the movement, tea party activists have heard, "Trade in goods, ...

Mavericks top Timberwolves for 12th straight - 9 Mar 2010 at 1:38am - MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Just when Dallas needed it most, Shawn Marion returned to the high-scoring form that has been absent all season. That's been the story of this remarkable run for the Mavericks. Marion had a season-high 29 points and 14 rebounds and the Mavericks stretched the league's longest active winning streak to 12 straight games with a 125-112 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night. "I've done that before," Marion said with a chuckle about his monster line. "That's easy." What isn't so easy is the unselfishness he's shown this season. Marion has averaged at least 17 points ...

Stars rally to snap Caps' home streak - 8 Mar 2010 at 10:34pm - After 40 minutes, the Capitals looked to be firmly in charge, holding a 2-0 lead and outshooting the Dallas Stars 42-16. But a pair of penalties opened the door for the Stars to score three times in the third period to silence the sellout crowd Monday night at Verizon Center as the Stars rallied to win a 4-3 decision in a shootout. The bright spot for the home crowd was Alexander Ovechkin, who did his part to bring life to his team and the building with a pair of goals, his first in over a month. The Caps' star, mired ...

Vasquez, Scheyer, Delaney unanimous All-ACC - 8 Mar 2010 at 8:36pm - RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Maryland's Greivis Vasquez, Duke's Jon Scheyer and Virginia Tech's Malcolm Delaney -- the top three scorers in the Atlantic Coast Conference -- are unanimous All-ACC picks. Vasquez, Scheyer and Delaney were first-team selections on all 53 votes in ballots cast by members of the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association. Clemson's Trevor Booker and Duke's Kyle Singler rounded out the first team in results released Monday. The Blue Devils, who earned the top seed in this week's tournament, also had a second-team pick in high-scoring guard Nolan Smith, making them the only program with three players selected ...

Kansas back on top in AP poll - 8 Mar 2010 at 8:09pm - The Jayhawks (29-2), coming off their sixth straight Big 12 regular season title, moved back into the top spot in The Associated Press' college basketball poll Monday. It is their 14th week at No. 1 this season, more than triple the total of the other three schools who have been there in 2009-10. Kansas, which dropped to second last week after a four-week stint on top, was a near unanimous No. 1, receiving 63 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel. Kentucky (29-2) moved up one place to No. 2 and had the other first-place votes. Syracuse (28-3), No. ...

Retired general nominated to head TSA - 8 Mar 2010 at 3:41pm - President Obama on Monday nominated a retired Army general to fill the Transportation Security Administration's top job, a post that's been empty since his last nominee withdrew amid concern from Republicans that he may have misled Congress about a 20-year-old FBI probe. The administration asked Congress to quickly confirm retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert A. Harding as assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security in response to criticism that Mr. Obama left the terror-fighting job empty for too long. "The TSA administrator is among the most important unfilled posts in the Obama administration," said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. ...

Poll shows Obama, Dems losing ground - 8 Mar 2010 at 3:21pm - A majority of Americans say the United States is less respected in the world than it was two years ago and think President Obama and other Democrats fall short of Republicans on the issue of national security, a new poll finds. The Democracy Corps-Third Way survey released Monday finds that by a 10-point margin -- 51 percent to 41 percent -- Americans think the standing of the U.S. dropped during the first 13 months of Mr. Obama's presidency. "This is surprising, given the global acclaim and Nobel peace prize that flowed to the new president after he took office," said ...

Europe plans its own economic crisis fund - 8 Mar 2010 at 2:34pm - PARIS -- As Europe struggles with a debt crisis, the idea of a European Monetary Fund is quickly taking hold. Such a body could be a lender of last resort and keep financially-troubled governments from unsettling the euro and global markets, as the recent Greek debt crisis has. That's the kind of thing the International Monetary Fund usually does -- but for the European Union to turn to that Washington-based body would be humiliation. The open and urgent question: Do European leaders have the backbone -- whatever the working title of their new fund -- to enforce tough new rules ...

Obama hits road, pitches health plan - 8 Mar 2010 at 12:17pm - Seeking to close the deal on his health care overhaul bill, President Obama is getting out of Washington, leaving the city he loves to bash to portray himself as an outsider going up against big insurance companies and their lobbyists in the capital. Just about every time Mr. Obama has faced a deadline or crunch on his top policy priority, he has exchanged a White House podium for a campaign-style event somewhere beyond the Beltway in a bid to break through the political wrangling and reconnect with voters. The latest iteration of that strategy Monday brought Mr. Obama to a ...

AIG sells Alico unit to MetLife for $15.5B - 8 Mar 2010 at 9:46am - NEW YORK -- American International Group will sell a second overseas life and health insurance unit for $15.5 billion to MetLife Inc. in an ongoing bid to repay billions in government aid. It was the second major deal AIG completed this month to raise cash. On March 1, AIG agreed to sell Asia-based life insurer AIA Group to Britain's Prudential PLC for $35.5 billion. MetLife will get a much larger presence in Japan as well as high-growth markets in Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. Alico operates in more than 50 countries. In the deal announced Monday, MetLife will ...

Greek crisis poses challenge to euro - 8 Mar 2010 at 5:00am - The Greek debt crisis has become the biggest test not only of the European Union, but of its fledgling currency, the euro, which until recently had been enjoying newfound status as a reserve currency second only to the U.S. dollar. The challenge to the cohesion of the EU, which has grown steadily into the world's largest trading bloc since its beginnings after World War II, was illustrated vividly last week when Greece threatened to seek aid from the International Monetary Fund if the EU did not offer a bailout. Despite public sentiment against a bailout, EU's wealthier countries, France and ...

KRALEV: US Airways' Web site fails at basics - 8 Mar 2010 at 5:00am - This was supposed to be a column critical of US Airways' rather peculiar Web site, which is unable to perform basic functions, such as retrieving valid and active tickets. But it also became an appreciation of the carrier's willingness to explain some of those issues and even try to resolve them. Every airline's Web site has limitations and various quirks that annoy travelers — some offer odd routings when you search for flights, others show confusing or even misleading prices, and yet others try to get you to buy things you don't need instead of taking you straight to the ...

SANDERS: China sitting on biggest of all economic bubbles? - 8 Mar 2010 at 5:00am - ANALYSIS/OPINION: When Prime Minister Wen Jiabao trotted out his litany of promised reforms to the annual rubber-stamp parliament this month, they reconfirmed growing suspicions of the Chinese economy's fragility. Now more veteran observers are joining that little band (including this writer) that has predicted an implosion of the jerry-built system. Granted that some of us have been saying it for several years. But, like most human and economic events, neither the timing nor the precipitating event of such a crash is usually predictable (as was the case for the U.S. credit markets implosion). Mr. Wen characteristically predicted the gross national ...

WILLIAMS: Stimulus too tempting for Republicans? - 8 Mar 2010 at 5:00am - Congressional Republicans rightly opposed the stimulus leviathan last year on the grounds that it wouldn't spur job growth, or at least, not as much as cutting taxes and liberating the economy's true job creators — small businesses. In rare but classic political form, Republicans managed to draw a line in the sand, clearly pitting their arguments for an American economic renaissance against a Democratic plan that was headed for certain doom. Fair enough. Yet over the past year, it seems as though Republicans are on the verge of reverting to the bad habits of their Democratic counterparts. Most recently, Republicans ...

Toyota's new ads move past apologies - 8 Mar 2010 at 5:00am - NEW YORK New ads for troubled automaker Toyota Motor Corp. are skipping the apologies and easing back into sales pitches — too soon, some say. The campaign pushes the idea that Toyota customers remain loyal, even as the company faces congressional inquiries and some reports that its repairs may not fix the problem. The new campaign, by Toyota's main ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi, emphasizes what Toyota says are real satisfied buyers testifying that they still feel safe in their new Toyotas even after weeks of revelations about accelerator problems. "And our own personal experience? These cars that we've had ...

With Kobe miss, Lakers drop 3rd straight - 8 Mar 2010 at 2:02am - ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Dwight Howard was barking in the locker room, mocking some Lakers he claimed called his Orlando Magic team "puppies." Out on the court, the Magic showed they can bite. Vince Carter had 25 points, Howard finished with 15 points and 16 rebounds and the Magic beat the Lakers 96-94 on Sunday to hand Los Angeles its first three-game losing streak of the Pau Gasol-Kobe Bryant Era. "Alpha dogs usually have the big bark," Howard said afterward. "But since we're so-called puppies, we won't bark as loud." Carter made his first 13 free throws and kept the ...