Reuters - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday renewed a pledge to prevent Europe's financial crisis from damaging the U.S. economy in testimony before Congress that mirrored remarks he made last week.
ContributorNetwork - SAN FRANCISCO -- In a pleasant surprise, the Department of Labor has reported an another increase in total nonfarm employment. The U.S. added 243,000 jobs in January, ticking the unemployment rate to 8.3 percent.
AP - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has called the economy "frustratingly slow." On Tuesday, Congress will find out whether he still thinks so, even after Friday's news that hiring surged in January and unemployment reached a three-year low.
AP - Former Sen. Bob Kerrey said Tuesday he will not run for the Nebraska Senate seat he gave up more than a decade ago, shutting down hopes for a bid both parties called Democrats' best chance to hold the seat but that Kerrey himself described as a longshot.
AP - Adm. Bill McRaven said Tuesday that special operations forces in Afghanistan are preparing for a possible expanded role as overall U.S. forces begin to draw down after a decade of war.
AP - Before setting his house ablaze and killing himself and his two young sons, Josh Powell left a voicemail for family members saying he couldn't live without the boys and didn't want to go on anymore.
Reuters - Given the state of the global economy, investors should be underweight equities while favoring "selected commodities" such as gold and oil for the "geopolitical risk", Mohamed El-Erian, CEO and co-chief investment officer of bond fund giant PIMCO, told CNBC on Tuesday.
AP - A political adviser to President Barack Obama said Tuesday the administration didn't intend to "abridge anyone's religious freedom" with its regulation requiring church-affiliated employers to cover birth control for their workers.
AP - Abandoned by her mother and missing a father in prison, Alyssa Bustamante had plunged to the depths of depression before, once overdosing on a large bottle of painkillers, slicing her skin hundreds of times and carving the word "hate" in her arm. She recovered from her suicide attempt and was prescribed an antidepressant drug.
Two blasts rocked a northern Nigerian city Tuesday, including one targeting a military barracks, but the number of casualties was not immediately clear, officials said.
KANSAS CITY, Mo., Feb. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Heart Association has certified another Kansas City Steak product ( the 5 oz. Top Sirloin Steak ) as part of its Heart-Check Food Certification ...
Reuters - U.S. college students seeking treatment for substance abuse are more likely to be having trouble with alcohol but less likely to be abusing drugs like heroin, cocaine or methamphetamine than their non-student peers, according to a new government study.
AP - The New York Giants are returning from their Super Bowl win to a celebration the likes that only New York can throw: a ticker-tape parade in the Canyon of Heroes on Broadway, where the city has honored stars for almost a century.
Reuters - Government spending for Medicare, Medicaid and other healthcare programs will more than double over the next decade to $1.8 trillion, or 7.3 percent of the country's total economic output, congressional researchers said on Tuesday.
AP - U.S. officials say a senior U.S. military commander will visit Pakistan this month in what could be an important step in healing the rift between the two nations.
AP - The entire staff at a Los Angeles elementary school is being removed while authorities investigate horrific allegations of sexual abuse by two of the school's teachers, one of whom is accused of blindfolding children, taping their mouths and photographing them in a classroom.
AP - German industrial production fell 2.9 percent in December from the month before, according to official data released Tuesday, suggesting the country's economic slowdown could be worse than expected.
AP - A small group of Marines trudged onto the beach sands in pitch-black night with an armada of U.S. Navy warships sailing just off the shore. Their mission: root out insurgents that threatened to attack another American force to the south.
Reuters - Swiss bank UBS predicted further weakness in investment banking after a restructuring of the business failed to prevent an earnings hit from the euro zone debt crisis and worries about the global economy.
A new leader is expected to soon manage Harrisburg’s affairs. If Commonwealth Court confirms Unkovic’s plan, the COO essentially would be the city’s chief executive. Still, that doesn’t mean that person would take away Thompson’s responsibilities, Unkovic said.
AP - Additional U.S. sanctions on Iran are more significant for their timing than their immediate effect on Iran's economy, coming as the United States and its allies are arguing that Israel should hold off on any military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities to allow more time for sanctions to work.
NEW YORK, Feb. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- On a daily basis, city dwellers are confronted with a number of hidden stresses, toxic assaults to the body and stimuli that are unique to an urban environment. The ...
AP - Alexis McKenzie's mother had mild dementia, but things sounded OK when she phoned home: Dad was with her, finishing his wife's sentences as they talked about puttering through the day and a drive to the store.
Reuters - Wal-Mart Stores Inc has named an industry veteran, but a relative newcomer to China, to run what is a strategically crucial business for the world's biggest retailer as it faces tougher competition in the fastest growing major economy.
Reuters - German industrial output posted its biggest fall in December since the depth of the financial crisis at the start of 2009, the Economy Ministry said on Tuesday, underperforming forecasts by a wide margin.
Safer road designs can slow motor vehicles and separate them from pedestrians and cyclists, and also enhance the physical activity and health of residents.
Time.com - Whether or not Newt Gingrich can carry on a real campaign against Mitt Romney depends in large measure on his political guardian angel, the Las Vegas casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson
AP - Shocking death pictures of a murdered woman were shown to jurors in the trial of former police detective Stephanie Lazarus — huge close-up portraits of the battered face of Sherri Rasmussen, who died 26 years ago.
AP - Supporters and opponents of California's ban on same-sex marriage were anxiously awaiting a federal appeals court decision Tuesday on whether the voter-approved measure violates the civil rights of gay men and lesbians.
AP - A few years ago, John Rachor painted his helicopter orange and yellow, so it would be easier to spot if he ever crashed and became the target of a search and rescue operation in the rugged forests of southwestern Oregon.
Reuters - In an attempt to regain parents' trust, educational officials said on Monday they are replacing all staff at a Los Angeles school where two instructors are accused of having sexually abused children.
Reuters - The two boys of a man who blew up his Washington state home, killing himself and his sons, suffered chop wounds in their final moments and died of smoke inhalation, a law enforcement official said on Monday.
AP - The Obama administration wants to spend just over half a billion dollars on Alzheimer's research next year, hoping to battle back against what could become the defining disease of the aging baby-boom generation.
ContributorNetwork - COMMENTARY | Some would have us believe the president plays a much smaller role in determining what our economy does than most people believe. I think Americans believe the president has a lot of actual power to correct the economy, and that assumption is incorrect. But many chief executives have used the Oval Office to manipulate change and foster growth that isn't specifically empowered to the presidency.
City leaders want to help residents lead healthier, more active lives after a study last year showed alarmingly high levels of obesity in Long Beach Unified School District students.
Toledo city officials said Monday they're looking at possible avenues to try to shutter a North Toledo bar after six people were shot outside of it in what police are calling a possible gang-rival incident.
Reuters - President Barack Obama has nominated Air Force Lieutenant General Janet Wolfenbarger to become the service's first woman four-star general, military officials said on Monday.
Reuters - Oklahoma's Republican governor announced a plan on Monday to dramatically cut state income tax rates and eventually do away with them altogether, and said the state would pay for the cuts by closing "loopholes."
Reuters - About 130 municipal employees in Washington, D.C. may have scammed the city by collecting jobless benefits while still at work, officials said on Monday, in the latest controversy to hit the local government.