National News
Storm watches issued for RI, MA as Hurricane Earl approaches
A hurricane watch has been issued for part of Cape Cod and the islands, and a tropical storm watch is in effect elsewhere along the Rhode Island and Massachusetts coasts.
As Hurricane Earl heads north, emergency officials are preparing for the worst. Forecasters think the Category 4 storm will pass 50 to 100 miles off [...]
BP Halts Oil Flow in Gulf of Mexico
Oil has stopped flowing into the Gulf of Mexico for the first time since April.
A top BP executive says the company’s success in halting the flow of oil is a “great sight,” but not cause for celebration. Doug Suttles, the company’s chief operating officer, told reporters that the effort to permanently stop the flow is [...]
Mass. gay marriage ruling could have wider implications
Legal experts say a judge’s rulings in Massachusetts that the federal law banning gay marriage is unconstitutional could have implications beyond the state if upheld on appeal.
U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro says the Defense of Marriage Act interferes with a state’s right to define marriage and denies married gay couples some federal benefits. He ruled [...]
Blajogevich trial heating up with former COS’ testimony
Rod Blagojevich’s former chief of staff returns to the stand to testify about how the then-governor allegedly plotted to parlay his authority to name Barack Obama’s Senate replacement into a new life. According to employee John Harris’ testimony and the recordings made by authorities, Blagojevich talked about the possibility of several positions, such as a [...]
Space shuttle Atlantis retires after 32 years
Gliding into retirement after 32 missions covering 120 million miles, the shuttle Atlantis dropped out of orbit and returned to Earth, wrapping up a 25-year career with a near-flawless space station assembly mission. Atlantis also flew 11 missions to the International Space Station and visited the Hubble Space Telescope last year for a final overhaul.
Information [...]
Dairy farmers to entrepreneurs
America’s dairy farmers could soon find themselves in the computer business, with the manure from their cows possibly powering the vast data centers of companies like Google and Microsoft. According to Hewlett-Packard, in research paper made public today, a dairy farmer could rent out land and power to technology companies and recoup an investment in [...]
No link found between cell phones and brain cancer
A ten-year study by the World Health Organization has produced no clear link between cell phone use and brain cancer. Experts studied about 13,000 cell phone users in the study and couldn’t determine any risk of tumors.
General Motors could be profitable again soon
General Motors could be on the road for its first full year of profitability since 2004.
The automaker posted first-quarter profits of $865 million. By contrast, last year they posted a $5.9 billion loss. The U.S. government owns a 61 percent stake in GM, which received $50 billion from the government in restructuring money.
Parking attendants to fight terrorism
Parking attendants and meter maids could be the nation’s latest line of defense against terror attacks. A new government program aims to train thousands of parking industry employees nationwide to watch for and report anything suspicious. They’re being told to look for abandoned cars, and people hanging around garages, taking photographs or asking unusual [...]
Pakistan faces heat post the failed NY bombing
American drone aircraft fired 18 missiles at militants in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal region today, killing at least 14 fighters and wounding 4. The missiles struck a region on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border where Taliban and Qaeda fighters prepare for operations against United States and NATO troops in Afghanistan. The unusually intense drone attack was the [...]
