Wire
FBI issues bombing suspect photos
BOSTON (AP) — The FBI released photos and video Thursday of two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing and asked for the public’s help in identifying them, zeroing in on the two men on surveillance-camera footage less than three days after the deadly attack. The photos depict one man in a dark baseball cap and the other in a white cap worn backward. The men were seen walking together in the crowd, and the one in the white hat was seen setting...
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Crews seek survivors after Texas blast
WEST, Texas (AP) — Rescuers searched the smoking remnants of a Texas farm town Thursday for survivors of a thunderous fertilizer plant explosion, gingerly checking smashed houses and apartments for anyone still trapped in debris or bodies of the dead. Initial reports put the number of fatalities as high as 15, but later in the day, authorities backed away from any estimate and refused to elaborate. More than 160 people were hurt. A breathtakin...
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Pipeline opponents plan civil disobedience, lawsuits
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Opponents of a massive Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline converged on a snowy Nebraska town Thursday for a critical hearing on the project, but they already were preparing for acts of civil disobedience should President Barack Obama approve it. Despite a spring storm that brought sleet and snow to Nebraska, the U.S. State Department hearing in Grand Island drew more than 1,000 supporters and opponents from around the state...
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Boston official says video shows bomb suspect
BOSTON (AP) — Investigators poring over photos and video from the Boston Marathon bombing have a department-store surveillance-camera image of a man dropping off a bag at the scene of one of the blasts, a top city politician said Wednesday. City Council President Stephen Murphy, who said he was briefed by members of the Boston Police Department, said he does not know if investigators know the man’s name. He said officers are chasing leads that...
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Gun control bill fails in U.S. Senate
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans backed by a small band of rural-state Democrats scuttled the most far-reaching gun control legislation in two decades on Wednesday, rejecting calls to tighten background checks on firearms buyers as they spurned the personal pleas of families of the victims of last winter’s mass elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn. Attempts to ban assault-style rifles and high capacity ammunition magazines also face...
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Brownback signs concealed-carry bill
TOPEKA (AP) — A measure Gov. Sam Brownback signed into law will allow Kansas public schools, universities and colleges to arm employees with concealed guns and loosen restrictions on carrying concealed weapons into public buildings, starting in July. The state Board of Regents’ chairman said Wednesday that he expects the board to back away from its ban on concealed weapons on state university campuses because of the new law, which Brownback si...
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Ricin letters, odd packages scramble Hill
WASHINGTON (AP) — Letters sent to President Barack Obama and a Mississippi senator tested positive for poisonous ricin in preliminary checks Wednesday, and authorities chased reports of other suspicious mail at a U.S. Capitol already on edge. An FBI intelligence bulletin obtained by The Associated Press said the letters to Obama and Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., were postmarked Memphis, Tenn. Both letters say: “To see a wrong and not expose it, ...
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American Airlines resumes most flights after big disruption
DALLAS (AP) — American Airlines resumed most flights Wednesday, a day after a massive technology failure forced the nation’s third-largest carrier to ground all planes from coast to coast. Some lingering problems remained. At midday, American and regional offshoot American Eagle had canceled more than 200 flights, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware.com. But that was a huge improvement over Tuesday, when American and Eagle cancell...
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Board ponders new science guidelines
TOPEKA (AP) — Kansas officials involved in drafting new science standards for public schools tried Tuesday to reassure the State Board of Education that retraining teachers and buying new classroom materials won’t be unusually expensive following the adoption of such guidelines. The issue arose during the board’s meeting when members reviewed a final draft of the proposed standards, which were developed by 26 states, including Kansas, and the ...
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Brownback wants study of higher ed
TOPEKA (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback said Tuesday that his upcoming tour of college campuses in Kansas is part of his effort to persuade legislators, policymakers and state residents of the importance of stable, level funding for colleges and universities. Speaking with reporters after a bill-signing ceremony, the Republican governor said legislators need to take a longer view of funding for higher education, including rising tuition costs, admini...
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Teen’s family files suit against alleged attackers
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Awakening in a friend’s bedroom after drinking too much at a sleepover, 15-year-old Audrie Pott looked down and realized she had been sexually assaulted and her attackers had written and drawn on intimate parts of her body, her family’s attorney said Monday. Over the next week, she pieced together one horrifying detail after another. She went online and tried to confront the three boys she had known since junior high wh...
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Clubs
Friday Reading Club The Thayer Friday Reading Club met on Friday with eight ladies attending. The club recited the club collect and flag salute, and Lois Davis gave the spiritual note. She read a selection from the book “Laughter for a Woman’s Soul” concerning how the Lord looks on the heart, where beauty shines through. A new sink was being installed in the library by Kim Cheshier to whom the club owes gratitude for his time and efforts. The ...
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Boston bombing injures 134
BOSTON (AP) — Two bombs exploded in the packed streets near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, killing two people and injuring more than 130 in a bloody scene of shattered glass and severed limbs that raised alarms that terrorists might have struck again in the U.S. A White House official speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still unfolding said the attack was being treated as an act of terrorism. Pre...
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GOP considers proposals before gun control debate
WASHINGTON (AP) — A conservative senator is proposing to greatly broaden the background check system for firearms purchasers but require no records of the transactions as the Senate braced for votes on amendments to gun control legislation next week. The plan by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., was one of several proposals Republicans were discussing in preparation for debate. In response to December’s elementary school attack in Newtown, Conn., whic...
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Justices tackle gene patent issue
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court seemed worried Monday about the idea of companies patenting human genes in a case that could profoundly reshape the multibillion-dollar biomedical industry and U.S. research in the fight against diseases like breast and ovarian cancer. Justices argued not only about snipping DNA strands but also about chewing the leaves of Amazonian jungle plants, the shaping of baseball bats and the ingredients of chocolate...
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Kansas man’s overdose leads to new state law
BAXTER SPRINGS (AP) — Stacy Krokroskia believes that some good may yet come from her son’s tragic death by drug overdose with the enactment of a new law in Kansas. A bill signed into law by Gov. Sam Brownback April 4 took seed in the Kansas Legislature after the death of 22-year-old Jordan Krokroskia in July 2012 at his home in Baxter Springs. The law metes out stiff new penalties for defendants convicted of distributing drugs that result in d...
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Obama proposes to make new income brackets for Medicare
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s plan to raise Medicare premiums for upper-income seniors would create five new income brackets to squeeze more revenue for the government from the top tiers of retirees, the administration revealed Friday. First details of the plan emerged after Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testified to Congress on the president’s budget. As released two days earlier, the budget included only ...
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U.S. stresses limits of N. Korea’s nuclear firepower
WASHINGTON (AP) — On the brink of an expected North Korean missile test, U.S. officials focused on the limits of Pyongyang’s nuclear firepower Friday, trying to shift attention from the disclosure that the North Koreans might be able to launch a nuclear strike. They insisted that while the unpredictable government might have rudimentary nuclear capabilities, it has not proved it has a weapon that could reach the United States. A senior defense...
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Faulty air bags force car recalls
DETROIT (AP) — Six automakers, including Toyota, Honda and Nissan, are recalling nearly 3.4 million older-model vehicles worldwide because of defective air  bags that can send shrapnel flying into the passenger compartment. The recall mainly affects cars sold by Japanese automakers in North America, Europe and Japan. A small number of cars made by Germany’s BMW AG and General Motors Co. and also involved. The front passenger air  bags all were...
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Device helps treat chronic heartburn
By The Associated Press A tiny magnetic bracelet implanted at the base of the throat is greatly improving life for some people with chronic heartburn who need more help than medicine can give them. It’s a novel way to treat severe acid reflux, which plagues millions of Americans and can raise their risk for more serious health problems. It happens when a weak muscle doesn’t close after swallowing as it should. That lets stomach juices splash ...
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