White House: 'Absolutely firm,' but willing to talk, on birth control

The White House insisted Wednesday that the president's commitment to contraceptive access for women is "absolutely firm," even as Republicans from Capitol Hill to the presidential campaign trail assailed the policy as an attack on religious liberty. | 02/08/12 18:52:21 By - Erika Bolstad and Lesley Clark

GAO finds little oversight of Alaska Natives' contract privileges

The debate over the sole-source contracting privileges that Alaska Native corporations have used to make billions of dollars is flaring in Congress with a new government audit that found lax oversight of the program. | 02/08/12 18:08:45 By - Sean Cockerham

Charleston port project gets funding infusion

Sen. Lindsey Graham on Wednesday hailed the news that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had allocated $2.5 million to expand its study on deepening the Charleston, S.C., port to accommodate a new generation of super-tankers. | 02/08/12 16:06:00 By - James Rosen

1 million veterans sought for DNA database

The procedure that could, in a way, make Master Sgt. Clarence Gray immortal was quick, simple and mundane. The 59-year-old Sanford resident walked into a small, windowless room in the Durham VA Medical Center, filled out a survey, signed consent forms and held out his arm for the needle. In minutes, it was done. | 02/08/12 12:28:45 By - Jay Price

'You guys inspire me,' President Obama tells science fair winners

President Barack Obama praised a group of student science fair winners from around the country — including Shree Bose, a senior at Fort Worth Country Day School — in a boost to science education Tuesday at the second annual White House Science Fair. | 02/08/12 07:33:17 By - Maria Recio

Robert A. Citron, engineer who pioneered commercializing space, dies at 79

Robert A. Citron, an aerospace engineer and intrepid entrepreneur, whose boyhood fantasy of traveling beyond Earth inspired pioneering ventures to commercialize space, died Jan. 31 at his home in Bellevue, Wash. He was 79. | 02/08/12 06:22:59 By - Elaine Woo

Report: Rep. Doc Hastings steered federal money for project near property he owned

For Republican Rep. Doc Hastings, it made good sense to secure a $750,000 earmark in 2009 for the city of Pasco, Wash.: It would help replace a deteriorating, 74-year-old underpass that had to be closed for repairs last year, a road so dangerous that school buses couldn't even pass through safely. | 02/07/12 13:25:00 By - Rob Hotakainen

Woman turns around big diabetes risk factor for Mexican Americans: Her diet

Maria Medina's life is littered with the destruction of diabetes. Damage that pervasive is a common experience in the Mexican American community, which has some of the highest rates in a surge of diabetes nationwide. The disease can provoke heart attacks, high blood pressure, kidney failure and blindness, and is the seventh-leading cause of death nationwide. | 02/07/12 13:50:06 By - Grace Rubenstein

Study finds easy access to junk food at elementary schools

Think your kid isn't tempted by junk food while at school? A study finds that about half of kids surveyed from public and private school had ready access to vending machines, snack bars, school stores and a la carte lines. And they're not just selling carrot sticks. | 02/07/12 11:31:40 By - Jeannine Stein

Squatter who paid $16 for Texas house gets evicted

The man with the $16 Flower Mound, Texas, house was a no-show in eviction court Monday morning. | 02/07/12 06:26:41 By - Yamil Berard

States shake up adult education to help low-skilled workers

President Barack Obama's recent proposal to "train 2 million Americans with skills that will lead directly to a job" barely scratches the surface of one of the nation's most vexing labor problems. | 02/06/12 15:31:00 By - Tony Pugh

New solo album by Roberta Flack covers the Beatles

John, Paul, George, Ringo — and Roberta? No, Roberta Flack was never a member of the Beatles, but in her new CD, “Let it Be Roberta: Roberta Flack Sings The Beatles" the soul songstress sings classics from the legendary Fab Four and makes them her own. | 02/06/12 14:19:55 By - William Douglas

Gay rights activist Dan Savage brings 'It Gets Better Project' to North Texas

Gay activist Dan Savage and Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum have wildly different beliefs, but on the Internet they appear forever tied in a cultural war in which words are the weapons of choice. | 02/06/12 07:39:38 By - Diane Smith

Harry Truman, the millionaire next door

In the early 1950s, a contractor submitted a proposal for a residential renovation at 219 N. Delaware Ave. in Independence, Mo. | 02/06/12 06:38:58 By - Brian Burnes

'Gypsy' as a slur is an issue in Florida fortunetelling case

A Fort Lauderdale family of alleged con artists is accused of defrauding clients out of $40 million, but one defense attorney in the case says the fortunetelling business isn't the only thing on trial - the family's ethnic heritage, too, has become a target. | 02/06/12 06:22:11 By - Michael Vasquez

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