Neighbor: Fort Hood suspect emptied his apartment

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) - An Army psychiatrist suspected of opening fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood cleaned out his apartment and left a phone message saying goodbye to a friend in the days before the rampage that left 13 people dead, neighbors said Friday.

One neighbor, Patricia Villa, said Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan came over to her apartment Wednesday and Thursday and offered her some items, including a new Quran, saying he was going to be deployed on Friday.

1 dead, 5 hurt in Orlando shooting; gunman caught

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - A gunman opened fire Friday in the offices of an engineering firm where he was let go more than two years ago, killing one person and injuring five others.

Jason Rodriguez, 40, surrendered to police about three hours later, after officers saw him through the window of his mother's home and asked him to come outside, Orlando Police Chief Val Demings said.

She said investigators did not know why Rodriguez targeted the engineering firm where he once worked.

Ft. Hood suspect reportedly shouted 'Allahu Akbar'

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) - Soldiers who witnessed the shooting rampage at Fort Hood that left 13 people dead reported that the gunman shouted "Allahu Akbar!" - an Arabic phrase for "God is great!" - before opening fire, the base commander said Friday.

Lt. Gen. Robert Cone said officials had not yet confirmed that the suspected shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, made the comment before the rampage Thursday. Hasan was among 30 people wounded in the shooting spree and remained hospitalized on a ventilator.

Obama to sign bill to aid unemployed, homebuyers

WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress took further steps to right the staggering economy by expanding a popular tax credit for homebuyers and extending unemployment checks for the growing legions of people running out of benefits with few job prospects.

The White House said the legislation builds on its efforts to spur job creation and President Barack Obama would sign it into law Friday morning.

Army psychiatrist kills 13, wounds 31 at Fort Hood base

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — A military mental health doctor facing deployment overseas opened fire at the Fort Hood Army post on Thursday, setting off on a rampage that killed 13 people and left 31 wounded. The violence was believed to be the worst mass shooting in history at a U.S. military base.

The shooting began around 1:30 p.m., when shots were fired at the base's Soldier Readiness Center, where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening, said Lt. Gen. Bob Cone at Fort Hood.

Belgrade pilot still missing after mid-air collision

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Families of nine military members lost at sea held out hope Saturday their loved ones survived a midair collision between a Coast Guard aircraft and a Marine Corps helicopter, even as a second full day of searching dragged on with no news.

Jennifer Wiegandt Seidman she said hopes her husband, Chief Petty Officer John Seidman, was wearing a protective drysuit when he entered the chilly Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, where water temperatures have hovered in the lower 60s.

Hawaii welcomes new saint

HONOLULU (AP) - Hula, chants and prayer will greet a heel bone of one of the Catholic Church's newest saints when it arrives in Honolulu this weekend.

The celebrations are the culmination of weeks of ceremonies and celebrations marking the Vatican's canonization of Belgian-born Joseph de Veuster, or Father Damien, in Rome earlier this month.

Damien has long been a saint to the people of Hawaii for caring for exiled leprosy patients in the mid-1800s when no one else would, and then contracting and dying of the disfiguring disease himself.

New book calls the White House the 'the American house next door'

WASHINGTON (AP) - Lady Bird Johnson said walking through the White House was like walking "through history." Hillary Clinton called the home "a repository of America's storied past." Michelle Obama has called it "awe inspiring."

The authors of a new book have another name for the president's residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.: "the American house next door."

Pakistanis confront Clinton over drone attacks

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was confronted repeatedly by Pakistanis Friday as she ended a tense three-day tour of the country, chastised by one woman who said a U.S. program using aerial drones to target terrorists amounted to "executions without trial."

On another thorny topic, Clinton slightly softened her blunt charge of a day earlier that Pakistani officials know where al-Qaida terrorists are hiding and are doing little about it.

Analysis: Obama has mixed message on U.S. recovery

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tugged in different political directions, the White House is seeking credit for good economic news and trying to escape blame for the bad stuff.

President Barack Obama greeted as "obviously welcome news" a U.S. government report showing the economy grew 3.5 percent from July through September after four quarters of declines. That's unofficial confirmation that the long, harsh recession has ended.

Stimulus jobs overstated in report

 

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is promising that new figures being released Friday will be a more accurate showing of progress in President Barack Obama's economic recovery plan. It aggressively defended an earlier, faulty count that overstated by thousands the jobs created or saved so far.

NASA: Booster rocket damaged in test flight

 

 

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA says the booster rocket used in a test flight was badly dented when it fell into the Atlantic.

The new Ares I-X rocket was launched on a brief flight Wednesday. NASA officials said Thursday that the first-stage booster was found to be dented near the bottom when it was recovered from the ocean.

NASA spokesman Allard Beutel says there's still no official word on whether all three parachutes on the booster deployed properly. A parachute failure could account for the damage.

Obama girls' vaccine: Favoritism or good example?

 

 

With Dad a world leader and Nobel Prize winner, Malia and Sasha Obama surely could have been first in line when vaccinations began for swine flu.

They weren't, the White House says.

But that hasn't stopped complaints that President Barack Obama's daughters got preferential treatment.

"You definitely think there's some favoritism going on," said Vernon Stanley, who stood for hours in the snow Tuesday to get his 6-year-old granddaughter vaccinated near Salt Lake City.

Study: Cholesterol drugs may improve flu survival

 

 

A new treatment for swine flu may already be on pharmacy shelves — cholesterol-lowering statin drugs like Lipitor and Zocor.

A large study found that people who were taking these drugs when they caught seasonal flu and had to be hospitalized were twice as likely to survive than those who were not on such medicines.

AP Interview: Snowe says no to Reid's bill

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid won't be getting Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe's vote on his health care reform bill that includes a government-run insurance option.

Snowe was the only Republican on the Senate Finance Committee to vote to advance health care legislation earlier this month. But she told The Associated Press on Friday that she won't vote to proceed with the majority leader's bill as now crafted with a "public option."

Bad weather delays NASA new rocket test flight

 

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) — NASA will try again Wednesday to launch its newest rocket for a test flight after bad weather and other factors thwarted attempts Tuesday.

The Ares I-X rocket test is the first step in the space agency's tentative back-to-the-moon program.

Besides poor weather, launch controllers had to deal with an odd assortment of technical trouble, everything from a snagged cover for the rocket's tiptop probe to a cargo ship that strayed into an ocean danger zone under the flight path.

Obama putting $3.4B toward a 'smart' power grid

 

 

ARCADIA, Fla. (AP) — President Barack Obama made a pitch for renewable energy Tuesday, announcing $3.4 billion in government support for 100 projects aimed at modernizing the nation's power grid.

Snowe disappointed by elimination of 'trigger'

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe says she's "deeply disappointed" by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's decision press for a government-sponsored health insurance plan.

Snowe, a Republican, has said that she prefers a "trigger" option that would allow a government plan only if the private market fails to lower costs on its own.

But Reid said Monday he wasn't sending that trigger option to the Congressional Budget Office for evaluation. Instead, his proposal would let individual states opt out of the government plan.

Pilots flew Northwest jet 150 miles past airport

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal investigators are scrambling to determine what happened aboard a Northwest Airlines jetliner whose crew flew 150 miles past its destination while air traffic controllers, other pilots and even a flight attendant back in the cabin tried to get their attention.

Investigators don't know whether the pilots may have fallen asleep, but National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway said Friday that fatigue and cockpit distraction will be looked into.

Pakistan: Bomber kills 7 near nuke-linked complex

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A suicide bomber struck a checkpoint near a military complex reportedly linked to Pakistan's nuclear weapons program Friday, killing seven people as the army pressed ahead with a major anti-Taliban offensive in the northwest.

The attack took place near the sprawling aeronautical complex in Kamra, around 30 miles from the capital, Islamabad, and is sure to raise renewed concerns about the safety of Pakistan's nuclear program.

Ambulances charging extra for obese patients

 

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The memory still bothers Ken Keller: A panicked ambulance crew had a critically ill patient, but the man weighed more than 1,000 pounds and could not fit inside the vehicle. And the stretcher wasn't sturdy enough to hold him.

The crew offered an idea to Keller, who was then an investigator with the Kansas Board of Emergency Medical Services. Could they use a forklift to load the man — bed and all — onto a flatbed truck? Keller agreed: There was no other choice.

Lutefisk and loot: Tax records open in Norway

OSLO (AP) — It's the moment nosy Norwegian neighbors have been waiting for — the release of official records showing the annual income and overall wealth of nearly every taxpayer in the Scandinavian country.

In a move that would be unthinkable elsewhere, tax authorities in Norway have issued the "skatteliste," or "tax list," for 2008 to the media under a law designed to uphold the country's tradition of transparency.

Update: Warming continues to affect far north

 

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Global warming is messing with the planet's thermostat.

That warning came Thursday from Richard Spinrad, head of research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in releasing the annual update of science's Arctic report card.

Warming temperatures continue in the polar north, changing wind patterns, melting sea ice and glaciers and affecting ocean and land life, the report said.

Sheriff in Colorado balloon chase answers critics

 

DENVER (AP) — Spectators watching the alleged balloon boy hoax unfold on live TV suggested paragliders, skydivers, fishing hooks and more to bring down the flying saucer-shaped craft thought to be carrying a 6-year-old boy.

Since the boy, Falcon Heene, was found at home and investigators declared the whole saga a hoax by the boy's parents, the e-mails flooding Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden's e-mail inbox have turned to criticism of his actions in the case.