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SAN ANTONIO | A court-martial acquitted a former military nurse of murder charges Saturday after he was accused of giving lethal doses of painkillers to hasten the deaths of three terminally ill patients at the Air Force’s largest hospital. Capt. Michael Fontana, wearing his Air Force uniform, showed no emotion as a military judge cleared him of three counts of murder. Fontana then collapsed into the arms of weeping family members inside a Lackland Air Force Base courtroom.
WASHINGTON | President Barack Obama’s eight-day trip to Asia produced no tangible wins for the U.S., though he is citing talks with Asian allies that he says could help create thousands of jobs and open new markets for American goods. Citing progress on a trip that took him from Tokyo to Seoul, Obama noted that “Asia is a region where we now buy more goods and do more trade with than any other place in the world — commerce that supports millions of jobs back home.”
Love that glove NEW YORK | The gleaming glove Michael Jackson wore when he premiered his trademark moonwalk dance in 1983 has been auctioned for $350,000.
AMES, Iowa | The sign sits on a wooden chair, inviting all comers: “Ask an Atheist.” Whenever a student gets close, Anastasia Bodnar waves and smiles, trying to make a good first impression before eyes drift down to a word many Americans rank down there with “socialist.”
Elisabeth Soderstrom, a Swedish soprano who became an international opera star, died in Stockholm of complications from a stroke. She was 82. From 1949 to 1980, she performed at the Royal Swedish Opera and often appeared at some of the largest opera houses in the world. She also recorded frequently. Between 1959 and 1964, Soderstrom was contracted by the Metropolitan Opera in New York. She returned for several years in the 1980s. Paul Wendkos, who directed more than 100 films and television shows during a 50-year career, including the 1959 surf movie “Gidget,” died in Malibu, Calif., of a lung infection that followed a stroke. He was 84. His films also included the 1957 drama “The Burglar,” starring Jayne Mansfield, and the 1969 adventure “Guns of the Magnificent Seven.” For television, he directed series such as “The Rifleman” and “Hawaii Five-O.”
RALEIGH, N.C. | A cluster of four Tamiflu-resistant cases of H1N1 flu at Duke University Medical Center has raised concerns that changes in the virus may make severe infections more difficult to treat. Three of the Duke patients died. All were adults, including two women and one man, and they had other major diseases, said Cameron Wolfe, an infectious-disease specialist at Duke. He said a fourth patient remains hospitalized.
It seemed like a good idea at the time. In 1984, Japan began screening the urine of 6-month-old infants for neuroblastoma, the most common type of solid tumor in young children. The test was simple and could show signs of cancer long before clinical symptoms arose.
CAIRO, Egypt | The Yemeni-American imam who’s been under renewed scrutiny after the deadly shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, preaches against alcohol, birthday parties, black magic and extramarital sex. But he supports armed struggle against the U.S. military in Afghanistan and Iraq, and has encouraged extremist insurgents in Pakistan and Somalia.
The latest Department of Defense identifications of casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq: •Army Spc. Joseph M. Lewis, 26, of Terrell, Texas, died Nov. 17 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, when his vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive.
C notes The famous row house on C Street Southeast where South Carolina’s disgraced governor, Mark Sanford, sought counseling after his affair — as did Sen. John Ensign of Nevada after his affair — has begun paying D.C. real estate taxes.
WASHINGTON | The Senate ethics committee on Friday admonished Democratic Sen. Roland Burris for misleading investigators about his maneuvering to get Barack Obama’s old Senate seat from the governor who was ousted for trying to sell it. Burris was appointed by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was impeached and driven from office after he was accused of trying to sell the seat.
Guests on today’s TV news shows: •ABC’s “This Week,” 9:30 a.m. — Guests: Sen. Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican; Sen. Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat; Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican; Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat.
WASHINGTON | The government intercepted at least 18 e-mails between the alleged Fort Hood gunman and a radical Muslim cleric, and a key senator said there could be more communications that might have tipped off law enforcement or military officials. Federal investigators say they intercepted the messages between the suspect, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, and Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical American-born cleric. They were passed along to two Joint Terrorism Task Force cells led by the FBI, but a senior Defense Department official said no one at the agency knew about the messages until after the shootings. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
NIKISKI, Alaska | Norm Olson’s genial tone belied his reputation as a radical militiaman, yet there he was, at 63, an affable grandfather explaining why Americans should arm themselves against their government. Walking stick in hand, clad in military fatigues, he strolled a trail in the woods near his home on 22 acres near Nikiski, a small, unincorporated community with isolated roads and no local government. The nearest state trooper post is two towns away.
WASHINGTON | Invoking the name of Edward M. Kennedy, Democrats united Saturday night to push historic health care legislation past a key Senate hurdle over the opposition of Republicans. There was not a vote to spare.
WASHINGTON | The National Archives is bringing together investigators to search for scribbled secrets from the first days of the Watergate scandal, which destroyed Richard Nixon’s presidency. The goal is to find out what Nixon and an aide discussed during the infamous 18½-minute gap in a White House tape recording of a meeting held three days after burglars linked to the president’s re-election committee broke into Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate complex.
After four hours of questions from senators about his decision to send the self-described mastermind of the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes to New York for trial, Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday submitted to one more round of interrogation from people who lost loved ones in the Sept. 11 attacks.
CHICAGO | “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” an iconic broadcast that began as a local Chicago talk show and grew over two decades into the foundation of a media empire worth billions, will end its run in 2011 after 25 seasons on the air, Winfrey’s production company said Thursday night. Winfrey, who from a seat on the couch of her set in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood became a billionaire and one of the most powerful women in entertainment, plans to announce the final date for her show during a live broadcast today, said Harpo Productions Inc.
WASHINGTON | The Pentagon said Thursday it will scour its procedures for identifying volatile soldiers in the ranks following the Fort Hood shooting rampage and lapses that might allow others to slip through bureaucratic cracks. “It is prudent to determine immediately whether there are internal weaknesses or procedural shortcomings in the department that could make us vulnerable,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates said.
A federal judge on Wednesday ordered compensation for a Los Angeles couple whowere denied spousal benefits by the federal government because they are gay. Stephen Reinhardt, a judge with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, deemed the denial of health care and other benefits to the spouse of federal public defender Brad Levenson to be a violation of the Constitution’s guarantee of due process and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, which is prohibited by California law.
WASHINGTON | Women should continue getting regular mammograms starting at age 40, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Wednesday, moving to douse confusion caused by a task-force recommendation two days earlier. Sebelius issued her statement following a government panel’s recommendation on Monday that said most women don’t need mammograms in their 40s and should get one every two years starting at 50.
news.mcclatchy.com headlines
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy will be a tough act to follow, even for the Kennedys. His death, coupled with the decision by family members not to seek the seat he held for nearly five decades, has prompted predictions that the family's long-running political dynasty is over.
Astronaut Randolph Bresnik is a new dad again, after launching into space and taking a spacewalk, all for the first time.
Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin has banned Rep. Patrick Kennedy from receiving Communion, the central sacrament of the church, in Rhode Island because of the congressman's support for abortion rights, Kennedy said in a newspaper interview published Sunday.
A low-pressure system that has lingered in the Gulf of Mexico the past few days, bringing rain to the Gulf Coast, was expected to finally move inland into the Southeast on Sunday. This was likely to translate to widespread rain and even a few thunderstorms in the area even as the system weakens while moving toward the Southeast coast.
Thirty-two men and women from across the U.S. have been selected as Rhodes Scholars for 2010.
A gunman fatally wounded a passenger in another vehicle at an Oregon intersection Saturday, setting off a police chase that ended when the suspect crashed and was killed by officers, authorities said.
Vladimir Gapor is a plumber by trade, but now he's a scavenger, prying bits of scrap steel from the ruins of his old factory and selling them for a pittance.
Dozens of protesters are occupying the main administrative building at University of California, Santa Cruz in the third straight day of protest over fee hikes and cuts to campus services.
A subway passenger was stabbed to death in front of horrified riders in a dispute with another man over a seat in the car early Saturday morning in midtown Manhattan, police said.
Vice President Joe Biden told Iowa Democrats on Saturday that the Senate handed the president a big victory with its decision to move forward with debate on sweeping legislation to overhaul the nation's health care system.
Authorities say four people were hurt when one of San Francisco's historic cable cars jarred to a sudden stop while traveling through downtown.
Officials say a three-alarm fire on the boardwalk in Atlantic City has been declared under control.
When Sarah Palin made her first trip to western Pennsylvania as GOP presidential candidate John McCain's fresh-faced running mate, the Arizona senator warned locals that she "doesn't let anyone tell her to sit down."
The Army psychiatrist charged with killing 13 people at Fort Hood will be confined until his military trial, initially staying in a hospital where he is recovering from gunshot wounds, his attorney said Saturday.
Authorities arrested a Sacramento fisherman Saturday in connection to shooting a sea lion in the head.
Authorities say five male students have been arrested on suspicion of sexual battery after two ninth-grade girls were attacked at a Long Beach high school.
A Fort Benning spokesman says Army officials are investigating whether a suspicious note and package found at the west Georgia post is a viable threat.
A court-martial acquitted a former military nurse of murder Saturday after he was accused of giving lethal doses of painkillers to hasten the deaths of three terminally ill patients at the Air Force's largest hospital.
Every afternoon, seven days a week, Ed Epley has a 5 p.m. appointment with the war.
The number of Americans traveling away from home for Thanksgiving will be up only slightly this year from 2008, according to a report from the AAA auto club.
Peggy Pauly lives in a robin-egg blue, two-story house not far from acres of onion fields that make the northern Nevada air smell sweet at harvest time.
A man will spend the rest of his life in prison after he was found guilty in what prosecutors said was a case of scaring a 79-year-old North Carolina grandmother to death.
Police found him sitting on the floor of his old apartment near a bucket of urine, still dressed in his hospital gown.
When Liz Fitzgerald realized her son and daughter were forced to read books in math class while the other children caught up, she had them moved into gifted classes at their suburban Atlanta elementary school.
Newly arrived in Moscow on his first foreign assignment, Associated Press correspondent George Krimsky sensed he had a sensational Cold War scoop on his hands and he pounced.
