story

POWELL, Wyo. – “I’d do it again in a heartbeat.” Despite being wounded three times in three different conflicts and battling pain from shrapnel he still carries in his back, veteran Gary Peabody would do it all over again. “Its my country,” he said. The wounds that ended Peabody’s military …

PHILLIPSBURG, Ohio – A woman and her three children were found shot to death Saturday in their western Ohio home, officials said. A handgun was found in the neat and orderly home, and investigators were interviewing the woman’s boyfriend, who had recently moved out, Montgomery Sheriff’s Maj. Ed Copher said. …

CHICAGO – The nationwide rush to go wireless appears poised to extend to its biggest city yet. Chicago is launching an effort to offer wireless broadband, city officials said Friday, jumping on the Wi-Fi bandwagon as similar initiatives proceed in Philadelphia, San Francisco and smaller cities. Chicago has hundreds of …

CARACAS, Venezuela – A candidate challenging Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez for the presidency said his top campaign issue will be what he calls a massive waste of billions of dollars through generous oil deals for friendly countries. Chavez, leading strongly in the polls, denied the accusations by candidate Julio Borges …

A federal judge on Feb. 21 refused the U.S. government’s request for its own hearing on how a possible shutdown of BlackBerry e-mail service would affect government employees. The ruling comes three days before the judge is set to hold a hearing to decide the American future of the BlackBerry. …

BEIRUT, Lebanon – Muslim rage over caricatures of the prophet Muhammad grew increasingly violent Sunday as thousands of rampaging protesters — undaunted by tear gas and water cannons — torched the Danish mission and ransacked a Christian neighborhood. At least one person reportedly died and about 200 were detained, officials …

WASHINGTON – Republican Sen. John McCain on Monday accused his Democratic colleague Barack Obama of “partisan posturing” on the issue of lobbying ethics reform — a charge Obama called puzzling and regrettable. The exchange, made in letters between the pair, was the latest sign of trouble as the two parties …

NEW YORK – BlackRock Inc. is gaining control of the asset management arm of Merrill Lynch & Co. in a deal that will create one of the world’s biggest money managers with $1 trillion in assets, the companies said on Wednesday. Merrill (MER) will move its Merrill Lynch Investment Managers …

WASHINGTON – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke Thursday repeated an upbeat assessment of the U.S. economy’s health and warned again about inflation risks in a second day of testimony on Capitol Hill. Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee the U.S. expansion remained “on track” but suggested some more interest-rate rises …

WASHINGTON – Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald is raising the possibility that records sought in the CIA leak investigation could be missing because of an e-mail archiving problem at the White House. The prosecutor in the criminal case against Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff said in a Jan. …