USA
House Speaker Dennis Hastert said Tuesday he'll dismiss anyone on his staff found to have covered up concerns about sexual approaches made by former Rep. Mark Foley (R) of Florida to former congressional pages. Hastert said he huddled with his staff last week and in hindsight, they could have handled the complaints better.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned aside the case of Sandra Cano, one of the women behind the legalization of abortion, who had sought to reverse the victory she won 33 years ago. Cano said she never wanted an abortion and that an aggressive attorney pushed her into the case.
Department of Energy heating-bill projections released Tuesday said that families using natural gas should expect to pay an average of $119 less this winter than last and propane users $15 less. Oil users, meanwhile, should anticipate a $91 increase.
Outsiders have donated more than $700,000 to the Amish community in Lancaster County, Pa., that lost five young girls at the hands of a suicidal gunman last week, according to the Associated Press. The contributions are expected to go toward counseling, medical bills, and other needs linked to the hostage-taking episode, in which five other girls were seriously wounded.
Authorities said the 13-year-old student in Joplin, Mo., who carried an AK-47 into his middle school Monday fired into the ceiling before his gun jammed and police apprehended him. The incident occurred ahead of Tuesday's summit on school violence, called by President Bush after recent school shootings in Colorado, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.
More than 50,000 unionized teachers in New York and New Hampshire will get an average of $450 each from a settlement with investment company ING, which paid fees to unions to steer business its way, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said Tuesday.
In an all-stock deal, Google Inc. bought YouTube Inc., a video-sharing website, for $1.65 billion Monday. "This is the next step in the evolution of the Internet," said Google CEO Eric Schmidt, speaking of an anticipated migration of viewers and advertisers from television to the Internet.
