Remains of 10 Ohio veterans found are buried By BARBARA RODRIGUEZ, Associated Press – 39 minutes ago DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Veterans and civilians stood side by side to honor 10 Ohio veterans whose remains were buried Tuesday with full military honors, several months after they were found in a funeral home basement.Six veterans conducted a rifle salute, taps was played and the name of each of the men and his dates of service were read at the ceremony under an overcast sky at Dayton National Cemetery. Some in attendance wiped away tears.Among those who read the names was Richard Royer, a Vietnam veteran and Chapin with the American Legion Post 193 in South Carolina. He traveled 11 hours by motorcycle Monday before to make ... Continue reading →

5 Western US states shielding part of executions By REBECCA BOONE, Associated Press – 1 hour ago BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A U.S. appeals court ruled in 2002 that every aspect of an execution should be open to witnesses, from the moment the condemned enters the death chamber to his or her final heartbeat.The ruling established what was expected of the nine Western states within the court's jurisdiction. A decade later, five of the states have kept part of each execution away from public view, according to an Associated Press review and death penalty experts.Idaho, Arizona, Washington, Montana and Nevada have conducted 15 lethal injections since the ruling, and half of each procedure has been behind closed doors.That means that a small group of witnesses, ... Continue reading →

With Florida’s housing sector still stuck in the cellar, the building materials giant turns to infra... Continue reading →

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The political fire still burns in Ohio to push more public money into classrooms, even after other states have backed off the idea amid evidence it does little to improve kids' grades.The state's latest strategy is to mandate that district spending be winnowed from the existing five spending categories to two by 2013: classroom or non-classroom.It's part of a push by Republican Gov. John Kasich to reduce overhead and direct funds to classroom instruction. In-classroom spending percentages eventually would appear on state report cards, alongside student test scores. "It certainly doesn't require any particular funding one way or the other," said Barbara Shaner, co-executive director of the Ohio Association of School Business Officials. "But the idea would be to call attention to ... Continue reading →

A friend of mine, a colleague, confronted me the other day, the way friends do when they're a bit... Continue reading →

COLUMBUS -- The State Highway Patrol is expanding its presence in Ohio's three largest metropolitan areas to crack down on dangerous driving with around-the-clock operations at posts near Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus for the first time in its nearly 80-year history.Beginning June 3, the patrol will staff 24/7 operations in Hamilton, Cuyahoga and Franklin counties. As Ohio's largest population centers, those areas together have accounted for more than 170 fatal crashes in each of the past two years, or more than 15 percent of the state's total.Drivers probably won't notice a significant change during their daily travels; the dozen or more veteran troopers assigned to each of those posts will be divided into shifts and spread out around the cities.The move is part of a ... Continue reading →

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MILWAUKEE (AP) -- One of life's simple pleasures just got a little sweeter. After years of waffling research on coffee and health, even some fear that java might raise the risk of heart disease, a big study finds the opposite: Coffee drinkers are a little more likely to live longer. Regular or decaf doesn't matter. The study of 400,000 people is the largest ever done on the issue, and the results should reassure any coffee lovers who think it's a guilty pleasure that may do harm. "Our study suggests that's really not the case," said lead researcher Neal Freedman of the National Cancer Institute. "There may actually be a modest benefit of coffee drinking." No one knows why. Coffee contains a thousand things that can ... Continue reading →