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As Cases Spike, Flu Season May Be Peaking In Boston

Credit Charles Krupa / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Four-year-old Gabriella Diaz gets a flu shot at the Whittier Street Health Center in Boston, Mass., on Wednesday, the same day the city declared a public health emergency.

By Eliza Barclay

Originally published on Thu January 10, 2013 12:16 pm

We were warned that this year's flu season was likely to be a bad one, and now that forecast is starting to bear out.

10:00 am

Thu January 10, 2013

Famous church's bells to ring for same-sex couples

Credit Marit Hinnosaar / Flickr

Washington National Cathedral

By BRETT ZONGKER and Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Washington National Cathedral had been ready to embrace same-sex marriage for some time, though it took a series of recent events and a new leader for the prominent, 106-year-old church to announce Wednesday that it would begin hosting such nuptials.

9:48 am

Thu January 10, 2013

If Obama Took 'Executive Action' On Guns, What Might He Do?

Credit Fang Zhe / Xinhua /Landov

Vice President Biden and President Obama at the White House on Dec. 19. Biden has been charged with drawing up "concrete proposals" on how to reduce gun violence.

By Mark Memmott

Originally published on Fri January 11, 2013 7:29 am

After Vice President Biden said Wednesday that the Obama administration might take some executive actions on the issues of guns and gun-related violence, questions naturally arose:

What kinds of things was he talking about? What might the administration do that doesn't require Congressional action?

9:48 am

Thu January 10, 2013

Mississippi Blues: When The River Doesn't Run

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Credit Colby Buchanan/U.S. Coast Guard / AP

Barges last month crowded an area on the Mississippi River south of St. Louis where barges are stored, loaded and unloaded. Shippers worry that the drought-shrunken river could shut to barge traffic entirely this month.

Credit Alan Greenblatt / NPR

George Foster, president of JB Marine, says he hasn't had to lay off any of his 110 employees but wonders when he'll see enough barge traffic to keep all of his workers busy. Along the affected stretch of the Mississippi River, some 8,000 jobs are thought to be at risk.

Credit Alan Greenblatt / NPR

The offices of JB Marine, a barge cleaning and repair business that is located atop an empty barge just south of St. Louis, now lean at a 30-degree angle because the Mississippi River levels are so low.

Credit Alan Greenblatt / NPR

The river has fallen fast enough that barges have been beached along its banks outside St. Louis.

Credit Alan Greenblatt / NPR

"We're at the mercy of Mother Nature," says Larry Rowe, captain of a JB Marine boat. People along the Mississippi are hoping for significant snowmelt to raise the water levels.

By editor

Originally published on Thu January 10, 2013 12:53 pm

The Mississippi River has provided George Foster with a living all his life. Now, with the river dropping to historically low levels, it's threatening to take his business down with it.

Foster's office sits atop an empty barge on the river, just south of St. Louis. His building tilts at a 30-degree angle because the water is so low. Visitors may want to stick out their fingertips for balance walking down his narrow hallway.

3:55 pm

Wed January 9, 2013

Nobel Prize economist James Buchanan dies at 93

Credit Atlas Network

American economist James Buchanan

By Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Nobel Prize-winning economist James M. Buchanan, who helped develop the public choice theory of economics, has died. He was 93.

Family members said in a news release from Middle Tennessee State University, where Buchanan graduated in 1940, that he died Wednesday morning in Blacksburg, Va., where he lived.

He earned the 1986 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his writings in the field of public choice, which uses the tools of economics to analyze the behavior of voters, candidates, legislators, bureaucrats and others.

2:47 pm

Wed January 9, 2013

Signature? Doodle? Check How A Treasury Secretary Lew Might Sign Your Dollars

Credit WhiteHouse.gov

Jacob "Jack" Lew's signature, on the 2012 "Mid-Session Review" of the federal budget. He was director of the Office of Management and Budget at the time.

By Mark Memmott

Originally published on Wed January 9, 2013 2:49 pm

Treasury secretaries get to see their signatures on the nation's currency.

With word that President Obama wants to nominate his chief of staff, Jacob "Jack" Lew," to that post, lots of sites are taking a look at his rather unique signature.

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12:30 pm

Thu January 10, 2013