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S MOINES, IA (KTRK) -- Two police officers were ambushed and killed overnight in Des Moines, Iowa. A search is underway for the person who fatally shot them.

Jack Hoffman, a 7-year-old cancer patient, was undoubtedly the star of Saturday’s Nebraska spring game. The Husker fan and friend of the football team led the Huskers in rushing yards on the day. “Obviously, Jack’s a young man who has touched the hearts of a lot of people,” coach Bo Pelini said. “Our football team and the student body have gotten behind him, and he’s become a big part of the team. We weren’t sure if he was going to want to do it. We brought the idea to his dad, and I thought it was a pretty special thing.”

FRESNO, Calif. — Officials in the heart of recession-battered central California misspent about $1 million in federal stimulus funds that were supposed to help adults and teenagers find jobs, state auditors said Tuesday. California's Inspector General Laura Chick said the Tulare County Workforce Investment Board used nearly $1 million in Recovery Act funds to pay for their own rent and utility bills, when the bulk of the money should have gone to finding youth summer jobs.

Biden had an awkward moment during a rally in Columbia, Mo., Tuesday. At the start of his remarks, he pointed out several state lawmakers in the audience for praise. When he got to Chuck Graham, a state senator from Green Meadows, Biden urged the lawmaker to "stand up Chuck, let 'em see ya." But Graham, who is in a wheelchair, can't stand up - a fact Biden quickly picked up on.

Earlier this month, a California activist began gathering signatures to put a state wealth tax on the ballot. The measure would impose a new 35% income surtax (in addition to federal taxes and the existing 10.3% top state rate), and penalize people who leave the state by seizing 55% of assets exceeding $20 million. The money raised would be used to eliminate the state's budget deficit and for purchasing controlling shares in large corporations. The 17.5% surtax is unusual because it would be on a taxpayer's total (not marginal) income whenever it exceeds $250,000, with another additional 17.5 percent tax...

Dec 17, 2007 6:05 pm US/Central Fridley Teen Helps Revive Collapsed Referee FRIDLEY, Minn. (AP) ― A quick-thinking Fridley teen is being credited with helping save the life of a high school boys' basketball referee who collapsed during a game. It happened Thursday night when Fridley was playing Simley. Spectator Lindsey Paradise, 16, had looked away from the game when she heard her mother gasp and saw the official, Dale Wakasugi, 49, on the ground, motionless. "She flew from the stands and slid on her knees right up to him," her twin sister, Alyssa, said. "Just by looking at her,...

News 12 in West Palm Beach screws up a story on injured Buffalo Bill player Kevin Everett.(see link)

OTTAWA, Kan. -- A Kansas high school senior is legally blind and has a debilitating illness, but he's overcome the odds and is a star football player, KMBC's Jim Flink reported. Darius Johnson can see clearly only what is right in front of him, and he has sickle cell anemia. "It's kind of a blur," he said. "I've had glasses -- it doesn't help. Nothing would help. I've checked into contacts, even Lasik (eye surgery) -- it will not help." And yet, Johnson has rushed for more than 1,000 yards on the football field. "He can only see clearly 2...

Apology for hockey tournament mascot By Josie Harper, Director of Athletics and Recreation Published on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 To the Editor: I am writing to strongly denounce the historical and recent affronts to the Native American community at Dartmouth and to offer the support of the athletics department in playing a leading role to combat racial, ethnic and sexist ignorance and intolerance on our campus. At the same time, I must offer a sincere apology to the Native American community, and the Dartmouth community as a whole, for an event that will understandably offend and hurt people within our...

LOS ANGELES -- Special effects explosions, idling vehicles, teams of workers building monumental sets -- all of it contributes to Hollywood's newly discovered role as an air polluter, a university study has found. The film and television industry and associated activities make a larger contribution to air pollution in the five-county Los Angeles region than almost all five other sectors researched, according to a two-year study released Tuesday by the University of California, Los Angeles. Although Hollywood seems environmentally conscious thanks to celebrities who lend their names to various causes, the industry created more pollution than individually produced by aerospace...

Saturday, January 21, 2006 Arrest in Aliso Viejo hit-and-run Costa Mesa man booked on suspicion of attempted murder; victim remains in critical condition Orange County sheriff’s deputies said today that they arrested last night the driver who may have intentionally run down a man in an Aliso Viejo parking lot. The suspect, Morteza Bakhtiari, 26, believed to have been driving a silver-colored BMW Thursday night, was arrested without incident at his Costa Mesa home and booked on suspicion of attempted murder, said Lt. Paul D’Auria of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (snip)