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WASHINGTON - The nation's largest union boldly pledged a year ago to rally states to sue the Bush administration over education spending under the No Child Left Behind law. It turns out that the National Education (news - web sites) Association has been the one left behind. At least 30 state legislatures, including some led by Republicans, have expressed their displeasure over the law. Not one state, however, has agreed to join a lawsuit the teachers' union announced one year ago and planned to file by last summer. "Maintaining a good relationship with the federal government that oversees your programs...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Expectations dimmed Saturday that California would begin the new fiscal year with an approved budget for the first time in four years. Participants in a 90-minute closed-door meeting between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders said their negotiations went well, but added that it is unrealistic to hope a budget could be approved before the start of the new fiscal year Thursday. There appear to be too many unresolved issues to clear away and still leave time for printing the massive $103 billion spending plan, sharing the document with lawmakers and then voting on it, officials...

WASHINGTON – There's a hole the size of the federal deficit on the east side of the Capitol as work accelerates on a new visitor center, the largest, most expensive construction project in the 200-year history of the building. The project has expanded in scope nearly as fast as the 53,000 truckloads of dirt could be removed, driving its cost up from an estimated $265 million to $421 million. The three-story underground facility is now scheduled to open in the spring of 2006, delayed some four or five months from the original December 2005 goal because of bad weather, design...

<p>SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Schwarzenegger, who said last fall that he intended to carry out his predecessor's plans to lay off thousands of state workers, says he wants to review the details before any more lose their jobs.</p> <p>One day after taking office in November, Schwarzenegger said he was waiting until early January to announce the layoffs because he didn't feel good about firing anyone during the holidays.</p>

Rover's trek around the Red Planet delayed January 08 2004 at 06:27AM Pasadena - The air bags that cushioned the landing of the Mars rover are obstructing the vehicle's path and will delay the start of its trek across the planet's rust-coloured surface, Nasa said. Further complicating the mission, new images from the Mars rover suggest its landing site is not the pristine dry lake bed that scientists originally had hoped. That means the rover's hunt for evidence that Mars was once a wetter place conducive to life might be more difficult than expected. The earliest the six-wheeled Spirit rover...

<p>Gov. Gray Davis and a top official in the Bush administration rejected allegations from Republican lawmakers Thursday that state forestry officials dragged their feet on seeking approval to use military planes to help fight the region's deadly wildfires.</p> <p>Lawmakers including U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, have said C-130 cargo planes that Hunter lined up sat idle for days because the California Department of Forestry didn't act quickly enough to seek federal approval for their use.</p>

Washington will have enough forces bristling on the borders of Iraq to launch a strike as soon as the March 17 disarmament deadline it is seeking expires, but it looks likely to wait a few days longer. Analysts said that, despite soaring temperatures which would make battle uncomfortable, U.S. Central Command chief General Tommy Franks may even seek a delay until April 1 to resolve a hitch in plans for a thrust into northern Iraq and have a moonless sky for aerial bombing. Britain, supported by the United States, has proposed giving Iraq a March 17 ultimatum to cooperate fully...

A number of key capability shortfalls must be addressed if the UK's Apache AH Mk 1 attack helicopter is to achieve its planned initial operating capability (IOC) in August 2004, according to a report published by the UK's National Audit Office (NAO). Failure to remedy these issues will cause further delays to the £4.1 billion ($6.3 billion) project, and result in a "significant capability gap" during the development of an air manoeuvre force, the document warns. The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) awarded Westland Helicopters - now part of AgustaWestland - a £2 billion prime contract in April 1996 to...

Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abu Ragheb has raised the possibility his country could again delay highly anticipated general elections if the Middle East crisis deteriorates even further. "We are waiting until July before making a decision," Abu Ragheb told the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi in an interview reprinted in local newspapers on Saturday. "Maybe elections will be delayed 50 years, or maybe we will never surrender our power" The fate of the elections, which had been expected in September, depended on the "regional circumstances, of which no one can predict the evolution," he said, referring to more than 19 months of...