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OMAHA, Neb. -- A 6-year-old girl who underwent a rare transplant surgery after her intestines were sucked out in a swimming pool has died in an Omaha hospital. Abigail Taylor's family said she died Thursday evening. Bob Bennett is an attorney for the Taylor family. He said Abigail's parents were with her when she died at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. NMC's Paul Baltes confirmed to KETV NewsWatch 7 that Abigail died at the hospital, where she has been under care since the operation. Baltes was not sure whether an autopsy or exact cause of death would be sought or...

The 18th annual Better Government Competition is focused on education — specifically, identifying ideas and programs that decrease drop-out rates, increase graduation rates, increase attendance rates, improve student performance, and make the schools safer. DEADLINE: To be considered for a 2008 Better Government Competition award, all applications must be postmarked or e-mailed by April 7, 2008.

LONDON (AFP) - US Republican presidential hopeful John McCain Friday discussed the situation in the Middle East and global warming with former British prime minister Tony Blair, the ex-premier's spokesman said. Blair met with McCain in London as well as US senators Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham, McCain's colleagues on the Senate Armed Services Committee who are travelling with him, the spokesman told AFP. "They met, but also, obviously with Senator Lieberman and Senator Graham. The subjects they spoke about were the Middle East and climate change," he said. McCain, who is on a week-long tour of Europe and the...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may have signaled a new era of common sense for California regarding energy matters by announcing last week that nuclear power has "a great future" and should be considered, rather than "just looking the other way and living in denial." We hope this points to a change in attitude among policy-makers, and to overturning a statewide ban on nuclear power plants imposed in 1976. Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, who last year unsuccessfully authored a nuclear energy bill, is encouraged by Schwarzenegger's endorsement of the concept. "I'm delighted to see Gov. Schwarzenegger now out front on this vital...

Defense Secretary Gates wants more unmanned Predator aircraft in Iraq. But the Air Force worries about the long-term viability of the spy plane program. WASHINGTON -- Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has ordered the Air Force to put nearly all of its unmanned Predator aircraft into the skies over the Middle East, forcing the service to take steps that officers worry could hobble already-stressed drone squadrons. Pressure from the Defense secretary in recent months has nearly doubled the number of Predators available to help hunt insurgents and find roadside bombs in Iraq. But it has forced air commanders into a...

UNITED NATIONS -- Despite long-standing efforts by successive U.S. administrations to rein in U.N. spending, the United Nations this month presented its top donors with a request for nearly $1.1 billion in additional funds over the next two years -- boosting current U.N. expenses by 25 percent and marking the global body's highest-ever administrative budget, according to internal U.N. memos. Much of the increased spending flows from Bush administration demands for a more ambitious U.N. role around the world. During President Bush's tenure, the United States has signed off on billions of dollars for U.N. peacekeeping operations in Sudan and...

A former member of the U.S. Supreme Court serving on an appeals court panel has justified a city's decision to ban prayers at council meetings that are "in Jesus name," calling it a "reasonable" restriction on a councilman's speech rights. The comments came this week as the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard a case handled by the Rutherford Institute on behalf of Rev. Hashmel Turner. Turner, a resident of Fredericksburg, Va., and a member of its town council, was part of a rotation of council members who took turns bringing a prayer at the council meetings, and he...

As Senator John McCain slips further and further into the grips of age-realted dementia, his arguments in favor of legalizing 38 million illegal aliens become more and more specious. In 2007, for instance, McCain issued a very bizarre challenge to American patriots who oppose the amnesty travesty that McCain favors. Speaking at a fund-raiser in Houston, the senator said: "I think it’s (immigration reform) a matter of national security,” McCain said, “and to do nothing - to leave the status quo - would be an abrogation of our responsibilities to the American people.” The addled senator added, “If they’ve got...

NY Gov. Paterson To Reimburse Campaign For 2 Hotel Stays POSTED: 12:50 pm EDT March 21, 2008 NEW YORK -- Gov. David Paterson is reimbursing his campaign for the cost of two nights at a Manhattan hotel that had been charged to his campaign credit card. However, the lawyer for Paterson's campaign, Henry Berger, said Friday: "It does not appear that there were improper expenditures." Berger said at a Manhattan news conference that the check has been written to Friends of David Paterson but has not yet been deposited. The attorney provided reporters with copies of expenses going back to...

TOPEKA, Kan. — Gov. Kathleen Sebelius vetoed a bill Friday that would allow two coal-fired power plants in southwest Kansas and strip some power from the regulator who has blocked them. Legislators who support the bill have been working for weeks to build the two-thirds majorities they need in both chambers to override Sebelius' veto, which had been expected. "Of all the duties and responsibilities entrusted to me as governor, none is greater than my obligation to protect the health and well-being of the people of Kansas," Sebelius said in her veto message. The bill is a response to a...

Oil's recent slide and the slackening demand that an economic slowdown's expected to bring have stimulated hopes that crude could soon safely stabilize below the $100 range. But beneath seesawing supply and demand lies the deeper question of just how much oil the planet has in the first place — and how much it will have in the future. The answer to that question supports — or undermines — the theory that we are in the midst of an ever-tightening supply that will lock prices into a permanent, rising arc. That, in nutshell, is what's meant by the term "peak...

You just can't make this stuff up:Mayor Would Attack Messages' Authenticity http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080321/NEWS01/803210357Other Detroit Free Press updates: Kwame Crocker sez:Mayor Kilpatrick: 'Enough is enough' http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080321/OPINION02/803210334 And the City of Detroit's money bonfire continues:Judge stops effort to block text messages http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080321/NEWS01/80321020

A senior US lawmaker, Nancy Pelosi, has called for an independent investigation into China's claims that the Dalai Lama instigated the violence in Tibet. Ms Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, also called on the international community to denounce Chinese rule in Tibet. She spoke out while holding talks in northern India with the Dalai Lama. The Chinese authorities are continuing to tighten security following days of protests by Tibetans. China says 16 people have been killed by rioters in Lhasa, the main city. The Tibetan government-in-exile - headed by the Dalai Lama, regarded by many Tibetans as...

John Hofmeister, the Houston-based president of Shell Oil's U.S. operations, expressed doubt about the validity of peak oil theory in an appearance on CNBC's Squawk Box show. "The peak oil theory has really swamped the world. God bless Matt Simmons," Hofmeister told CNBC anchor Carl Quintanilla, according to a transcript provided to WND by CNBC. "His assumptions are correct based on his hypotheses, but his hypotheses are too narrow." Matt Simmons, a Houston-based investment banker who specializes in the energy industry, is widely known for his 2005 book, "Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World...

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Abigail Taylor, the 6-year-old girl whose injury in a swimming pool led to federal legislation to make pools safer, died Thursday evening, her family's attorney said. Bob Bennett, an attorney for the Taylor family, said Abigail's parents were with her when she died at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. "The world's less better off without Abigail Taylor," Bennett said. Kara Haworth, spokeswoman for the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, confirmed that Abigail had died. She said she could not comment further. She said Abigail's doctors were not available on Friday. Abigail, of Edina, was injured June 29...

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A local church youth leader wants you to see a cheese curl that reminds him of Jesus. A couple of years ago, the youth director at Memorial Drive United Methodist Church in Houston was snacking in the church youth offices when he noticed an odd-shaped Cheeto. Upon further inspection, Steve Cragg determined he could see a familiar image of Jesus in the shape of the cheese curl. One of the church youth named the item in question 'Cheesus.' 'Cheesus' has remained on a bookcase in Cragg's office since its discovery. "I do not think that God makes...

Practitioner Who Killed Woman in Botched Abortion Faces Lawsuit by Steven Ertelt LifeNews.com Editor March 21, 2008 Hyannis, MA (LifeNews.com) -- The Massachusetts abortion practitioner who killed a woman last year in a botched legal abortion is facing a lawsuit from her mother and a possible indictment from officials. Rapin Osathanondh gave up his medical license permanently last month and now he faces more repercussions from the failed abortion. Osathanondh did the abortion on 22-year-old Laura Smith, who died in September at his Women's Health Center abortion business.

ROME — The Vatican on Thursday rejected an audiotaped accusation from Osama bin Laden that Pope Benedict XVI was leading a “new Crusade” against Muslims, but Italian security officials were concerned about the threats included in Mr. bin Laden’s new message. “These accusations are absolutely unfounded,” the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the pope’s chief spokesman, said in a telephone interview. “There is nothing new in this, and it doesn’t have any particular significance for us.”

The Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., Barack Obama's former pastor, had his retirement all figured out. His handpicked successor, the Rev. Otis Moss 3d, pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Augusta, Ga., would leave his church, move to Chicago and serve as Wright's understudy for two years, then assume the mantle this year in a seamless leadership transition. In the first interview since Obama's defining speech Tuesday on race, Moss recounted how the controversy over some of Wright's inflammatory sermons had altered the plan. Holy Week, leading up to Easter, suddenly became holy hell at Trinity United Church of Christ....