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JUST IN - Russia's Putin and Defense Minister Shoigu are expected to address the nation tonight, according to Kremlin pool reporters.

The White House is readying COVID-19 "surge teams" to send to communities with low vaccination rates to help combat the rapidly spreading delta variant of the coronavirus, officials announced Thursday. The teams will work with local public health authorities to conduct contact tracing, and will distribute supplies as needed or requested by states, such as therapeutics and additional tests. The teams will also help augment staffing at local vaccination sites.

Greenville Police Department officer Allen Jacobs was shot and killed Friday in the line of duty. “We lose, we hurt, we ache,” Greenville Police Chief Ken Miller said. “No one wants to lose their officers.” Jacobs was pursuing on foot a “known gang member” in the Nicholtown community near downtown and was shot multiple times as he rounded the corner of a house before he died Friday afternoon, Miller said. The suspect in the shooting took his own life while being surrounded by police officers near the Swamp Rabbit Trail, Miller said.

After days of speculation and wagers by royal watchers all over the world, Kate Middleton and Prince William have named their new baby daughter Charlotte Elizabeth Diana. The littlest royal will carry the title Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, a Kensington Palace said in a statement Monday. Princess Charlotte -- who was born Saturday at London’s St. Mary’s hospital -- is now home with her royal parents at Kensington Palace. She met her grandparents and other family members at the couple's palace home in London Sunday, Reuters reported. Top bets for the baby's name had included Alice and...

As with the “would you attend a gay wedding? question, I can’t tell how much I should be surprised by Republican pols’ answers to LGBT-themed questions anymore. Policy responses are easy: If you’re running for president, you oppose legalizing gay marriage and strongly, strongly support exceptions to antidiscrimination laws for business owners who refuse to cater gay weddings on religious grounds. Beyond that, once you stray from policy to personal relations with gay/transgender people, things get more complicated and unpredictable. (Which, actually, is why gay-rights activists encourage people to come out. Polls show that people who know someone who’s...

WARNER ROBINS -- What began as a snowball fight ended in a big brawl. Police expect to make arrests in connection with the fight that happened at Warner Robins High School while the school was closed due to snow Jan. 29. Maj. John Wagner, assistant chief for Warner Robins police, said warrants are being sought in connection with the incident, which one of the victims reported shortly before 1 p.m. He said the charges may range from battery to aggravated assault. About 30 people were participating in the snowball fight when a few of them began to jump on a...

A couple’s late night stroll on the Christmas-lit Downtown Mall turned to terror in the early morning hours of Friday, December 20, when they were brutally assaulted by three men in what appears to have been a random act of violence. Even though one of the victims, Jeanne Doucette, managed to take photos that appear to show the assailants as they kicked and pummeled her boyfriend Marc Adams to unconsciousness, Charlottesville Police still do not have any suspects. Doucette says there were other witnesses to the crime, which allegedly occurred just outside the Wells Fargo building at around 1am as...

A Conyers woman is dead after a hair-weave purchase turned into an armed robbery Wednesday night. A news release from the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office said Christina Menzies, 19, of Covington, arranged to meet with a group to buy hair weaves. The two parties met around 10 p.m. at a subdivision’s pool in Rockdale County. RCSO deputies were told that a group of people came out the bushes toward the victim’s vehicle. One of the assailants pointed a handgun at the victim, and there was an exchange of gunfire. Christina’s sister, Jennifer Menzies, 21, of Conyers, was shot, the release...

An Iraq veteran who thought he was buying an iPad as a Christmas present after responding to a Craigslist posting, has been shot dead in an Indianapolis parking lot by the fake sellers. New-dad Jim Vester, 32, was lured to an address on Wednesday in the west side of the city and brothers Tyron Kincade, 19, and Tyshaune Kincade, 18, have been arrested after Vester was shot dead leaving behind his one-year-old son, Gavin and wife, Jamie. In the wake of the senseless murder, nearly 1,500 people have donated $58,000 to a YouCaring.com fundraiser set up by Vester's family for...

(1-1) INTRODUCTION The gospel of Jesus Christ teaches that man is an eternal being, made in the image and likeness of God. It also holds that man is a literal child of God and has the potential, if faithful to divine laws and ordinances, of becoming like his heavenly parent. These truths are generally well understood by Latter-day Saints. Less well understood, however, is the fact that God is an exalted man who once lived on an earth and underwent experiences of mortality. The Prophet Joseph Smith refers to this as “the great secret.” (Times and Seasons 5:613 [...

The former half-term Alaska governor said she "would offer [herself] up in the name of service to the public" and run for President in two years if "nobody else wanted to step up" during an interview on Fox News on Wednesday night. Her latest statements have added further speculation that Palin is winking and nudging her way toward a 2012 run, especially with last Saturday’s visit to Iowa for a GOP fund-raiser. Iowa, of course, is a key early presidential voting state, with the caucuses there a critical first step on the road to securing a party's presidential nomination. During...

Libertarian Party contender for president Bob Barr was interviewed by Neal Boortz a few days ago, and the audio and a partial transcript is here. Part of the conversation involved immigration matters, and based on that I have trouble seeing any major difference between Barr's positions and those of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, George Bush, Teddy Kennedy, and on down the line. In fact, it's like his campaign was the recipient of a blank cardboard box with just the word "POLICY" stenciled on it... ...If Barr saw the light and decided to very aggressively go after all three...

We all know that old saying about things always looking greener in someone else's pasture. Compared to the brown, dead grass that is New Jersey's state government, I'd say that's certainly true. However, I have a feeling that residents in our neighboring states aren't thinking the same about us. In fact, they're probably shaking their heads in-between fits of laughter. Yes, Garden State residents' morale is at an all-time low. This is what shutting down the government has done to us. What makes me most angry is that the state's residents are suffering at the hands of the people we...

Gov. Corzine to address full legislature Wednesday Trenton -WABC, July 4, 2006) - Despite an all day effort by sequestered New Jersey lawmakers, there's still no budget agreement. Now, Governor Jon Corzine will address the Legislature on Wednesday morning. New Jersey lawmakers opposed to Governor Jon Corzine's sales tax hike rejected a compromise sought by the governor on Tuesday. They are now working on their own plan that could increase income taxes. Even after an emergency closed door session, lawmakers failed to come up with a budget agreement. Talks will continue through the night. And if a deal isn't met...

Gibson inspired by 'fear-mongering' By WENN Gibson inspired by 'fear-mongering' Bush Click to enlarge photo Film star and director Mel Gibson has launched a scathing attack on US President George W Bush, comparing his leadership to the barbaric rulers of the Mayan civilisation in his new film Apocalypto. The epic, due for release later this year, captures the decline of the Maya kingdom and the slaughter of thousands of inhabitants as human sacrifices in a bid to save the nation from collapsing. Gibson reveals he used present day American politics as an inspiration, claiming the government callously plays on the...

CIA Director Porter Goss abruptly resigned yesterday amid allegations that he and a top aide may have attended Watergate poker parties where bribes and prostitutes were provided to a corrupt congressman.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The city of New Orleans could lose up to 80 percent of its black population if people displaced by Hurricane Katrina are not able to return to their damaged neighborhoods, according to an analysis released Thursday by a Brown University sociologist. Blacks and the poor were disproportionately affected by Katrina, according to the study led by Brown Professor John R. Logan. The analysis concludes that the difficulty in moving back to the city could mean a massive loss of population, overwhelmingly among blacks. New Orleans was more than 65 percent black before Katrina hit in August,...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Survivors from New Orleans told a congressional panel on Tuesday they felt abandoned by government at all levels after Hurricane Katrina hit the city and had been subjected to racial slurs and menaced by guns when they sought food and water. "We were abandoned. City officials did nothing to protect us," Patricia Thompson, a New Orleans evacuee now living in Texas, told a House of Representatives panel investigating the response to the storm. "We saw buses, helicopters and FEMA trucks but no one stopped to help us. We never felt so cut off in all our lives,"...

A homosexual advocacy group is planning to hold a discussion on 'gay icons' in US history'--including President Abe Lincoln--at part of its national celebration at Philadelphia's Independence Hall later this spring.Equality Forum is organizing a 'national celebration' to mark the 40th anniversary of the 'gay civil rights movement' which it says began with a small demonstration at Independence Hall years before the Stonewall riots in New York City.The panelists include a 'recognized expert' on Eleanor Roosevelt, and the editor of CA Tripp's new book 'The Initmate Life of Abraham Lincoln' in a panel discusson of 'closeted public leaders.''Governor McGreavey showed...

MILWAUKEE - In a pilot program described as the first of its kind, an agency created by the state government is making it easier for illegal immigrants in Wisconsin to obtain mortgage loans. Immigrants who do not have Social Security numbers - a common requirement for loans - can use an alternative government-issued tax number to get financing for new homes, under the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) program. Many holders of the Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) are living and working illegally in this country, even though they pay taxes. Some say the Wisconsin program is an...