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Gov. Marijadeen Patan of Khost Province (center left) helps hold a ribbon as U.S. Army Lt. Col. David A. Bushey cuts it during March 25, 2006, ceremonies marking the start of a project to rebuild the Matachena Madrassa, the largest religious school in Khost, Afghanistan. Bushey is commander of Task Force Wolfpack, composed primarily of soldiers from the 4th Battalion, 25th Field Artillery Regiment, part of the 10th Mountain Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team, based in Fort Drum, N.Y. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Amber Robinson-Sonoda Governor, Khost Residents Celebrate Madrassa Project Start A ribbon-cutting ceremony marked the start...

Black Activists Support Judge's Ruling to Hold New Orleans Elections on TimeFri Mar 31, 5:26 PM ET To: National Desk Contact: David Almasi of Project 21, 202-543-4110 ext. 11 or Project21@nationalcenter.org WASHINGTON, March 31 /U.S. Newswire/ -- As the Reverend Jesse Jackson and others prepare to march in opposition to scheduled city government elections in New Orleans, members of the black leadership network Project 21 are supportive of a New Orleans- based federal judge's ruling clearing the way for voting to be held on and leading up to April 22. In his March 27 ruling, U.S. District Court judge Ivan...

Has anyone's children ever done a Mouse Maze for a science project? My 10y.o. has a science project due by April 4th. She would like to try to do a Mouse Maze with her gerbil and Egyptian Spiny Mouse to see who can learn it. I've no idea how much time a rodent needs to learn a maze. I just surfed a few university sites too and it seems they without food and water for about a day or too to encourage the mouse to learn the maze. Anyone have experience doing this? We do have a back up project...

Massachusetts' attorney general is demanding that contractors refund $108 million for poor work on Boston's "Big Dig," which is the biggest public works project in U.S. history and has been plagued by leaks and delays. Attorney General Tom Reilly's office plans to sue Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff and other companies if the two sides do not reach an agreement over some 200 complaints of shoddy work in putting a major highway running through downtown Boston underground... Costs for building the 7.8 mile underground roadway through Boston ballooned from under $3 billion to the current $14.6 billion.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23, 2006 – Karen Stark never liked to sew. But thanks to her efforts, deployed servicemembers throughout the world are getting handmade "cool ties." Hazel Houck uses a donated sewing machine to make a cooling tie in Edmond, Okla. Houck volunteers with "The Hugs Project," sending polymer gel neck scarves and helmet inserts to deployed troops. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The Oklahoma woman has found her mission organizing groups through "The Hugs Project," a nonprofit organization manufacturing reusable neck scarves and helmet liners with polymer gel inserts that keep cold for hours at...

CAMP TAQADDUM, Iraq (Feb. 14, 2006) -- Deployed Marines often depend on their ability to freely travel the skies to accomplish their missions. If that ability is endangered, so are those missions. At Camp Taqaddum, the condition of the flight line here is in need of improvement, which is where the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 133, 30th Naval Construction Regiment, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force is coming into action. The unit is helping ensure that airborne assets and transportation remains a dependable facet the overall military force here. Petty Officer 1st Class Timothy A. Gridley, in charge of the runway project...

WOODBRIDGE, Va., Feb. 10, 2006 – As he maneuvered his wheelchair through rooms under renovation yesterday, former Army Staff Sgt. Eugene Simpson celebrated the purchase of his new house and raised awareness that the project still needs more help to reach its goal. Homes for Our Troops recently purchased this house in Woodbridge, Va., and has begun renovations to accommodate former Army Staff Sgt. Eugene Simpson's injuries. The sergeant's spine was severed by shrapnel when he was serving in Iraq. The renovation is expected to last four months. Photo by William D. Moss  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available....

"GMUG" stands for the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests. Combined, they encompass some 2.9 million acres of National Forest lands in Central and Western Colorado. These three forests are home to some of the most outstanding recreational opportunity in the West. Right now, the forest's are revising their Forest Plans. These management plans provide broad guidance on what activities may or may not occur on these lands. The BlueRibbon Coalition (BRC), a national recreation advocacy group that champions recreational access and responsible use of public and private lands, is growing increasingly concerned about the influence several anti-access groups...

For the first time in more than 20 years, U.S. nuclear-weapons scientists are designing a new H-bomb, the first of probably several new nuclear explosives on the drawing boards. If they succeed, in perhaps 20 or 25 more years, the United States would have an entirely new nuclear arsenal, and a highly automated factory capable of turning out more warheads as needed, as well as new kinds of warheads. "We are on the verge of an exciting time," the nation's top nuclear weapons executive, Linton Brooks, said last week at Lawrence Livermore weapons design laboratory. Teams of roughly 20 scientists...

At the dawn of the atomic age, scientists began work on what might have been the nastiest weapon ever conceived.Those who came of age during the era of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl are probably too young to remember the happy days when "our friend the atom" promised electricity too cheap to meter and cars that would run forever without a fill-up. With atom-powered subs like the Nautilus cruising under the polar icecap in the mid-1950s, could anyone doubt that atom-powered rocketships, airplanes, and even automobiles would be far behind? A funny thing happened to that dream on its way...

The "Wolverines," joined by "Team Kodiak" and Afghan soldiers and contractors, worked to complete a 66-kilometer road project before the onset of winter. By Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan CAMP WOLVERINE, Afghanistan, Jan. 10, 2006 — Commerce, transportation and travel have always been difficult in the remote windswept mountains and valleys of Zabol Province in eastern Afghanistan. That fact, however, has recently changed. In the latter part of this past year, two U.S. Army engineer companies, the 173rd Combat Support Company and Charlie Company, 864th Engineer Battalion, took a significant step in establishing stability and economic growth outside of Qalat, the provincial...

FORT HUACHUCA — At 14, Daniel Rich is one part site supervisor and another part worker. The Buena High School ninth-grader needs to be both, as he leads and does labor that hopefully will earn him the rank of Eagle Scout, as a member of Boy Scout Troop 431. Sunday, Daniel had the support of others from his Fort Huachuca troop, a couple of scouts from Troop 444 in Sierra Vista, family members, friends and soldiers from Company B, 305th Military Intelligence Battalion and Headquarters Company of the 111th Military Intelligence Brigade in renovating trails on the post’s Heritage Park....

The $580,000 project compliments a recently-completed sewer and paving project. BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 26, 2005 — Residents of Al Ameen, a southeastern Baghdad neighborhood, will soon reap the benefits of their first-ever water network, courtesy of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team with construction management by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The $580,000 project is 95 percent done, and is scheduled for completion by Nov. 7. “This project will provide potable water and fire hydrants to an area that has never had a water network.” Mike Mitchell, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers “This project will provide potable water and fire...

Hi everyone. I have a pretty important research paper to write. It's going to be on something political...I need some advice though..my potential topic is: 1.) Iraq is better off now than it was before the liberation. I need to fill up 6-7 pages on this if I were to choose to do it. I need to prove 3 points. What 3 points could I prove? I was thinking about the first point being about the Hussein regime and what life was like under Saddam Hussein...but I'm not sure what other points I could prove..and do you guys think I...

The word "reinvent" is a dumb term, having an overtone of redundancy. After all, when you have invented something, it exists. You can revise it or change it, but you can't "reinvent" it after you have already invented it. I never heard the term when I first entered the workforce. But somewhere in the 1970s or so, corporate executives-began using the word, and using it a lot. Then as now, the nation had its usual economic ups and downs, but suddenly after one downturn, our nation was heavily laden with companies that had reinvented themselves. What happened is that after...

LISTEN, Libertarian! By Tim Condon October 9, 2005 Libertarians are such losers. I know, this is not a way to endear myself to them, even when my best friends are all libertarian or near-libertarian. But success is staring them in the face, and a significant proportion of them deploy massive brainpower and argument to make sure that nothing ever gets better. It's incredible. LISTEN, libertarian! It's over 30 years later, and we're still hearing endless platitudes that keep us from gaining political power in the service of individual freedom. "All we need to do is a better job at selling...

ANAHEIM, California (Reuters) - The Republican favorite for a California congressional seat was forced into a runoff with Jim Gilchrist, founder of a volunteer border patrol group, and three other candidates after failing to capture a majority of the vote. With all precincts reporting in Tuesday's special election for the 48th Congressional district, former state Sen. John Campbell had collected 46 percent of the votes cast, followed by fellow Republican and former state Assemblywoman Marilyn Brewer at 16.7 percent. Gilchrist, who founded the Minuteman movement and is running as an American Independent Party candidate, drew 14.4 percent, followed by Democrat...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 4, 2005 – The American Security Council Foundation recently launched "Project Freedom" to highlight the accomplishments being made by American servicemembers in the war on terror. The project encourages civilians to write stories about these accomplishments and submit them for publication by the foundation. "The goal of Project Freedom is to raise the American public's awareness of and put a human face on the extraordinary, good things our soldiers, sailors and airmen are doing every day in the war on terror and in reconstructing Iraq and Afghanistan," Brian Williams, director of operations for the foundation, said. The foundation...

KATRINA'S AFTERMATH A Barrier That Could Have Been Congress OKd a project to protect New Orleans 40 years ago, but an environmentalist suit halted it. Some say it could have worked. By Ralph Vartabedian and Peter Pae, Times Staff Writer September 9, 2005 latimes.com In the wake of Hurricane Betsy 40 years ago, Congress approved a massive hurricane barrier to protect New Orleans from storm surges that could inundate the city. But the project, signed into law by President Johnson, was derailed in 1977 by an environmental lawsuit. Now the question is: Could that barrier have protected New Orleans from...

New Mexico, Arizona Governors Debate Borders By BARRY MASSEY Associated Press Writer August 30. 2005 1:56PM With just three words - "state of emergency" - border state Govs. Bill Richardson of New Mexico and Janet Napolitano of Arizona injected urgency into a simmering national debate over illegal immigration. First Richardson, then Napolitano, declared a state of emergency this month in portions of their states along the border with Mexico. In doing so, they freed state money for local governments and law enforcement to cope with what they describe as increasing border crime and problems related to illegal immigration. Politically and...