Cheryl K. Chumley

States swoon to push electric cars onto the road

If the free market can't sell them, maybe the government can — and that's the direction eight states are taking in what's becoming a public-versus-private sector battle to bring electric cars onto the roads.

October 25, 2013

European parliament rejects abortion as a human right

Abortion is not a human right, the European Parliament voted this week, effectively shutting down a measure that would have pressed all 28 member states of the European Union to provide the procedure on demand.

October 25, 2013

Train eavesdropper turns tables and spies on ex-NSA chief’s off-record chat

A former political reporter who happened to overhear an off-record telephone conservation between the ex-director of the NSA while they traveled on a train out of Washington, D.C., did what any reputable spy would: He listened closer and tweeted the talk.

October 25, 2013

Burned out: Obama’s first land auction for solar goes bust

So much for the White House dream of solar selling like hotcakes. The first federal auction run by the Bureau of Land Management to sell chances to build solar power projects on public land went completely bust on Thursday. Nobody showed to bid.

October 25, 2013

Pennsylvania mulls ‘In God We Trust’ plaques at all schools

A lawmaker in Pennsylvania is pushing for the same motto on the nation's currency to be placed on prominent display at all of the schools in the state: "In God We Trust."

October 25, 2013

Americans seized by pirates ‘not at risk,’ oil exec says

The president of an oil transportation company said Friday morning that the two Americans who were seized by pirates off the coast of Nigeria are probably safe and not likely facing much danger.

October 25, 2013

Ted Cruz’s daughter, 2: ‘I want to work with daddy’

Much of the political world may be standing against Sen. Ted Cruz, but he’s got at least one staunch supporter in his camp: His daughter, 5, who already plans on following in his footsteps.

October 25, 2013

Palestinian security thwarts terror plot on Israel

Palestinian security officers said on Friday they uncovered a plot from a terrorist cell in the West Bank to fire off bomb-carrying drones at sites in Israel.

October 25, 2013

N.C. fair ride ‘Vortex’ malfunctions, sending several to the hospital

Five people were rushed to a North Carolina hospital on Thursday evening after an accident involving an amusement ride, the Vortex, at the state fair.

October 25, 2013

Dr. Kim Jong-un? North Korean dictator awarded honorary degree in economics

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was awarded an honorary doctorate in economics this month from a university in Malaysia, touching off a round of criticism from those who point with wonder at his nation's poverty and starvation rates.

October 24, 2013

Scientists say they’ve found new ‘hungry gene’ that causes obesity

It's almost too good to be true — a free pass on obesity, based on a scientific finding. But those who've tried to lose weight and trim down, only to find their efforts thwarted time and again, may have a new excuse: It's due to the "hungry gene," new science suggests.

October 24, 2013

Chicago lawmaker says bicyclists should buy $25 license

A Chicago alderwoman said bicycle owners should start paying $25 for the privilege of riding their bikes through the city, and to help cover the costs of construction and upkeep for protected bike lanes.

October 24, 2013

Fort Hood soldiers say Army warned them off tea party, Christian groups

Don't donate to the tea party or to evangelical Christian groups — that was the message soldiers at a pre-deployment briefing at Fort Hood said they received from a counter-intelligence agent who headed up the meeting. If you do, you could face punishment — that was the other half of the message, as reported by Fox News.

October 24, 2013

Air Force Academy mulls removal of ‘God’ from oath

The Air Force Academy may overturn years-old tradition to abide by the wishes of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and take out "God" from its honor oath.

October 24, 2013

Pirates kidnap 2 Americans on craft off Nigeria coast

Pirates have kidnapped the captain and chief engineer — both Americans — from an oil supply ship as it passed through a point off Nigeria's coastline, a defense spokesman said on Thursday.

October 24, 2013

California kids hurt after cop’s AR-15 fires during school safety demo

Three elementary students in California were taken for medical treatment after one of their classmates got a hold of a police officer's AR-15 as he was giving a safety demonstration and fired a round.

October 24, 2013

Bill Daley on anti-White House tweeter: ‘He needs a psychiatrist’

Bill Daley, a former White House chief of staff, said Thursday that the National Security Council worker who lost his job over negative tweets about the Obama administration should seek psychological counseling.

October 24, 2013

Libyan colonel gunned down outside Benghazi home

An unknown gunmen shot and killed a Libyan air force colonel just outside his house in Benghazi on Thursday, Libyan security officials said.

October 24, 2013

USS Forrestal, Navy’s first ‘supercarrier,’ heads to scrap heap

The U.S. Navy has put the finishing touches on a penny contract that sends its first "supercarrier," the USS Forrestal, on its way to a scrap company in Brownsville, Texas.

October 24, 2013

CIA memo: Pakistan endorsed U.S. drone strikes

Secret documents from the CIA show that senior government authorities in Pakistan not only knew about the U.S. military’s drone strike missions in the nation – but actually endorsed them.

October 24, 2013