Search results for

The U.S. Figure Skating Championships are taking place this week in Cleveland. The women skate Thursday night in the short program competition and they'll skate again on Saturday in the long program. USA Today columnist Christine Brennan tells Renee Montagne that many are watching the competition with an eye toward the Winter Olympic Games next year in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus has the clout to determine winners and losers in the health-care debate. Several former staffers are now industry lobbyists with a unique brand of access to the man at the debate's center. In Washington, access is money.

Companies are doing more temporary hiring, and employees are working longer hours. But as long as employers remain skittish, the recovery will likely be weak. Companies won't add permanent jobs until they see demand growing, economists say.

For years, oil production has been largely banned in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida. In large part, that's because of concerns that a spill could devastate the state's tourism industry. But now, some elected officials seem willing to take another look at offshore drilling after years of opposition.

Employers eliminated a net total of 216,000 jobs in August as the nation's jobless rate reached its highest level since June 1983. But the number of job cuts is the smallest decline in payrolls in a year.

The state Legislature has passed some of the nation's most sweeping changes for teachers. The proposal would phase out tenure and would tie salaries, in part, to student test scores. So far, Republican Gov. Charlie Crist says he's not made up his mind; teachers are pressuring him to veto it.

In Tennessee, proposed federal cuts in some areas of drug enforcement may affect the ability of authorities to seize methamphetamine -- or meth -- labs in rural communities. In 2004, Tennessee ranked second nationwide in the number of meth labs seized. From member station WUOT in Knoxville, Matt Shafer Powell reports.

Russian forces appear to be withdrawing in the area around Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, as they turn their attention and firepower further to the south and east.

In a final sermon this past Sunday, the Rev. Jerry Falwell told churchgoers that he was at peace with death. His passing prompts a reflection on the conservative leader's life and career, in his own words.

Cloverfield, a new monster movie set in New York and filmed almost entirely on hand-held camcorders, is produced by J.J. Abrams, the man behind the hit TV show Lost.