Two upstate New York men, one of them said to be a member of the Ku Klux Klan, plotted to build a truck-mounted, industrial-strength X-ray weapon to kill “enemies of Israel” by poisoning them with radiation, federal authorities said Wednesday.One of them boasted that he could build a “Hiroshima light switch” and that “everything with respiration would be dea […]

Google’s chief legal officer said Wednesday “we’re not in cahoots with the NSA” as the company stepped up its efforts to reassure customers that their gmail and Internet browsing history are safe from government prying."There is no free-for-all, no direct access, no indirect access, no back door, no drop box," said David Drummond, Google's top […]

The economy is growing, the labor market is improving and inflation is nothing to worry about. That's the Federal Reserve's widely-anticipated assessment of the economy, released Wednesday after a two-day meeting.The Fed said it would keep interest rates at historic lows near zero and that it would continue its bond buying program, known as quantit […]

The economy is growing, the labor market is improving and inflation is nothing to worry about. That's the Federal Reserve's widely-anticipated assessment of the economy, released Wednesday after a two-day meeting.The Fed said it would keep interest rates at historic lows near zero and that it would continue its bond buying program, known as quantit […]

Country singer Slim Whitman, known for his yodeling skills and falsetto voice, died Wednesday of heart failure at age 90, his family said.Recent generations may know Whitman best from the musical hits collections he sold on television in the 1980s and the numerous jokes "Tonight Show" host Johnny Carson made at his expense. But he was a star long b […]

A missing elderly Kansas couple who set out on an eight-hour trip from Kansas to Illinois to visit family on Monday afternoon was found Wednesday afternoon in Mio, Mich., – about 400 miles from their original destination.“They took a wrong turn,” Garnett Police Chief Kevin Pekarek said.Vernon Hunt, 92, and his wife Goldie, 81, of Garnett, Kan. were reported […]

The Internal Revenue Service is about to pay $70 million in employee bonuses despite an Obama administration directive to cancel discretionary bonuses because of automatic spending cuts enacted this year, according to a GOP senator. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa says his office has learned that the IRS is executing an agreement with the employees' union o […]

Infections with the human papillomavirus tied to cervical cancer fell by more than half in U.S. teen girls after the HPV vaccine was introduced in 2006, despite high-profile controversy -- and low rates of uptake, a new study shows. Government health officials said Wednesday that the new data should encourage wider acceptance of the vaccine, which became a l […]

Prince William and Duchess Kate still aren’t revealing the gender of their first child – because they really don’t know, palace officials insisted Wednesday. New details about the highly anticipated birth of the new heir to the throne were disclosed by an official of St. James Palace. Duchess Kate, 31, is due in mid-July. The Palace said she will deliver her […]

FBI director Robert Mueller said Wednesday that the nation's top law enforcement bureau uses drones to conduct surveillance on U.S. soil, though only on a "very, very minimal basis."Mueller, the FBI director since 2001 who is set to retire this year, acknowledged that his agency uses drones in its investigative and law enforcement practices, a […]

“I've been doing combative stuff since I was born,” says Geordie Rose, leaning back in a chair in his small, windowless office in Burnaby, Canada, as he describes how he has spent most of his life making things difficult for himself. Until his early 20s, that meant an obsession with wrestling -- the sport that, he claims, provides the least reward for t […]

Physicists have resurrected a particle that may have existed in the first hot moments after the Big Bang. Arcanely called Z c (3900), it is the first confirmed particle made of four quarks, the building blocks of much of the Universe’s matter. [More]

Some things are uniquely Martian. And dry ice hovercraft may be one of them. [More]

California is set to pass a bill that would allow payments over and above 'direct expenses' to be made to women who donate eggs for research. The bill promises to increase the supply of eggs to scientists studying reproduction, but will not eliminate restrictions on research supported by the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) in S […]

This story was originally published by Inside Science News Service . [More]

Agricultural pesticides have been linked to widespread invertebrate biodiversity loss in two new research papers. [More]

Scientists investigating the transformation of wolves into dogs are behaving a bit like the animals they study, as disputes roil among those using genetics to understand dog domestication. [More]

Women who live in areas with polluted air are up to twice as likely to have an autistic child than those living in communities with cleaner air, according to a new study published today. [More]

Eye-tracking has become the tech trend du jour . Advertisers use data on where you look and when to better capture your attention. Designers employ it to improve products. Game and phone developers utilize it to offer the latest in hands-free interaction . [More]

There's a place in Austin, Texas, where the residents have agreed to be the test subjects for a renewable energy and smart grid future--and it's named after a nut. The Pecan Street demonstration project--part of the newly built 280-hectare neighborhood known as Mueller--has become the largest concentrated community of electric vehicle (EV) owners i […]

The Federal Reserve will continue its program of purchasing $85 billion in securities and will leave the target interest rate for federal funds untouched to support the U.S. economy, the U.S. central bank said in a policy update issued Wednesday afternoon.

A New York Federal District Court judge ruled that Fox Searchlight Pictures broke the law by not paying two interns for work on the film Black Swan. As a result, private employers may be considering revising their internship programs, or scrapping them altogether.

The National Potato Council wants potatoes to be allowed in a supplemental food program for low-income women and children at nutritional risk. But advocates for the program say the industry just wants to circumvent the scientific process that sets policy on nutrition.

Leanna Archer was just nine-years-old she began using her Haitian great-grandmother's recipe to sell homemade hair care products. Today, she's the CEO of a six-figure business. Guest host Celeste Headlee speaks with the now 17-year-old CEO about being a 'teenpreneur.'

Recycling old bottles into new bottles is surprisingly complex. We visited a recycling plant and a bottle factory to see the whole process.

Disney is trying something new. It's charging a higher admission price for the Magic Kingdom than its other theme parks in Orlando. A one-day pass to the Magic Kingdom now costs $95 — compared to $90 for Epcot, Animal Kingdom or Hollywood Studios.

Twenty percent of Netflix's streaming is made up of content for kids. Amazon just ordered a bunch of pilots of kids' shows. TV critic Eric Deggans says subscription streaming services are going to lean on parents' desire for control of what their kids watch as they build their audiences.

And now another chapter in our series on African-American lives. NPR conducted a poll of African Americans with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health. The survey found optimism but many respondents expressed fears about the economy.

One of the largest public works project in California history is struggling to re-gain public confidence amid construction delays and questions about whether the new bridge will be safe. A scheduled opening for Labor Day is in doubt as officials race to fix a series of bad bolts that were meant to keep the bridge secure in a catastrophic earthquake.

The Detroit automaker is now recalling more than 1.5 million Jeeps after earlier refusing to carry out the move. Chrysler initially denied any problem existed.

The conventional shorthand for the IRS scandal is that employees "targeted" conservative groups for extra scrutiny in the applications for tax-exempt status. Except, as an inspector general's report showed, it wasn't just conservative groups that got extra scrutiny. Plenty of liberal groups had to produce extensive documentation answer do […]

Profits for the nation's carmakers are on the rise, but after years of doing more with less, higher profits are unlikely to translate into significant numbers of new jobs. There are eight fewer plants and hundreds of thousands fewer workers in the industry than before the Great Recession.

More than 1,000 people were killed in the factory collapse in Bangladesh in April. Spanish companies were among those whose clothes were made at the facility. But there's a clash between the allure of low-cost fast fashion and consumer awareness of working conditions. A Spanish artist is doing her bit: She's drawing attention to workers' pligh […]

Members of Congress are pushing the Justice Department to preserve flights to small- and medium-sized cities from Reagan National Airport amid a review of the proposed merger of US Airways and American Airlines. Changes there could affect flights for lawmakers themselves.

The Internet makes collecting and even investing in art much more accessible to ordinary people. As part of his adventures in investing, NPR's Uri Berliner pays $450 for an abstract flower study he's only seen online. Is it an investment or a painting he's just happy to have hang on his wall?

The White House says the United States will arm Syrian rebels, but a new poll shows most Americans don't like the idea. Guest host Celeste Headlee speaks with Shadi Hamid of The Brookings Institution, about America's current and future involvement in Syria.

The martini has been called "the only American invention as perfect as the sonnet." But is this cocktail perfectly American? Maybe not entirely. In honor of National Martini Day, we decided to dig into the drink's muddled past.

Police in Canada say a man was driving 112 MPH on a highway south of Black Diamond, Alberta. In court, the man explained that he had just washed his car, and was simply speeding in order to dry it off.

Iran's newly elected president is signaling he might take a more pragmatic, moderate approach to nuclear negotiations with major world powers. But there's a lot of debate in Washington policy circles about what Hassan Rohani's election might mean for the U.S.

President Obama met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel Wednesday before giving a speech at Berlin's historic Brandenburg Gate. Fifty years ago next week, President Kennedy declared his support for the citizens of West Germany in his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech.

More than 1,000 people were killed in the factory collapse in Bangladesh in April. Spanish companies were among those whose clothes were made at the facility. But there's a clash between the allure of low-cost fast fashion and consumer awareness of working conditions. A Spanish artist is doing her bit: She's drawing attention to workers' pligh […]

The account has gained more than 100,000 followers worldwide in less than six months. Followers, who represent a wide variety of professions and religions, are convinced the language of the ancient Romans is perfectly suited to 21st century social media.

House Speaker John Boehner strongly suggested he would abide by the Hastert rule on immigration legislation, meaning no floor vote unless a majority of House Republicans backed the bill.

After police broke up the protests in Turkey's Taksim Square over the weekend, a new protest has sprung up — but this one is still and silent. A lone man stood motionless in the square for six hours overnight, and soon many others decided to join the "standing man."

President Obama didn't expect he'd need to have a "national conversation" about government data-gathering.

Revelations about U.S. surveillance programs have not only touched off a debate in America; they've also raised privacy questions in Europe, since big Internet companies operate in both places.

In the past decade, Mexico's tech industry has flourished, growing three times faster than the global average. Most of that growth has been fueled by demand from the United States. But as Mexico's startups strive to make it in foreign markets, they say they need more engineers and ways to finance their growth.

The Group of Eight summits can sometimes be a little short on real news. Perhaps that's why the British media was writing about Prime Minister David Cameron's decision to scrap his jacket and tie.

Twelve years after the war began, Afghanistan's president announced Tuesday that Afghan forces officially assumed control of security for the country. U.S. and NATO troops will remain until the 2014 deadline, but the Afghan military is now expected to fight without NATO support.

Nearly half of the 7,000 languages spoken in the world are expected to vanish in the next 100 years. One of them is Athabaskan, a language of the Siletz tribe in the Pacific Northwest. Bud Lane, vice chairman of Siletz tribal council, explains the importance of language diversity.

'How should we live?' is a basic philosophical question. In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast Dale Jamieson addresses the question in a period when human beings are having devastating effects on the environment. Which virtues should we cultivate in these conditions?

Most philosophers today self-identify as within an Analytic or a Continental tradition. Where did these two cultures of philosophy come from? What role does Continental Philosophy play for Analytic Philosophy? Simon Glendinning investigates these questions in conversation with Nigel Warburton in this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast.

Is there any reasonable objection to same sex marriage? Les Green discusses this controversial issue from a philosphical perspective with Nigel Warburton for this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast. 

Hitting someone, throwing a ball hard at someone's head, spitting at someone: these are all examples of harmful acts, called 'battery' in Tort Law, and most of us judge those who do such things without the victim's implied or actual consent as morally blameworthy. Could widespread aversion towards such acts be due to some kind of fundamen […]

Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan, published in 1651, remains one of the great works of political philosophy. Noel Malcolm has recently published a 3 volume scholarly edition of this book, based on decades of research. In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast he discusses how a better understanding of the context in which Hobbes was writing can lead to ne […]

Is there any connection between philosophy and running. Mark Rowlands, who began running to exercise his pet wolf thinks there is. Find out why in this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast, which was recorded at the 2013 'Words by the Water' Literary Festival at Keswick. Philosophy Bites is made in association with theInstitute of Philosophy. […]

What are constitutions and how are we to interpret them? John Gardner addresses these questions in conversation with Nigel Warburton in this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast. Philosophy Bites is made in assocation with the Institute of Philosophy.

What is a hallucination? How does it differ from an illusion? Fiona Macpherson of Glasgow University discusses these questions with Nigel Warburton in this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast. Philosophy Bites is made in association with the Institute of Philosophy.

Jeff McMahan argues against the private ownership of guns in this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast. Philosophy Bites is made in association with the Institute of Philosophy.

Descartes believed that we can have knowledge that was independent of experience. In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast Colin McGinn makes a case for there being some such knowledge. Philosophy Bites is made in association with the Institute of Philosophy.

The martini has been called "the only American invention as perfect as the sonnet." But is this cocktail perfectly American? Maybe not entirely. In honor of National Martini Day, we decided to dig into the drink's muddled past.

Claes Oldenburg is one of the best-known American pop artists. Critic Lloyd Schwartz found himself not alone in enjoying the current Oldenburg exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art, which continues through Aug. 5.

How did we get all the way to World War Z?

What do you do with something that seems designed only to offend? Ignore it, or say something?

Also: The folly of marathon readings; Tom Wolfe has a new book; VICE apologizes for tasteless photo spread.

Maggie O'Farrell's new novel, Instructions for a Heatwave, follows a troubled Irish Catholic family in London over the course of four scorching July days in 1976. Reviewer Heller McAlpin says Heatwave is a beautiful book about "the importance of forgiving those you love."

The Internet makes collecting and even investing in art much more accessible to ordinary people. As part of his adventures in investing, NPR's Uri Berliner pays $450 for an abstract flower study he's only seen online. Is it an investment or a painting he's just happy to have hang on his wall?

Apricots are the finest of summer's fruits, with dense, juicy flesh and delicate, velvety skins. That's why it is so disheartening when you bite into one, only to find it is mealy and flavorless. To find the best ones, head to your local farmers market.

Now in its third year, the "... Our Parts" festival at Theater Breaking Through Barriers runs through June 28. Here and across the country, artists with disabilities are making drama (and comedy) in illuminating ways.

The city of London boasts centuries of architectural history. But a building boom is threatening the city's traditionally low-rise aesthetic and the views of some of that history. Critics — including UNESCO — are very worried about London's changing skyline.

Lauren Beukes' new thriller The Shining Girls traces a time-traveling serial killer as he jumps through the decades, pursued by the only one of his victims to survive. Critic Alan Cheuse calls the book "a frightening journey in time and punishment."

We've gotten our hands on an exclusive excerpt from the sequel to the Superman smash (by making it up ourselves).

It's finally summer and for many kids that means swimming, video games and vacations. But a lot of parents hope their kids will to do some extra reading during the break. Host Michel Martin is joined by three moms in the literary world with summer book suggestions

The 23-year-old jazz phenom's debut album showcases her takes on vintage jazz and blues numbers by Bessie Smith, Fats Waller and others. You can trace some of her effects back to jazz greats like Sarah Vaughan, Betty Carter and Abbey Lincoln.

The anonymous book sculptor of Edinburgh strikes again; the childhood drawings of E.E. Cummings; Jonathan Franzen on literary sexism.

What do you do with something that seems designed only to offend? Ignore it, or say something?

In baseball, golf and tennis in particular, we are being slowly lulled to sleep before every pitch, every shot. Hurry up already, says commentator Frank Deford.

Apricots are the finest of summer's fruits, with dense, juicy flesh and delicate, velvety skins. That's why it is so disheartening when you bite into one, only to find it is mealy and flavorless. To find the best ones, head to your local farmers market.

We've gotten our hands on an exclusive excerpt from the sequel to the Superman smash (by making it up ourselves).

Is it really possible that the civilizations that grew up in the "other" hemisphere have nothing useful to say about value, the categories of experience or the nature of mind? No. Luckily, we may be on the cusp of a new global era for philosophy.

There was a time — a time long, long ago — when MySpace dominated the teen social-media world. Not anymore. NPR's Sami Yenigun looks at how teenagers use various social platforms in today's increasingly segmented online universe.

Listener Rachel Sumner of Ithaca, N.Y., recounts the story of her bat-infested trip to Ecuador for our series on vacation horror stories. A bat in her hotel room would keep returning no matter how many times she captured it and took it out. She had to get rabies shots and now has no sympathy for bats.

For this week's Sandwich Monday, we try "The T-Rex Burger," a nine-patty monster that, until this week, had been on the menu of a renegade Canadian Wendy's franchise.

Academic philosophy is an outlier within the humanities, with fewer than 20 percent of full-time faculty positions occupied by women. Commentator Tania Lombrozo discusses some recent findings that might help us understand why.

What do you expect when you ask a terrible question in a ridiculous setting?

The NFL has a new bag policy that won't allow camera bags, seat cushions, or — gasp! — purses.

Adventure Time isn't your typical cartoon, but it's capturing an audience of kids and adults who believe it's getting at something special.

In the first few months after reporter Joanna Kakissis' family moved to the U.S., her father bought a junky, gigantic gold Oldsmobile for $200. Kakissis says Old Goldie was hard to love, but she was a symbol of the good life her father wanted to make for them.

We tend to think we have our parents figured out, but we often don't. Reporter Monique Parsons knew her dad as a mild-mannered avocado farmer who rarely strayed from home. On this Father's Day, Parsons tells the story of how she discovered that her father was actually a fearless pilot.

The fictional tale about war correspondents will make you laugh till the person next to you on the subway thinks you have problems. It is also, according to writer Alexander Nazaryan, an all-too-real parody of the glory days of print journalism.

The Federal Reserve will continue its program of purchasing $85 billion in securities and will leave the target interest rate for federal funds untouched to support the U.S. economy, the U.S. central bank said in a policy update issued Wednesday afternoon.

A New York Federal District Court judge ruled that Fox Searchlight Pictures broke the law by not paying two interns for work on the film Black Swan. As a result, private employers may be considering revising their internship programs, or scrapping them altogether.

And now another chapter in our series on African-American lives. NPR conducted a poll of African Americans with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health. The survey found optimism but many respondents expressed fears about the economy.

Profits for the nation's carmakers are on the rise, but after years of doing more with less, higher profits are unlikely to translate into significant numbers of new jobs. There are eight fewer plants and hundreds of thousands fewer workers in the industry than before the Great Recession.

The Internet makes collecting and even investing in art much more accessible to ordinary people. As part of his adventures in investing, NPR's Uri Berliner pays $450 for an abstract flower study he's only seen online. Is it an investment or a painting he's just happy to have hang on his wall?

Amazon ends the contracts of people and businesses that are paid for sending customers to the retailer. The company has taken similar steps in other states that have passed laws like Minnesota's new sales tax legislation.

One in five consumers has an error on their credit report, according to the Federal Trade Commission. How can you keep from being one of them? Host Michel Martin speaks with Louis Barajas, personal finance expert, about the steps you can take to make sure your credit report is on the up and up.

A civil lawsuit that shifted into U.S. district court in Idaho last week alleges that the United Potato Growers of America has become a veritable OPEC of spuds. The group is accused of using high-tech, strong-arm tactics to inflate potato prices.

President Obama celebrated the unlikely peace process in Northern Ireland on Monday, before attending a G-8 summit where much of the talk is about war in Syria.

Economists hope the leaders of major economies gathering in Northern Ireland will discuss expanding global trade. Since interest rates can't be lowered much further, analysts say, trade will be a key catalyst for growth.

More than 40,000 scientists in Spain have signed a petition calling on their government to freeze budget cuts blamed for an exodus of the country's best and brightest researchers. As the Spanish government struggles to avoid a bailout, it has cut the number of university jobs and research grants.

The bond market has pushed interest to the highest levels in 15 months, and that includes mortgage rates. David Greene talks to David Wessel, economics editor at The Wall Street Journal, about rising interest rates.

As lawmakers consider a sweeping immigration bill, they are taking a close look at a decades-old exchange program popular with foreigners looking for summer jobs. Critics of the J-1 visa program say it can hurt U.S. job seekers at a time when youth unemployment is at 25 percent.

In music, as in so many industries, the lion's share of the money now goes to a relative handful of top performers, says White House economic adviser Alan Krueger. He says the music business offers valuable lessons about America's "superstar economy."

Question: If the median price for a single-family home in Massachusetts is $313,000 and two Boston parking spaces sell for $560,000, how many other spaces does the buyer already have? Answer: Three.

A New York Federal District Court judge ruled that Fox Searchlight Pictures broke the law by not paying two interns for work on the film Black Swan. As a result, private employers may be considering revising their internship programs, or scrapping them altogether.

House Speaker John Boehner strongly suggested he would abide by the Hastert rule on immigration legislation, meaning no floor vote unless a majority of House Republicans backed the bill.

The court filing comes one week after Google asked the U.S. government's permission to provide the public with information about the national security requests it receives.

Did a 10-pound bag of potatoes really cost $15 back in 2008? We get to the bottom of some puzzling numbers in the lawsuit alleging America's potato growers have become a spud cartel.

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that Arizona has no right to demand documents proving citizenship when people register to vote. In a 7-2 decision, the court said the National Voter Registration Act trumps state law. At the same time, the court told Arizona officials how to get what they want, anyway.

After the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, states have taken steps to limit gun access for people with mental illness. In Connecticut, a new law requires psychiatric hospitals to report anyone who is voluntarily admitted, so the state can revoke any gun licenses they may hold. Some in the mental health community say it could prevent people from seek […]

President Obama says federal judges have been "overseeing" the recently exposed government surveillance programs. But few, if any, experts in the Bush or Obama administrations believe that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has the enforcement teeth it once had.

The case dates from April of 2012, when a female midshipman reported that she had been sexually assaulted by three men after she went to a party in Annapolis. The men have not been identified publicly.

The Supreme Court struck down an Arizona law that required proof of citizenship to register to vote. But while celebrating a victory, voting-rights organizations are still waiting for the superstar voting case of the current term: a challenge to the Voting Rights Act.

Paula Cooper admitted to killing a Bible studies teacher as part of a robbery in 1985. Back then, Cooper was 15 — and she was 16 when she was sentenced to die.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday struck down Arizona's requirement that prospective voters provide proof of citizenship to register to vote. But some experts are concerned that the court may have inserted a few "poison pills" in its opinion that would damage voting rights protections down the road.

The Supreme Court sided with government regulators in an important case involving the pharmaceutical industry and patent law. At issue were contracts between "brand-name" pharmaceutical companies and "generic" producers in which the brand-name company paid the generic not to compete. The court said the Federal Trade Commission could chall […]

The Supreme Court ruled in June that police can routinely take DNA samples from people who are arrested for comparison against a national database. The decision raises major questions about how law enforcement and criminal justice processes will change.

The Supreme Court is weighing a decision on Abigail Fisher's affirmative action case against the University of Texas. Host Michel Martin speaks with ProPublica writer Nikole Hannah-Jones about Fisher's motivation and what's behind the landmark case.

The 2004 law required voters to submit documentation proving citizenship. The court decided the state has to abide by the norm set up by the federal government.

The account has gained more than 100,000 followers worldwide in less than six months. Followers, who represent a wide variety of professions and religions, are convinced the language of the ancient Romans is perfectly suited to 21st century social media.

As the Supreme Court prepares to rule on two cases involving same-sex marriage, a new documentary takes a look at what same-sex marriage means for African-Americans. Host Michel Martin speaks with Yoruba Richen, the director of The New Black to find out what inspired the film.

There is no more graphic example of the daunting challenges facing Pakistan's new prime minister than the bloody events playing out in the west of his nation. The fractured country is as threatened as ever by forces committed to its destruction.

Breaking the norms of faith isn't always easy — especially for Orthodox Jews. But Ruth Balinsky Friedman wants to take up the traditionally male-dominated role of faith leader. She speaks with host Michel Martin about what a woman can bring to the position.

The company sent the pope two motorcycles and a leather jacket. The occasion is a gathering of bikers in Vatican City this weekend hoping for a blessing of the motorbikes.

Pope Francis has surprised many with his candor in the early days of his papacy. In recent remarks, he reportedly acknowledged a so-called gay lobby in the Vatican. The pope's words are being interpreted as part of a broader effort to re-examine the way the Vatican is run.

The council of rabbis that regulates everything connected with Jewish religious law in Israel now wants to change the shape of bourekas, a type of stuffed pastry popular among Israelis. The move is aimed at helping people keep kosher. But if the rabbis succeed, says one cafe owner, "there really is no limit to their power."

At the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, a resolution is adopted condemning the Boy Scouts of America's decision to allow openly gay boys to become Scouts. The resolution stops short of requiring member churches to break with the organization.

His comments are an apparent confirmation of reports in Italian media that the Vatican denied in February.

Some churches have said they will end their affiliation with the Boy Scouts after its decision to allow openly gay members to join. Others, including Southern Baptists, are considering their next move. Another group plans to hold a meeting in Louisville later this month with parents who say they want a more Christian organization for their children.

Only four American League clubs have a winning record in this situation – Baltimore, Oakland, Seattle and Texas – while six National League teams are above .500 when coming off a game and travel the night before – Atlanta, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, M...

Washington Nationals starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg is one of the worst bets in the MLB this season.

The Cleveland Indians are turning a nice little profit on the moneyline but are a catastrophe on the runline.

Check out our quick-hitting betting notes on Monday’s National League games:

Check out our quick-hitting betting notes on Monday’s American League action:

American League teams were a smoking hot under bet last week, going 27-61-6 over/under.