WASHINGTON (AP) - Researchers have concluded U.S. crime laboratories need an overhaul because they lack strict and consistent scientific standards.
The authors of the report say the lack of consistent standards raises the possibility that the quality of forensic evidence presented in court can vary unpredictably ...

Taxpayers often wonder where their money goes, is it really having an effect on education today?
On Tuesday, Feb. 24 from 7:45 a.m. to noon, Heritage High School in Vancouver opens the school doors to community patrons for their annual Community Connections Day ...

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- College sports took a step backward last year in their efforts to promote diversity in hiring practices, according to a report released Thursday.
The NCAA's grades declined in 2008 in the study by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida. College athletics received the lowest grade of any of the sports researched ...

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe told reporters Thursday he doesn't see why the arrest of a longtime rival has made news around the world and strained relations with his new governing partners.
Mugabe's first public comments about Roy Bennett's case show the gulf between his ZANU-PF party and the Movement for Democratic Change, longtime opponents now trying to work together to rescue Zimbabwe from economic collapse.
"The issue of Roy Bennett is making headlines worldwide. I wonder why?" Mugabe said Thursday ...

Rosanna White and her mother Joy Ruplinger, in Washington D.C. to attend the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

A friend joked to me, prior to the inauguration, that I was on the "Obama Trail." I have traveled to Hawaii, Chicago, New York and Washington DC in the last month.   I went to college in Kansas and on Jan. 11 will depart for Indonesia on the final leg of my travels (for rest and rejuvenation).  It's a simple coincidence.  However, upon considering my travels in that light, I gained a new perspective. . . . 

HGTV's reality TV series, "My First Place," is back for a sixth season and coming to Portland, and surrounding areas to film first-time homebuyers as they journey through the trials and tribulations of looking for, bidding on, and buying their first place.
Each half-hour episode features people making their dream of homeownership a reality.
Producers of the show are looking for future homebuyers who are . . .

With budget cuts threatening services for many Washington residents, advocates for the homeless and low-income in Clark County will join hundreds from all over the state on Housing Advocacy Day on Feb. 24.
 "Even though the state is in a financial bind, most of us want to protect the most vulnerable among us and make sure that some cuts do not cost communities and local governments more than they save," said Sharon Wylie, board president of the Council for the Homeless.
"Some of the proposed funding cuts could put more people in jails and emergency rooms and more children on the street instead of in school" . . .

NEW YORK (AP) _ The head of the nation's oldest civil rights organization on Saturday urged readers to boycott the New York Post, calling a cartoon the tabloid published an invitation to assassinate the president.
Earlier this week, the newspaper apologized to anyone who might have been offended by the image, which some say likens President Barack Obama to a violent chimpanzee gunned down by police in Connecticut.
But the apology wasn't good enough for the NAACP, and President Benjamin Todd Jealous said the cartoon printed Wednesday was "an invitation to assassination.'' . . .

CAIRO (AP) _ Sudan's president is seeking Egypt's help to "delay or halt'' the International Criminal Court from issuing an arrest warrant for his role in suppressing the Darfur rebellion, Sudan's ambassador to Cairo said Sunday. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir traveled to Cairo and held talks with his Egyptian counterpart about Darfur, where a six-year rebellion by ethnic Africans against the Arab-dominated government has claimed 300,000 lives. . . .

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama has committed hundreds of billions of dollars to help revive the economy and is working on a plan to cut the federal deficit in half by the end of his first term. . . . an administration official Saturday, speaking on condition of anonymity because the president has not yet released his budget for the fiscal year 2010, which begins Oct. 1, said the deficit will be shrunk by scaling back Iraq war spending, ending the temporary tax breaks enacted by the Bush administration for those making $250,000 or more a year, and streamlining government. . . .