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SAN DIEGO - A suspected pipe bomb exploded at a federal courthouse in downtown San Diego early Sunday, damaging the front entrance and blowing out a window, authorities said. No injuries were reported.

Few people were around the building, which is a block from nightclubs in the Gaslamp Quarter, when the powerful blast also damaged the lobby area of the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Courthouse about 1:40 a.m., said FBI spokeswoman April Langwell.

The bomb was reported by two guards in the building, who w...   Read More >>

Actor Tom Hanks, in a no-nosense way, writes and delivers his endorsement statement for Barack Obama.

Hanks lays out what he believes reasons that Americans should cast a vote for presidential candidate Obama.

In Tom Hanks' fashion, he succinctly spells out his reasons, announces that he "wrote and approves the message," alerts viewers that he's going to turn off the camera, and walks out.

No pun intended...a Kodak moment.

NEW YORK (AP) — A Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by Linens 'n Things is the latest sign that the retail sector is becoming leaner and meaner amid a difficult consumer environment.

On Friday, the bedding and home-furnishing retailer filed a petition in bankruptcy court in Delaware and said it would close 120 underperforming stores, almost a quarter of them in California.

Ken Perkins, president of research company RetailMetrics LLC, said the bankruptcy stems from a combination of operating issues and the lagging economy.

"There's clearly a shakeout going on in the retail industry which will continue through the rest of the year," he said. "I think the weaker players are going to be in difficult shape here."

The Clifton, N.J.-based company said economic factors such as the...   Read More >>

The rapid pace of the 2008 White House hunt has sparked a separate hard-fought contest among candidates -- for endorsements from members of Congress. The Hill will maintain a running tally of the race for lawmaker support based on extensive research and daily contact with campaigns. The list reflects publicly committed backers of 2008 presidential hopefuls rather than members' private leanings or inclinations.

House Democrats continued to expand their majority Saturday night after Louisiana state Rep. Don Cazayoux emerged victorious in a special election for retired Rep. Richard Baker’s (R) district.

The win comes two months after Democrats picked up their first seat of the year. In March, Democrat Bill Foster won the Illinois seat of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R). That seat, like the Louisiana contest, was in solidly Republican areas. President Bush carried the Illinois district with 55 percent and the Louisiana district with 59 percent in 2004.

Cazayoux benefited f...   Read More >>

Amid the controversy over Wright, they say it's time to return to the real issues of the campaign: The war in Iraq, rising joblessness and the mortgage crisis

By Margaret Ramirez | Tribune reporter

10:07 PM CDT, May 2, 2008

Concerned about possible harm Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. did to Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign, 30 respected local African-American pastors came together Friday to support the Illinois senator.

The pastors, who represent the Pentecostal, Baptist and Episcopal faiths, gathered at historic Quinn Chapel A.M...   Read More >>

Posted May 2, 2008 – At North Dakota State University , where about 1 percent of the student body is African American, officials are pondering the proper response for a campus group that performed a blackface skit of Barack Obama getting a lap dance.

"We're trying to find out the right approaches for accountability, but at the same time try to heal wounds that have occurred and allow the campus to move ahead," Janna Stoskopf, the student dean told The Associated Press.

During the March 18 skit by the university’s Saddle and Sirloin Club at the Mr. NDSU Pageant, a contestant, dressed as the Obama Girl Internet celebrity performed a striptease for another student with his face blackened and donning an afro wig. In the background, AP reports, two other male students simulated anal sex while holding...   Read More >>

A bookkeeper and 37-year-old mother in California dreams of becoming a volcanologist, while a 48-year- old District of Columbia attorney wants a new career in real estate development. In Tennessee, a former Army enlistee and 26-year-old father of five sees financial planning in his future. All three are in graduate school.

Today's grad student typically starts an advanced- degree program long after the traditional undergraduate-to-graduate student has finished. Nearly half of all grad students enroll between ages 24 and 35, according to the Council of Graduate Schools; one-quarter start at age 36 or older. Most have real-world work experience. About a third are raising children. This is the new face of graduate school. But it is more than just a demographic shift.

As U.S. News & World Report details in its ra...   Read More >>

(03-29) 13:26 PDT SAN JOSE - -- Former Gov. Jerry Brown dropped a broad hint Saturday to more than 1,000 Democratic activists that he's looking at a run for governor in 2010.

"I don't do much today but sue people," the attorney general told the delegates at the state Democratic convention in San Jose. "But hopefully someday I'll get around to doing a little more than that and maybe you'll help me."

Brown downplayed the statement in an interview after his speech, but didn't deny he's interested in an unprecedented third term.

"You can't...   Read More >>

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s cash-strapped presidential campaign has been putting off paying hundreds of bills for months — freeing up cash for critical media buys, but also earning the campaign a reputation as something of a deadbeat in some small business circles.

A pair of Ohio companies owed more than $25,000 by Clinton for staging events for her campaign are warning others in the tight-knit event production community — and anyone else who will listen — to get their cash upfront when doing business with her. Her campaign, say representatives of the two companies, has stopped re...   Read More >>