Nation

Friday, July 3 BOSTON (AP) -- Vanguard Group shareholders on Thursday rejected an activist proposal that would have required the mutual fund company to adopt stricter screening of investments that may be linked to genocide in international hot spots like Sudan's Darfur region.   Full Story

Friday, July 3 WASHINGTON (AP) -- Like many unemployed older workers, 64-year old Allan Kellum fears his age has made it harder to find a new job.   Full Story

Friday, July 3 Obama: Cold War is over WASHINGTON (AP) -- Days from his first Moscow summit, President Barack Obama declared Thursday that former Russian President Vladimir Putin "still has a lot of sway" in his nation and needs an in-person reminder the Cold War is over.   Full Story

Friday, July 3 WASHINGTON (AP) -- Americans who refuse to buy affordable medical coverage could be hit with fines of more than $1,000 under a health care overhaul bill unveiled Thursday by key Senate Democrats looking to fulfill President Barack Obama's top domestic priority.   Full Story

Wednesday, July 1 NEW YORK (AP) -- A person familiar with the investigation into disgraced financier Bernard Madoff (MAY'-dawf) says 10 more people will be charged by the time the probe is complete.   Full Story

Wednesday, July 1 WASHINGTON (AP) -- Risky bank policies that contributed to the financial crisis were as common in neighborhood branches as they were on Wall Street, according to a labor-backed coalition that will propose new reforms Tuesday.   Full Story

Wednesday, July 1 WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court won't stop the state of New Hampshire from making doctors' prescription-writing habits confidential over the objection of companies who analyze and sell that information.   Full Story

Wednesday, July 1 ORANGE, Va. -- Actor Robert Duval, filmmaker Ken Burns and some of the nation's most esteemed historians have defended a Civil War battlefield against Wal-Mart's plans to build a Supercenter near its boundaries.   Full Story

Wednesday, July 1 LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Michael Jackson's family moved quickly Monday to take control of his complicated personal and financial affairs, winning temporary custody of his three children and asking a judge to name the King of Pop's mother as administrator of his estate.   Full Story

Wednesday, July 1 Madoff sentenced to 150 years NEW YORK (AP) -- A federal judge rejected Bernard Madoff's plea for leniency Monday, sentencing the 71-year-old swindler to spend the rest of his life in prison for an "extraordinarily evil" fraud that took a "staggering toll" on thousands of victims.   Full Story

Wednesday, July 1 WASHINGTON (AP) -- Dust in the wind is rewriting the cycle of life in the mountains.   Full Story

Wednesday, July 1 WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal judge who issued a groundbreaking order allowing military detainees in Afghanistan to go to U.   Full Story

Tuesday, June 30 PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- Sen. Olympia Snowe, a key figure in shaping federal health care legislation, said Monday that a government-run plan that would take effect if the private insurance market fails to deliver affordable coverage could bridge the partisan divide that threatens to derail President Barack Obama's efforts to reform the system.   Full Story

Tuesday, June 30 LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Michael Jackson's family moved quickly Monday to take control of his complicated personal and financial affairs, winning temporary custody of his three children and asking a judge to name the King of Pop's mother as administrator of his estate.   Full Story

Tuesday, June 30 Madoff sentenced to 150 years NEW YORK (AP) -- A federal judge rejected Bernard Madoff's plea for leniency Monday, sentencing the 71-year-old swindler to spend the rest of his life in prison for an "extraordinarily evil" fraud that took a "staggering toll" on thousands of victims.   Full Story