By MARTHA BRYSON HODEL / Associated Press Writer HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) — To most West Virginians, a language barrier is nothing more serious than trying to decide whether someone’s “y’all” was meant to be singular or plural. But even in West Virginia, with a population that is 94.6 percent native-born white residents, the need for…

By WILL LESTER / Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — A majority of people living in the two countries bordering the United States and in five major European countries say they think the war in Iraq increased the threat of terrorism in the world, Associated Press polls found. In the United States, people were evenly…

By ROBERT BURNS / AP Military Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — There is a growing consensus among senior American officials that while Saddam Hussein loyalists remain a threat to the U.S. effort to stabilize Iraq, the most lethal enemy is now a shadowy, hard-to-define web of foreign terrorists and Islamic extremists. L. Paul Bremer, the top…

By ANGELA K. BROWN / Associated Press Writer CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) — Some families are boycotting Thin Mints and Do-Si-Dos and other Girl Scout cookies. Troop 7527 is down to just two members after the other girls were withdrawn by their parents. And Brownie Troop 7087 is no more. Why are folks in this conservative…

By JULIANA BARBASSA / Associated Press Writer CUTLER, Calif. (AP) — Farm worker Iris Caballero often has a hard time keeping the refrigerator and cupboard stocked with food. Yet, she’s overweight and diabetic. She is a classic example of a modern-day paradox: as reliable access to healthy food declines, the likelihood of being overweight goes…

By JEANNINE AVERSA / Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Factories hummed and consumers kept cash registers busy in the first two months of this year, fresh evidence that the economic recovery is moving ahead, according to a Federal Reserve report released Wednesday. “Economic activity continued to expand in January and February,” the Fed said…

By JEANNINE AVERSA / Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s business executives are hopeful about the economic recovery’s staying power, with many expecting sales to increase in the next six months, according to a survey released Wednesday. The Business Roundtable’s quarterly survey found that 88 percent of the chief executive officers polled were predicting…

By MICHAEL GORMLEY / Associated Press Writer ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Remember all those gifts you bought online during the holidays? Now it’s time to pay sales tax on them, at least so say the income tax forms of 20 states. The latest to outstretch that revenue-seeking hand are New York and California, which this…

By KRISTEN WYATT / Associated Press Writer ATLANTA (AP) — So you don’t have time to stop at a gas station every day and play the lottery. How about setting up an online account where you could use a credit card to automatically play your favorite numbers? Georgia is considering a first-in-the-nation online lottery, a…

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