By JESSE J. HOLLAND / Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The demise of Republican gun legislation in the Senate and a stalemate over renewing the assault-style weapons ban thrusts gun control squarely into the fall presidential campaign, both sides in the debate say. The Senate voted 90-8 on Tuesday to scuttle a GOP-sponsored bill…

By DAVID ESPO / AP Special Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) — Every Tuesday has been good for John Kerry this primary season. This one was super. With a string of smashing primary victories, the Massachusetts senator transformed himself from Democratic front-runner to nominee-in-waiting of a party united in its desire to defeat President Bush. Even before…

By CALVIN WOODWARD / Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — John Kerry laid claim to the Democratic presidential nomination after a decisive round of primary and caucus victories cleared the field for a feisty head-to-head battle against President Bush — a struggle already in motion. Kerry’s New York-to-California victories in the 10-state Super Tuesday series…

Rock Island resident and Warren County native Berry Clark (Bo) Lavender, 52, died Feb. 25 at River Park Hospital after an extended illness.An employee of Rock Island State Park in campground management, A U.S. Army veteran and a member of Friendship Baptist Church, he was the son of the late Joe A. and Christine Kuhn…

McMinnville resident and Warren County native Raymond Lee Cartwright, 70, died Feb. 28 at River Park Hospital after an extended illness.A retired employee of Batesville Casket Company and a member of the VFW Honor Guard, he served his country in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean and Vietnam Wars and was in the Air…

McMinnville resident and Warren County native Ottolyne Cartwright Barnes, 79, died Feb. 29 at her home after an extended illness.A homemaker and a member of the Church of Christ, she was the daughter of Lee and Lillie Belle McGee Cartwright, and was preceded in death by her husband, James Vernon Barnes in 1983, and brother,…

By MICHAEL P. REGAN / Associated Press Writer NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. soldiers in Iraq have new gear for dispersing hostile crowds and warding off potential enemy combatants. It blasts earsplitting noise in a directed beam. The equipment, called a Long Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD, is a so-called “non-lethal weapon” developed after the…

By ZEINA KARAM / Associated Press Writer BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Reality TV has burst upon the Arab world, drawing huge audiences but firing up conservative outrage over the spectacle of young men and women flirting, hugging and dancing under one roof. Young people from Iraq and Syria to Egypt, Kuwait and Yemen love these…

By DANIEL YEE / Associated Press Writer ATLANTA (AP) — Parents of cranky children with ear infections be warned. Antibiotics may no longer be what the doctor orders. Two leading medical groups are expected to recommend this spring that doctors stop treating most ear infections in children with antibiotics, federal health officials said Tuesday. The…

By LAURAN NEERGAARD / AP Medical Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term use of estrogen slightly increases women’s risk of a stroke and possibly of dementia, the government said Tuesday, halting the nation’s last major study of the hormone a year early because of the safety concern. Using estrogen alone — as roughly 5.6 million women…