By LINDA A. JOHNSON / Associated Press Writer Runners, hikers, bikers, even soldiers on long maneuvers should think twice before reaching for that water bottle: A study confirms that drinking too much can be dangerous, even deadly, for endurance athletes. Researchers who studied 488 runners in the 2002 Boston Marathon found that 62, or more…

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 10,000 fugitives, many wanted for violent crimes, were rounded up over the past week in a coordinated nationwide effort led by U.S. marshals, law enforcement officials announced Thursday. Officers from 960 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies took part in the search, which coincided with Crime Victims Rights Week.…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Money for homeland security efforts has been coming into Tennessee for years, but U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. says there’s no solid sense how prepared the state is for a terrorist attack. “The fear is … over the last few years as we’ve spent this money, we have no idea how prepared…

NASHVILLE (AP) — A federal appeals court Thursday upheld a Tennessee law preventing retail optical stores from leasing space in their facilities to optometrists. National retailers LensCrafters, U.S. Vision, Cole Vision Corp. and trade association, the National Association of Optometrists and Opticians, had earlier unsuccessfully challenged the 1967 Tennessee law in U.S. District Court in…

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper believes tax time provides a perfect opportunity to urge Americans to save more, and he hopes to convince the Internal Revenue Service that he is right. Cooper was one of a dozen lawmakers — three from Tennessee — who sent a letter to IRS Commissioner Mark Everson earlier…

State Sen. John Ford, D-Memphis (AP) NASHVILLE (AP) — Major ethics reform aimed squarely at the criticism swirling around beleaguered Sen. John Ford unanimously cleared the Senate Thursday, but not before Ford accused colleagues of “suffering from a seared conscience of shame.” The sweeping legislation makes it a crime for public officials, ranging from city…

The Tennessean (Nashville) Pharmacists, like all other Americans, have a right to their own personal views, but they shouldn’t have the right to interject their views into a health-care decision made between a doctor and a patient.A bill called the Pharmacists Freedom of Conscience Act now in the General Assembly would allow pharmacists to refuse…

The Jackson Sun House lawmakers have the right idea about creating an independent ethics committee to deal with future breaches of House rules. If we’ve learned anything from the mess created by Sen. John Ford, D-Memphis, it’s that a little independence is exactly what’s needed. But House members need to move carefully in creating this…

By Morton Kondracke / Columnist Despite massive agitation for a restrictionist immigration policy, a new poll shows surprising support for proposals to allow foreigners and illegal immigrants to obtain work permits and earn their way to citizenship.The poll, by GOP pollster Ed Goeas and Democrat Celinda Lake, ought to encourage President Bush to push for…

By Nat Hentoff / Columnist While Terri Schiavo was still breathing, most media polls assured us that at least 60 percent of Americans felt her feeding tube should be removed according to her wishes, as declared by her husband, Michael.One of the most widely circulated telephone polls was the ABC News poll. Its interviewers told…