Spencer resident and Van Buren County native Lela D. Bouldin Hale, 89, died May 20 at Generations of Spencer after an extended illness.A homemaker and a member of Mt. Elim Baptist Church, she was the daughter of Zenith Davis and Vernie Brimer Phillips; and was preceded in death by husbands, George Delong and James Bouldin.…

Knoxville resident Dorothy E. (Dot) Pearson, 77, died May 19 at Parkwest Hospital after an extended illness.A member of Smithwood Baptist Church, she was preceded in death by her husband, Jack W. Pearson.She is survived by son, Michael Pearson; daughter and son-in-law, Patti and Royce Davenport of McMinnville; son and daughter-in-law, Allan and Gloria Pearson…

LIVERMORE, Calif. (AP) — Ed Moses talks of the “grand challenge” that has consumed him for the past five years, comparing it to trying to hit the strike zone with a baseball from 350 miles away or tossing a dime into a parking meter from 40 miles. “That’s the precision we have to have,” says…

WASHINGTON (AP) — State-by-state information on sex offenders will be available on a new Internet site run by the federal government. Participation by states is voluntary. The Justice Department said it hoped to have the site up and running within two months. The announcement by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Friday coincided with National Missing…

ROBERT, La. (AP) — For the Rev. Louis Husser, the struggle over prayer in public schools is between his folk and outsiders, it is about values, and it is very simple. “The ACLU defends pedophiles,” says the pastor of Crossgate Church. “You have to understand where they’re coming from.” Husser sees education, like most everything…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is torn between confrontation and compromise when it comes to President Bush’s judicial nominees and its own filibuster rules, the tug of party loyalty up against high-minded talk of the Constitution and trust among senators. Whatever the outcome, the future makeup of the Supreme Court is at stake. The dispute,…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Heather Wilson, the only female veteran in Congress, said Friday she will try to kill a provision in a defense bill that would limit the role of women in ground combat zones. “It’s both unnecessary and unhelpful,” said Wilson, a New Mexico Republican and a veteran of the Air Force. The…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health officials are revising the draft of a Medicare handbook to give a more clear explanation of new rules on benefits, particularly on prescription drugs, before it is sent to millions of elderly Americans. “The handbook goes out in the fall to all Medicare beneficiaries,” said Gary Karr, a spokesman for…

NEW YORK (AP) — Ellen DeGeneres swept the Daytime Emmy awards, winning best talk show host for the first time while “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” picked up best talk show honors for the second straight year. “Oh, man, I love my job,” DeGeneres said Friday night during the ceremony at Radio City Music Hall. “It’s…

By DAVID BAUDER / AP Television Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Here’s some advice to television viewers who want to know what next fall’s season will be like: Be afraid, be very afraid. Be afraid of poisonous spiders crawling over your face while you sleep; of aliens invading human bodies or landing in a spaceship…