WASHINGTON (AP) — Before they can even read, almost one in four children in nursery school is learning a skill that even some adults have yet to master: using the Internet. Some 23 percent of children in nursery school — kids age 3, 4 or 5 — have gone online, according to the Education Department.…

WASHINGTON (AP) — What do you get when you divide 435 members of the U.S. House by 21 committees? The answer: Four stumped mathematicians. What started as a simple project by a Georgia Institute of Technology student has unleashed a whole new set of questions — and a handful of answers — concerning an emerging…

By JUSTIN POPE / AP Education Writer Nothing has come easy for Juretha Phillips as she worked to earn her college degree while battling health problems. But few obstacles have proven more frustrating than trying to get credit for community college courses she’s completed, now that she’s ready to transfer to a four-year school. “I’ll…

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A church whose pastor was criticized last month for displaying a sign calling for the Quran to be “flushed” has withdrawn from the Southern Baptist Convention. Pastor Creighton Lovelace did not immediately return calls Friday, but in a phone message left at his church in Forest City, about 65 miles west…

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Vice President Dick Cheney on Friday lauded and thanked international special operations soldiers for their roles in the war on terror, but warned them that it is far from over. “We have a long war ahead of us, and our enemies are waiting for us to let our guard down,” Cheney…

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An unexpectedly cold breeze swept the hotel’s poolside cafe where writer-producers Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman were discussing their Showtime series “Queer as Folk.” They’d left a late spring snowstorm behind in Toronto after wrapping filming there on the fifth and last season of their racy, radical gay drama and had…

NASHVILLE (AP) — Brooks & Dunn will host the Country Music Association’s awards show again this year, but this time they’ll have to travel to New York. “After the great job they did in 2004, Kix (Brooks) and Ronnie (Dunn) were the natural choice to host country music’s biggest night from the world’s biggest stage…

By JOHN GEROME / Associated Press Writer BLAINE LARSEN (AP Photo) NASHVILLE — While the four-day CMA Music Festival is a sprawling playground for country music fans, it can be a little intimidating for new artists. Check out 19-year-old Blaine Larsen. There’s the thing with Sirius radio at 1 p.m., stage call 20 minutes later,…

NASHVILLE (AP) — The Bureau of TennCare is launching a statewide public service campaign aimed at providing enrollees with details about the disenrollment process in the state’s $8.7 billion TennCare health insurance program. The campaign includes radio and TV public service announcements that will air for two-and-a-half weeks starting next week, as well as a…

GALLATIN (AP) — Carl Martin said he is luckier than some of his classmates at Volunteer State Community College, because his tuition is paid under the GI Bill earned through his service in the U.S. Army. “If it wasn’t for the GI Bill, I wouldn’t be going to school,” Martin, 28, said at midday Friday…