WASHINGTON (AP) — Doctors are gravitating to states that enact caps on malpractice awards, even though such awards are not the primary cause of skyrocketing insurance premiums, according to two studies released Tuesday in the journal Health Affairs. “The large jury awards that attract so much public attention actually are rare events and comprise a…

BOSTON (AP) — Tobacco companies did elaborate research on women to figure out how to hook them on smoking — even toying with the idea of chocolate-flavored cigarettes that would curb appetite, according to a new analysis. Researchers at Harvard University’s School of Public Health said they examined more than 7 million documents — some…

By JOSEPH B. VERRENGIA / AP Science Writer Trust in a bottle? It sounds like a marketer’s fantasy, like the fabled fountain of youth or the wild claims of fad diets. Yet that’s what Swiss and American scientists demonstrate in new experiments with a nasal spray containing the hormone oxytocin. After a few squirts, human…

By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY / AP Music Writer The Dave Matthews Band is on road so much their tour bus has become their second home — so they’ve tried to make it just as comfortable as their real abodes. Besides their instruments and gear, they also bring a caterer so they don’t have to take…

By TOM GARDNER / Associated Press Writer Talk to some singers about touring, and you’ll hear litany of complaints about long hours, living out of a suitcase and other irksome things about life on the road. Reba McEntire doesn’t see it that way, though. “I don’t think it’s bad at all. I love my job.…

Because of Internet connection problems, posting of today’s (6-1-2005) issue of the Southern Standard online will be delayed until later in the day. We regret the inconvenience to our readers.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Carol Nadworny likes a good bottle of wine. She’s had inexpensive wines that were nice, but she gets more satisfaction from wines that cost about $15. “I just relax. It’s an end-of-the-day thing,” Nadworny, a 49-year-old fitness trainer, said while shopping at Total Wine in Alexandria, Va. Wine drinkers are developing more…

NEW YORK (AP) — Consumer confidence unexpectedly rebounded in May after declining in April, as worries about the economy and jobs eased, a private research group said Tuesday. But another closely watched report that tracks Midwestern manufacturing activity dropped in May, spooking Wall Street. The Conference Board said that its Consumer Confidence Index rose to…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Most American consumers don’t realize Internet merchants and even traditional retailers sometimes charge different prices to different customers for the same products, according to a new survey. The study, “Open to Exploitation,” found nearly two-thirds of adult Internet users believed incorrectly it was illegal to charge different people different prices, a practice…

McMinnville resident and Warren County native Michael Ernest Smartt died in a farm accident May 28.The owner of Smartt’s Nursery and Greenhouse and a member of the Middle Tennessee Nurseryman’s Association, he attended Westwood Church of Christ.He is survived by his mother and stepfather, Martha Belle Smartt and Ernest Turner of McMinnville; sister and brother-in-law,…