WASHINGTON (AP) — Stem cell science may be advancing, but not fast or far enough to break the standoff between President Bush and Congress over federal funding for research that destroys human embryos. Clear majorities exist in the House and Senate for a bill to loosen Bush’s 2001 restrictions on public funding for embryonic stem…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Prisoner-rights advocates are crediting improved medical care and better separation of violent from peaceful inmates for a big drop in death rates behind bars from suicide, homicide and AIDS. State prison homicide rates declined by more than 90 percent, from 54 per 100,000 in 1980 to four per 100,000 in 2002, the…

WACO, Texas (AP) — After more than a week out of the public eye, President Bush is telling a veterans audience in Salt Lake City that the United States must not give up on peace and stability in Iraq. While Bush has been secluded at his ranch in nearby Crawford since Aug. 13, anti-war protesters…

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — With a midnight deadline just hours away, Iraq’s political factions met in search of compromise Monday on the issues holding up a draft constitution — federalism, the distribution of oil wealth and the role of religion in the new Iraq. The initial Aug. 15 deadline was pushed back a week after…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ohio Gov. Bob Taft is hardly the only politician these days to be hit by scandal. He’s just the only one to admit he was wrong. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, is fighting ethics charges. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is too. And two federal lawmakers are under investigation over financial dealings.…

Pilgrims pray during a Mass with Pope Benedict XVI at the Marienfeld , a former open-pit coal mine, near Cologne, western Germany, Sunday. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims streamed into the open field for the final Mass of World Youth Day. (AP Photo) COLOGNE, Germany (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI urged Europe to rediscover its…

WASHINGTON (AP) — By the end of the school year, every teacher of every major subject in every school will be highly qualified. That’s the government’s promise, anyway. The reality will be far less rosy, say experts who have analyzed how states are responding to President Bush’s education law and its unprecedented review of teacher…

MEMPHIS (AP) — A financial consultant who advises governments for Memphis and Shelby County owes both public bodies nearly $50,000 in unpaid property taxes, records show. Marlin L. Mosby Jr., the local managing director of Public Financial Management Inc., which provides expertise to the city and county on bond issues and other financial services, owes…

MEMPHIS (AP) — Federal agents have begun rounding up six local police officers on warrants stemming from sealed federal indictments, authorities said. The nature of the charges have not been revealed, but they are believed to be related to six grand jury indictments handed up over the past few weeks, officials told The Commercial Appeal.…

NASHVILLE (AP) — Lawmakers are concerned that nearly six weeks after Gov. Phil Bredesen began cutting thousands of adults from the state’s public health care program, officials have not distributed any of the funds legislators set aside to provide expanded access to doctors and nurses. The governor has said he’s cutting about 190,000 adults from…