Should lottery winners' names be kept secret?

PHOENIX (AP) — When two winning tickets for a record $588 million Powerball jackpot were claimed from the Nov. 28 drawing, the world focused on the winners.A Missouri couple appeared at a press conference and held up the traditional giant-sized check. The Arizona winner, however, skipped the press conference where lottery officials announced last month that someone had claimed the second half of the...

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Court faults EPA for Bush-era soot regulations

WASHINGTON (AP) — An appeals court is siding with environmental groups that had challenged Environmental Protection Agency regulations on soot as too weak.The three-judge panel ruled Friday that the EPA regulated soot of a certain size under weaker cleanup requirements than it should have.The environmental groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, had challenged two rules dating back...

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New ND lawmaker 1 of many drafting drone measures

A freshman lawmaker from North Dakota is one of numerous state legislators around the country suggesting regulations to limit the use of unmanned planes for law enforcement, an effort that's gaining bipartisan support and fostering unlikely political alignments.The bill proposed by Republican State Rep. Rick Becker, of Bismarck, stems from the 2011 arrest of a Lakota farmer during a 16-hour standoff,...

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FDA: New rules will make food safer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration says its new guidelines would make the food Americans eat safer and help prevent the kinds of foodborne disease outbreaks that sicken or kill thousands of consumers each year.The rules, the most sweeping food safety guidelines in decades, would require farmers to take new precautions against contamination, to include making sure workers' hands are...

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Merkel kicks off German election year campaigning

BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel is highlighting Germany's economic strength and dismissing worries that her party could be dragged down by its struggling coalition partner as she kicks off campaigning for an important state election.Merkel's center-right coalition faces a tough battle to extend its 10-year hold on Lower Saxony state in the Jan. 20 election. Polls suggest the center-left opposition...

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