New hotel owner hounded by racism charges
TAOS, N.M. - Larry Whitten marched into this northern New Mexico town in late July on a mission: resurrect a failing hotel.
The tough-talking former Marine immediately laid down some new rules. Among them, he forbade the Hispanic workers at the run-down, Southwestern adobe-style hotel from speaking Spanish in his presence (he thought they'd be talking about him), and ordered some to Anglicize their names.
Obama: "I may be skinny but I'm tough"
After weeks in which he has been angrily criticized by some on the right, to the point of creating a poster image of him with a Hitler mustache, Obama told a fund-raising event that some of his supporters have been expressing concern to him.
"I've tried to explain ... just because I'm skinny doesn't mean I'm not tough. I don't rattle. I'm not going to shrink back, because now is the time for us to continue to push and follow through on those things that we know have to be done but have not been done in decades," he said.
US up to 55 mln swine flu vaccine doses short: official
The United States will face a swine flu vaccine shortfall of 45 to 55 million doses by the end of the year but half of the population could still be vaccinated, according to a senior US official.
"I don't think we will get to the original goal" of 195 million influenza A(H1N1) vaccine doses delivered during the US government's fall vaccination campaign, said Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Man who threw feces in CA courtroom gets 31 years
A man who sneaked a bag of his feces into a San Diego courtroom during his home-invasion robbery trial, smeared it on his lawyer and threw it at jurors has been sentenced to 31 years in prison.
Superior Court Judge Frank Brown on Monday sentenced Weusi McGowan for robbery, burglary and two assault charges stemming from the feces-flinging incident during his January trial.
McGowan, who attorneys say suffers from mental illness, had asked for a mistrial because he believed jurors had seen him in restraints when he entered the courtroom.
Pelosi: Health care 'public option' needs new name
In an appearance at a Florida senior center, the Democratic leader referred to the so-called public option as "the consumer option." Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., appeared by Pelosi's side and used the term "competitive option."
Both suggested new terminology might get them past any lingering doubts among the public—or consumers or competitors.
