National

For Native Americans, Mental Health Budget Cuts Hit Hard

9:49am September 12, 2013

by Laurel G. Morales

Suicide rates among Native Americans are already four times the national average. And with recent cuts in federal funding for mental health services across the country, suicide prevention programs may lose ground in the communities that need them most.

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Missouri Tax Posturing May Influence Other States

5:50am September 12, 2013

by Jennifer Davidson

State lawmakers failed to override the governor's veto of a controversial measure that would have lowered state income taxes. Although Republicans had supermajorities in the House and Senate, Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon was able to rally school districts, which feared their budgets would suffer from the decline in general revenue.

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Jamesport has the largest Amish community in Missouri, and horse-pulled buggies are often parked alongside cars. Horse owners in the state are divided over whether to allow horses to be killed for meat in the U.S.

National

Pets Or Livestock? A Moral Divide Over Horse Slaughter

7:30pm September 11, 2013

by Frank Morris

Horse slaughter is banned in the U.S., but thousands of American horses are shipped to Canada and Mexico for slaughter every year. Investors argue restarting the practice in the U.S. would be better for business and offer a more humane end for horses that are neglected under the current model.

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Conservatives Use Budget Deadline To Revive Obamacare Debate

7:03pm September 11, 2013

by Tamara Keith

With the pause button pushed on the congressional debate over Syria, the House is turning its attention back to the budget. The House was supposed to act this week to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the month, and Republican leaders had hoped to avoid drama. But drama is brewing.

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Security experts say the U.S. is ill-prepared to respond to cyberthreats. A new high school curriculum in Alabama aims to attract more young people to the field.

Army Looks To Schools To Find The Next Cyberwarriors

6:50pm September 11, 2013

by Dan Carsen

Security experts say the U.S. has a dearth of professionals qualified to take on cyberthreats like attacks on power grids or defense systems. A school district in Alabama and the U.S. Army Cyber Command have teamed up to help prepare a new generation for cyberwarfare careers.

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According to Barton Gellman, Edward Snowden (above) specifically asked journalists not to make all the documents he leaked available to the public.

National

Reporter Had To Decide If Snowden Leaks Were 'The Real Thing'

4:21pm September 11, 2013

Before whistle-blower Edward Snowden became a household name, he was an anonymous source. The Washington Post's Barton Gellman recounts how he began corresponding with Snowden and the process of reporting on the government's Internet data mining program.

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Lila Hillman is starting her first year as principal at Milwaukee Parkside School for the Arts in Wisconsin. Nearly one-fifth of the city's public schools have new principals this year.

School Districts Struggle To Get Principals To Stay Put

12:06pm September 11, 2013

by Erin Toner

As the school year begins, many principals are leading their schools for the first time. Keeping principals is a problem in many schools, and high-poverty, urban districts often have particularly high rates of turnover. Some experts say that revolving door can hurt student achievement.

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Diana Nyad's Accomplishment Makes America's Cup Look All Wet

7:54am September 11, 2013

by Frank Deford

America's Cup yachts can gracefully skim above water at better than 40 mph, but Frank Deford says when he looks back at the seven seas in 2013 he'll remember 64-year-old Nyad "plowing, all by herself, freestyle, through 100 miles of surf from Havana to Key West."

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Lauren Henderson and her service dog, Phoebe, in Los Angeles. Henderson says she's seeing more dogs in vests that don't appear to be legitimate service dogs.

Four-Legged Impostors Give Service Dog Owners Pause

7:54am September 11, 2013

by Lisa Napoli

People who lack special needs but simply want to keep their pets with them all the time can easily find fake "service animal" certifications on the Web. But those phony credentials can create problems for people with disabilities who legitimately need trained service dogs.

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National

Documents Show NSA Violated Court Restrictions

7:54am September 11, 2013

The National Security Agency violated special court restrictions on the use of a database of telephone calls, but the NSA says it fixed those problems. That's the bottom line from more documents declassified by the director of National Intelligence. The document dump is part of an effort to share more details about NSA surveillance activities that were uncovered by former government contractor Edward Snowden.

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