Posts by Jessica Pearce

The housing market is still looking dreary. The average home price for 20 metropolitan areas fell 1.4 percent between March and April, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Indexes, which measures home prices in 20 markets around the United States. That’s a 15 percent drop from March 2007.  According to The New York [...]

NASA’s Mars Phoenix Lander confirmed that there was water ice under the soil on Mars Thursday, renewing hope that scientists might detect life on the planet. Pictures sent back by the lander earlier this week showed white patches uncovered by the robot. Scientists confirmed Thursday that the white patches were actually ice after sublimation, or [...]

With $4 per-gallon gas in the rearview mirrors of many drivers around the country, Americans are screaming for relief. President Bush is expected to make a speech this morning urging Congress to lift the 27-year federal ban on offshore drilling. Bush plans to ask Congress to lift the drilling moratoria in more than 80 percent [...]

President George W. Bush met with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday in London to discuss Iran and Afghanistan. Brown proposed freezing the assets of Iran’s biggest bank and suggested tightening oil and gas sanctions if Iranian leaders don’t “resolve international concerns over its nuclear activities.” Both leaders are deeply unpopular, with approval ratings in [...]

Tornadoes raged through the Midwest Wednesday, twisting through an Iowa Boy Scout camp and killing four scouts. Two people were also killed in Kansas as another tornado damaged much of the Kansas State University campus. According to the Weather Channel, "Tornadoes caused 111 deaths through the end of May, the second highest death toll for [...]

At least 23 people in 16 states have been hospitalized in an outbreak of salmonella traced to tomatoes, the Centers for Disease Control announced over the weekend. Although the center has not pinpointed where the infected tomatoes are grown, instead releasing a list of types of tomatoes and states and countries that appear to be [...]

For every banner headline crowning Sen. Barack Obama the Democratic nominee for president, there was at least one lurking lower on the page wondering what Sen. Hillary Clinton is going to do. In her speech following the Montana and South Dakota results, Clinton told her supporters:  
In the coming days, I’ll be consulting with supporters [...]

Vice President Dick Cheney is waiting "eagerly" to find out who Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain choose as running mates, he said in an engaging, and even funny at times, speech at the National Press Club today. He didn’t mention Sen. Clinton.

Cheney has said that he never intended to run for public office after [...]

In the wake of her 36-point victory in Puerto Rico, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton continues to fight for the Democratic nomination. But it’s still a bleak situation for Clinton. Accounting for that big Puerto Rico win and the Rules and Bylaws Committee decision on Saturday to seat the Michigan and Florida delegates with a half [...]

State of Play: Obama’s New Pastor Problem

Just as Sen. Barack Obama thought he had weathered the Rev. Jeremiah Wright storm, another Chicago clergyman has made trouble for the Democratic presidential candidate.  This time, a white Catholic priest, Father Michael Pfleger, appears on tape at Obama’s local Chicago church, the Trinity United Church of Christ, ranting [...]