Spartan Echo

Stocks move higher on home building, low inflation

Terry Brown — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:49:29 +0000

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks were up at midday Tuesday June 18, boosted by government reports of gains in home construction and low inflation. Expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep in place programs meant to prop up the economy also drove the market higher. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 110 [...]

5 moments to remember from jam-packed Bonnaroo

Terry Brown — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:35:39 +0000

MANCHESTER, Tenn. (AP) — Memories are a jumble walking out of the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. Days blend together, sound memories clash and surface. Hipster moustaches made from pink glow sticks haunt your dreams. And that smell. The horror. A few things really stuck out this year, though, as we reviewed things following [...]

With Samsung, Jay-Z’s business continues to boom

Terry Brown — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:30:12 +0000

NEW YORK (AP) — He really is more than a businessman. Jay-Z’s partnership with Samsung for his new album, “Magna Carta Holy Grail,” is another sign of how musicians are finding new ways to push, sell and promote their music, and how the multiplatinum performer — who famously rapped “I’m not a businessman, I’m [...]

Bieber behind wheel as car hits man in Hollywood

Terry Brown — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:24:32 +0000

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Video shows Justin Bieber running into a photographer with his white Ferrari in Hollywood, but police say there was no crime and the injuries aren’t life-threatening. Lt. Craig Valenzuela says Bieber’s car collided with the person at 11:45 p.m. Monday, June 17 on Sunset Boulevard. Valenzuela says nobody was cited [...]

Reputed Mafioso tip triggers new Hoffa body search

Terry Brown — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:20:38 +0000

OAKLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — The FBI saw enough merit in a reputed Mafia captain’s tip to once again break out the digging equipment to search for the remains of former Teamsters union leader Jimmy Hoffa, last seen alive before a lunch meeting with two mobsters nearly 40 years ago. Tony Zerilli told his [...]

Utah church shooter charged with attempted murder

Terry Brown — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:14:52 +0000

OGDEN, Utah (AP) — A Utah man accused of shooting his father-in-law during a Father’s Day Mass has been charged with attempted murder. Court records show the Weber County attorney has filed charges against 35-year-old Charles “Ricky” Jennings Jr. He’s also charged with two counts each of attempted burglary and attempted robbery and possession [...]

Islamist’s drive 19,000 farmers from north Nigeria

A. Glascell — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:04:14 +0000

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Islamic militants have driven 19,000 rice farmers from their land in northeast Nigeria while a military crackdown is preventing thousands more from working their fields, raising fears of imminent food shortages, officials warned Tuesday, June 18. Food shortages would add immeasurably to the misery in northeast Nigeria. The area abandoned [...]

In Uganda, forlorn square is symbol of crackdown

A. Glascell — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 03:16:15 +0000

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — The green grass looks inviting, but few people have the courage to enter the only public square in Uganda’s capital. Most sit or stand at the edges, respecting the barricades of scrap metal erected by police who stand poised to arrest those who attempt a forced entry. Once a cheerful [...]

Anger in southern Egypt over Islamist governor

A. Glascell — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 03:03:20 +0000

LUXOR, Egypt (AP) — Angry tourism workers and activists in Luxor threatened Monday, June 17, to block a newly appointed Islamist governor from his office because of his links to a former militant group that killed scores of people in a 1997 attack in the ancient city and devastated Egypt’s sightseeing industry. Adel el-Khayat [...]

Va. Medicaid commission meets for first time

A. Glascell — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 02:41:35 +0000

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — How do you expand Medicaid under the federal health overhaul law without provoking the wrath of conservatives dead set against it under any circumstances? A Virginia panel attempting that high-wire act took its first good look at the daunting challenge of modernizing the federal-state program, making it more like a [...]