The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, signed into law by President Barack Obama in December 2010, provides federal funds for the after-school dinner program. Gas prices break record for month ADVERTISING NEW YORK (AP) — Gasoline prices have never been higher
Gas prices break record for month
NEW YORK (AP) — Gasoline prices have never been higher this time of the year.
At $3.53 a gallon, prices are already up 25 cents since Jan. 1. And experts say they could reach a record $4.25 a gallon by late April.
“You’re going to see a lot more staycations this year,” says Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research. “When the price gets anywhere near $4, you really see people react.”
Already, W. Howard Coudle, a retired machinist from Crestwood, Mo., has seen his monthly gasoline bill rise to $80 from about $60 in December. The closest service station is selling regular for $3.39 per gallon, the highest he’s ever seen.
“I guess we’re going to have to drive less, consolidate all our errands into one trip,” Coudle says. “It’s just oppressive.”
Bomb plot arrest capped probe
WASHINGTON (AP) — Within the last week, authorities say, Amine El Khalifi’s plan to wreak havoc was proceeding as hoped: An al-Qaida associate handed him an automatic weapon to kill security officers inside the U.S. Capitol. A bomb-laden vest would detonate the building. He would die as a martyr.
But there was a problem: The explosives were inert, the gun inoperable and the supposed al-Qaida member was actually an undercover officer, according to court documents.
El Khalifi was arrested Friday in a parking garage on his way to carry out an attack the FBI says he kicked around across multiple states for months, even detonating a practice bomb in a quarry and then asking for a bigger blast, all with varied targets in mind.
An FBI affidavit traces the evolution of the plot from a vague plan to prepare for the “war on Muslims” to more clearly articulated visions of attacking a restaurant and synagogue to, finally, a goal of obliterating the seat of American government.
The document alleges a weeks-long flurry of final activity by El Khalifi, monitored by the FBI and coordinated through an undercover agent, to scope out the building, train in explosives and arm himself for a suicide attack.
Santorum doubts Obama’s religion
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Rick Santorum on Saturday questioned President Barack Obama’s Christian values.
Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator known for his social conservative views, said Obama’s agenda is based on “some phony theology. Not a theology based on the Bible. A different theology.” He later suggested that the president practices a different kind of Christianity.
“In the Christian church there are a lot of different stripes of Christianity,” he said. “If the president says he’s a Christian, he’s a Christian.”
The Obama campaign said the comments represent “the latest low in a Republican primary campaign that has been fueled by distortions, ugliness, and searing pessimism and negativity.”
Santorum was forced on his heels in recent days after a top supporter suggested women use aspirin to prevent pregnancy.
Atheists garner $40K for student
CRANSTON, R.I. (AP) — A national association that says there’s no proof for the existence of God is managing a scholarship fund set up for a teenage atheist at the center of a dispute over a prayer banner at a Rhode Island school.
The American Humanist Association says 16-year-old Jessica Ahlquist was targeted with online threats after she challenged the constitutionality of the display at Cranston High School West.
The group says she stood up to her critics “with class and style.”
A federal judge last month ordered the banner removed. A school committee on Thursday decided not to appeal.
Blogger Hemant Mehta started a campaign at the Friendly Atheist website to raise money for Ahlquist.
The Friendly Atheist says the fund has brought in more than $40,000. The fundraiser runs through the end of February.
More schools are serving dinner
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Too often it is after the fact that teachers discover their students are worrying less about math and reading and more about where the next meal comes from.
So Doug White, principal of Garfield Elementary School in inner-city Kansas City, was relieved when his school, like many across the country, began offering dinner to students enrolled in after-school child-care or tutoring programs.
With breakfast and lunch already provided for poor students, many children now are getting all their meals at school.
“When you know about those situations those kids are bringing into the school and we are asking them to sit down and concentrate and do their work, and they might be hungry and we haven’t been made aware of it yet — we definitely want to do everything we can to help the kids,” White said.
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, signed into law by President Barack Obama in December 2010, provides federal funds for the after-school dinner program.
