Confidence among American small business owners has never been so low for so long, an industry study says. But some entrepreneurs in Arizona are risking their savings, determined to beat the odds.
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A Republican and a Democrat have teamed up to push a proposal for saving time, sweat and paper: a one-page tax return. But is there any way to streamline the tax breaks in the 3.7 million-word tax code? Each complication has its constituency and interest group lobbyists.
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Edgar "La Barbie" Valdez Villarreal was one of Mexico's most wanted men until his recent arrest. The U.S. citizen is one of the highest-ranking drug cartel suspects captured alive in Mexico's increasingly violent drug war -- and so far, he has been a fountain of information.
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The report by the Bipartisan Policy Center's National Security Preparedness Group also says al-Qaida doesn't have the ability to launch an extraordinary operation on the scale of Sept. 11 anymore. Instead, it must content itself with attacks that kill dozens or hundreds at a time.
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A woman who had just been suspended from her job and escorted from a Kraft Foods Inc. facility in the city's northeast section on Thursday returned with a handgun and opened fire, killing two people and critically injuring a third, police said.
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The fire is burning in the town of San Bruno a few miles from San Francisco International Airport, prompting speculation the blaze was sparked by a plane crash. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said the agency has no record of a crash.
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U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips granted a request for an injunction halting the government's "don't ask, don't tell" policy for gays in the military. Phillips said the policy doesn't help military readiness and instead has a "direct and deleterious effect" on the armed services.
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In August, people spent a total of 41.1 million minutes on Facebook, comScore said, about 9.9 percent of their Web-surfing minutes for the month. That just barely surpassed the 39.8 million minutes, or 9.6 percent, people spent on all of Google Inc.'s sites combined.
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A small-time Florida pastor says he has canceled his plans to burn Qurans on Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. But that and other recent high-profile stories have helped reveal a growing anti-Muslim strain.
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Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on Thursday endorsed Christine O'Donnell's Senate bid in Delaware, hoping to give another Tea Party-backed candidate a final push to defeat establishment favorite, Rep. Mike Castle.
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Hours after he canceled the planned burning of the Quran, Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center in Florida said he was rethinking his decision after the imam planning an Islamic center near ground zero denied any deal to move it.
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The Rev. Terry Jones said Americans oppose the mosque being built near Ground Zero and Muslims do not want the Quran burned. He said he will be flying to New York to speak to Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf about moving the Islamic center.
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The winds were expected to pick up earlier than originally thought, leading authorities to close roads that had temporarily been opened to residents at 10 a.m. Residents who were set to be allowed in at 2 p.m. won't be able to get in at all.
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In a letter released Thursday by Donald Trump's publicist, the real estate investor told Hisham Elzanaty that he would buy his stake in the Lower Manhattan building for 25 percent more than whatever he paid.
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North Korea watchers are hoping a rare political conference in Pyongyang will yield clues about the secretive country's future leadership. Ruler Kim Jong Il is expected to name his youngest son to key jobs that could pave his way to power.
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The singer from Two Gallants, Stephens has a way with words and a rugged, windswept delivery. "The Cities That You've Burned" is an incredibly satisfying folk ballad, delicately doused with pianos, percussion and plaintive strings.
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"Peaches for the Baby" opens with a stabbing organ line that serves as the template for a track that's constantly shifting. Grey introduces rhythms for just long enough to set a foot tapping, before shifting to another infectious feel running parallel to the previous idea.
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The organ lays down a slow and sanctified groove, as if a hymn is about to begin, but then a driving drummer speeds up the pace. The organ sings out and a percussive, bluesy piano elbows in. Dr. John is messing with our minds, sliding from church to boudoir as his charmingly grizzled voice describes how his lover has had a "Change of Heart."
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It's no secret that brains and hearts speak vastly different languages, but British singer Ed Harcourt is conversant in both. "Haywired," from his stellar new album Lustre, finds him sounding perfectly suited to the swooning, swooping sound of falling in love.
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The boisterous "Something Salty, Something Sweet" isn't a perfectly packaged rock song with neatly tied-up ends, but it never loses focus even as it won't make up its mind. A powerful, cohesive theme is apparent through the orchestral waves, marked by a driving, punk-influenced beat.
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"II" starts with the adventurous guitarist sliding and picking in a delicate metallic meandering. Then the strings get strummed like they're a dirty floor -- and Metzger's the man with the soapy brush.
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As a singer, Arby has opened the door to a generation of artistic women who now follow in her footsteps. In "Waidio," she rails against the practice of female genital mutilation, decrying the "anguish of women" and insisting that they must be free to pursue their own happiness.
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"How Come That Blood" predates Amidon's existence, but in his hands, it springs to life as if newly born. The song concerns an unnamed man with a mysterious and incriminating red stain on his shirt who is repeatedly questioned by his mother.
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Tame Impala's "Lucidity" is more about impact than innovation, but the music still stuns on contact. The track puts the band's best foot forward, with lead-guitar distortion so abrasive, it's like a burnt piece of meat loaf in a rusty frying pan.
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"Like a Liar" hinges on the charismatic and evocative voice of The Orbans' singer, Peter Black, and his moving admission of romantic failure. It's a humble and soothing introduction to a new band that could quickly evolve into an old favorite.
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Though recorded late in Piano Red's life, "CC Rider" finds the singer/pianist in fine, lusty form. The words masterfully mingle devotion and regret, pleasure and pain -- the perfect foil for a rollicking blues song.
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As summer rambles on, Best Coast's bright guitars and lovelorn lyrics are a perfect soundtrack for bumming around the beach on a sweltering day. The band is fronted by Bethany Cosentino, who, among other things, seems to have a songwriter's obsession with boys, laziness and marijuana. She rounds one of those bases in "Boyfriend."
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"The Color That Your Eyes Changed With the Color of Your Hair" is a five-and-a-half-minute gem from 2001's You Should Be at Home Here, setting Mat Brooke's mournful, deadpan vocals against a vibrant bed of strings and accordions.
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"Bring Night" finds the Australian singer coming as close as she'll probably ever come to emulating Kelly Clarkson. Driven by a guitar that keeps time with a steady simmer of percussive clicks, the song combines the hookiest aspects of Clarkson's best work.
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"Rise" begins gently, light on the beats, before revealing its true colors. With each verse, producer XXXchange tosses in more electronic elements as the track escalates into electro-rock cacophony. Kele Okereke's vocals aren't lost in the mayhem, though. He keeps up with the pace of the instrumentation, slowly relinquishing control of his voice in the flurry of sound.
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