National News

The last time the Supreme Court heard a challenge to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, only one state asked that its key provision be struck down. But just four years later, seven states say the most effective civil rights statute in the nation's history has outlived its usefulness.

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U.S. counterterrorism efforts include choking off the flow of cash to extremists and urging friendly countries to help. But in places like the Nairobi neighborhood of Eastleigh, where Somali refugees have flocked, it's hard to distinguish between tainted money and honest cash.

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The art of sabrage, or knocking open a bottle of Champagne with a sword, probably started during the time of Napoleon. A sword is handy but not necessary; a kitchen knife can also work, according to a Champagne expert.

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The exhibit at Emory University in Atlanta lays out the history of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a group first presided over by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The group tackled issues of health care, poverty and gun violence — issues still seen as relevant today.

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The state's governor called the news "disturbing" but said there is no health threat at the moment. Hanford has been in existence since the 1940s, when the site was used to prepare plutonium for bombs.

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They've been everywhere this week: dire warnings about threats posed by across-the-board federal spending cuts. But what's the real story? Here are the answers to four burning questions about the cuts known as "the sequester."

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Superstorm Sandy was a wake-up call for the Eastern Seaboard — especially Boston, where flooding rivers can meet a surging ocean, all in Boston Harbor. So what's a city to do? Retreat from the water or better shield buildings from flooding.

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Unmanned aerial vehicles are starting to show up in American police departments, courtesy of grants from the Department of Homeland Security. But that's caused something of a backlash, and now some state legislatures are considering legal limits on drones to address opponents' privacy concerns.

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The meteor that caused at least 1,000 injuries in Russia after a startling and powerful daytime explosion one week ago has been identified as a chondrite, the most common type of meteor that falls on Earth. But that hasn't stopped a black-market economy from developing around the fragments.

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Myanmar's contacts with the world are now expanding rapidly. President Obama's visit last November was a sign of that shift. And China is building major oil and gas pipelines that link the two countries.

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If across-the-board federal spending cuts go into effect March 1, the F-16s will be taking fewer flights from Shaw Air Force Base. And nearby, the Head Start program would have to cut 50 kids. But some residents are wondering if the whole thing is just hype.

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At an estimated cost of $400 billion, it is the Pentagon's most expensive weapons program. While ambitious in its scope, the program has had numerous stumbles.

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It's been nearly two years since Oprah ended her daily show, and Chicago's been adjusting to the loss of the daytime talk queen. She left a void, but there's no need to write an obituary for the talk genre in Chicago. The city is still home to two shows, Windy City Live and the Steve Harvey Show.

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Dozens of kids get sick after a seemingly innocent birthday party. Was it the homemade ice cream or an accident in the pool? A new iPad app lets you solve outbreak puzzles just like real disease detectives. It's pleasing entertainment, if not as infectious as real video games.

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One week. That's how long we've got until the sequester, until the cuts start happening.

Ashton Carter is the Deputy Secretary of Defense, the guy whose job it is to run the Pentagon day-to-day and find the $46 billion or so the military's got to cut. He said the department is ready to "execute sequester," but he feels it's unfortunate the way it's being done.

"There is no manual; I don't think anyone's ever done anything this way -- and for a very good reason, which is it's a really dumb way to do things," Carter said. "We've cut our budget before -- we did last year -- but we didn't do it the sequester way. We had a chance to do it strategically and to ask the right question, which is: What does the country need?"

He said the uncertainty from the sequester will have an effect on individuals serving in the military.

"It certainly plays out on morale, it plays out on their family, and very worryingly to me, it will inevitably play out on their willingness to stay in," he said.

Carter also warned that defense subcontractors who don't have the financial resources to survive the cuts might not want to do business with the U.S. government anymore, because it'll be an unreliable customer.

And furthermore, he said: "You have to remember, the whole world is watching this. Our friends are watching it, our allies are watching it -- and our enemies are watching it as well. And that too causes lasting reputational embarrassment.

The lawsuit alleges that Armstrong and his team's pervasive doping campaign defrauded the U.S. Postal Service out of more than $31 million in sponsorship fees.

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Have you ever cruised through a neighborhood and come across a dilapidated house that’s stinking up the whole street? It’s probably waiting to be foreclosed on. The problem is, many times, the process of foreclosure can cost more than the property is worth -- so the mortgage lender just walks away.

It’s called a “Bank Walk Away.” But why would a bank just walk away from a foreclosure? It usually happens in working-class neighborhoods with old housing stock that’s not worth a lot of money. Because the banks actually lose money on the foreclosure, it’s cheaper to do nothing.

That was the situation at 212 East Geer Street in Durham. The walk away property sat right next door to Frank Burgess.

“There were tenants here, but they weren’t the nicest, or the cleanest," Burgess says. "Because they would put the baby pampers, toss them right over the railing, cause I cleaned, I don’t know how many trash bags of just, baby pampers.” 

Burgess is a city bus driver. It took him and his wife a while to settle on their dream home on East Geer. But that was soon followed by bad neighbors and bad loitering.

“All of the drug activity, prostitution, the alcohol," Burgess recalls. "It was daunting, me and my wife, we just felt like, it’s our home, we’re staying in it.”

Records show the East Geer property was purchased seven years ago with financing from Countrywide Mortgage Corporation. A couple of years later, the owner filed for bankruptcy and stopped making payments. The property soon became Bank of America’s responsibility.

Peter Skillern runs a nonprofit called Reinvestment Partners that just happens to be one block from the problem house on East Geer Street.

As Skillern puts it, “We’ve made every effort to communicate with each of the banks. It’s taken quite a bit of work.”

Reinvesetment Partners was finally able to buy the house a few weeks ago  It cost $27,000 at a foreclosure sale, that’s about a third of what the old owner paid in 2006.

“We spoke to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the N.C. Attorney General’s office. We filed a local complaint at the court," Skillern says. "We’re very pleased that Bank of America finally did respond and we have been able to resolve the issue.  But it was an example of the extraordinary efforts it takes to resolve these problems.”

East Geer is now a success story. But the latest General Accounting Office report says there are 38,000 bank walk aways across the U.S. People on the ground say that estimate is on the low side.

Rick Hester sees this first hand as the housing code administrator for the city of Durham.

“I do know that we probably run across two or three a week," Hester says. "The name is still in the old owner, but we know the bankruptcy has been filed they just haven’t closed on it.”

Hester wants to get these houses in the hands of people who’ll fix them up and get them back on the tax rolls. He says it’s about finding good neighbors for hard-working people like Frank Burgess. 

“I’m a city bus driver so a lot of people in the town know me from driving the bus. They’re like, 'Bus driver what are you doing here?' But, I love the house, I love where it is and we’re not going to let anyone run us off from it.”

Burgess says he doesn’t plan on going anywhere soon.

Among them, specific tips on how to scramble signals and more obvious tips on hiding beneath trees. The document was left behind as al-Qaida fighters streamed out of Timbuktu.

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Apple has them and so does Microsoft. And the word is, Google’s gonna have ‘em soon too.

“The rumor started circulating around a week ago about a Google Store, and I think is a terrific idea for Google,” said Rebecca Lieb, an analyst at the Altimeter Group.

That rumor stirred up again with the unveiling of Pixel, which will cost about $1,300. Pixel is part of Google’s Chromebook line of computers, which are cloud-based. That means your spreadsheets won’t be on your hard drive but will live online much like your email.

Kirthi Kalyanam, a professor at the Retail Management Institute at Santa Clara University, says the stores would be the perfect place for Google to sell its infamous Google Glass, a wearable computer that sits on your face like eyeglasses.

"Google is pushing the boundaries of what cannot be done and as they push the boundaries, they come with products that are very hard for people to envision or understand," said Kalyanam.

He adds that products like Google Glass will probably need dedicated sales people and a sophisticated display, something big-box retailers like Best Buy can’t provide. But Google might be late to the store trend, says Trip Chowdhry. He's an analyst at Global Equities Research. He says Google risks looking like an Apple wannabe, like Microsoft and its stores.

"The days of opening stores is over. Microsoft is losing because there’s nothing much that they’re offering," Chowdhry said.

He says it’s not just about having products but getting people to buy them.

Apple has them and so does Microsoft. And the word is, Google’s gonna have ‘em soon too.

“The rumor started circulating around a week ago about a Google Store, and I think is a terrific idea for Google,” Rebecca Lieb, an analyst at the Altimeter Group.

That rumor stirred up again with the unveiling of Pixel, which will cost about $1,300. Pixel is part of Google’s Chromebook line of computers, which are cloud-based. That means your spreadsheets won’t be on your hard drive but will live online much like your email.

Kirthi Kalyanam, a professor at the Retail Management Institute at Santa Clara University, says the stores would be the perfect place for Google to sell its infamous Google Glass, a wearable computer that sits on your face like eyeglasses.

"Google is pushing the boundaries of what cannot be done and as they push the boundaries, they come with products that are very hard for people to envision or understand," said Kalyanam.

He adds that products like Google Glass will probably need dedicated sales people and a sophisticated display, something big-box retailers like Best Buy can’t provide. But Google might be late to the store trend, says Trip Chowdhry. He's an analyst at Global Equities Research. He says Google risks looking like an Apple wannabe, like Microsoft and its stores.

"The days of opening stores is over. Microsoft is losing because there’s nothing much that they’re offering," Chowdhry said.

He says it’s not just about having products but getting people to buy them.