Ernie Els wants to travel less, focus on PGA

Ernie Els will concentrate on playing the PGA Tour next year.

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Chinese company to fix 300 homes ruined by drywall

A Chinese drywall manufacturer, along with suppliers, builders and insurers, agreed Thursday to repair up to 300 homes in four states and possibly thousands more damaged by corrosive drywall.

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Biden says he'll 'strangle' Republicans

Vice President Joe Biden has told Democrats at a Minnesota fundraiser that he'll "strangle" members of the GOP who complain about the federal budget.

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Latvian gov't wins election, painful reforms ahead

Latvia's center-right government was poised to stay in power Sunday after voters backed its plans to continue painful reforms required by an international bailout program to fix the Baltic country's crippled economy.

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AP Exclusive: Back to work after salmonella case

The peanut industry executive whose filthy processing plants were blamed in a salmonella outbreak two years ago that killed nine people and sickened hundreds more is back in the business.

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Singapore prods locals to speak better English

"Borrow me $5 can?" may not be the most graceful way to ask for a few dollars, but it's music to the ears of many Singaporeans.

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Sandra Bullock marks Katrina anniversary at clinic

Five years after Hurricane Katrina, Oscar-winning actress Sandra Bullock returned Sunday to the New Orleans high school she helped rebuild for the opening of an on-campus health clinic.

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Oil spill taints UC Berkeley's BP-funded research

BP's catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is fueling opposition to the University of California, Berkeley's research partnership with the British company, with activists and professors on the famously liberal campus calling for a severing of ties.

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Teen convicted of murder seeks help from hit man

Davontae Sanford was just 14 when he told police he killed four people in a drug den, drawing their bodies like stick figures to show where the victims died — on the floor, a couch, a chair.

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Hawaiian Air targets Asia, adds Korea route

Hawaiian Airlines Inc. said Wednesday it is launching service to South Korea as part of its ambitious expansion into Asia and to cash in on the fast-growing number of Korean visitors to the islands.

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Gov't to issue more shallow water drilling permits

An Interior Department official says the government is expected soon to issue more permits for drilling in shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

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Fewer hungry children getting free summer meals

Hungry children looking for a free meal this summer may not be able to find one.

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1,000th GI killed in Afghan war was on 2nd tour

The 1,000th American serviceman killed in Afghanistan had already fallen once to a hidden explosive, driving his Humvee over a bomb in Iraq in 2007. The blast punched the dashboard radio into his face and broke his leg in two places.

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Feds: Virginia Tech violated law in 07 massacre

The U.S. Department of Education found that Virginia Tech broke federal campus security laws by waiting too long to notify students during the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history, a report released Tuesday said.

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AG: Apparent money tie in Times Square arrests

Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday that the men taken into custody in connection with the Times Square bombing attempt apparently provided money to would-be bomber Faisal Shahzad.

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Lettuce recall expands to Tennessee

An outbreak of E. coli poisoning has expanded to Tennessee, where one more person has been sickened after eating romaine lettuce grown on an Arizona farm.

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USDA may ban additives from organic formula

The Agriculture Department says it may ban two synthetic additives from organic baby formula, overturning a Bush administration decision to allow them.

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Attorneys ask judge to halt firing squad execution

Attorneys for a Utah inmate scheduled to be killed by firing squad have asked a judge to put the execution on hold while they appeal.

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Rail line stirs bad memories in black neighborhood

When the Rev. George Davis learned the government was coming to take his family's home to make room for a shiny new interstate, he told his loved ones he'd defend 304 Rondo Avenue with a shotgun.

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Congress takes aim at unhealthy school lunches

Kids will always grab pizza and dessert in the school lunch line, but those items may be healthier in coming school years if Democrats in Congress succeed in toughening rules governing the nation's school lunches.

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Amid budget crisis, California makes parole easier

California's budget crisis and overcrowded prisons have led to a new reality for thousands of convicted felons: Parole is getting a lot easier — no more random drug tests, travel rules or requirements to check in with an officer.

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Detroit Schools slow to tear down vacant buildings

Owen Elementary, which closed in 2006, stands open to any who dare to take on its dark, winding hallways and shadowy classrooms on Detroit's southwest side.

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Michelle Obama talks anti-obesity to food giants

Michelle Obama is urging the nation's largest food companies to speed up efforts to make healthier foods and reduce marketing of unhealthy foods to children.

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Militant with money links leads Abu Sayyaf faction

A Filipino militant wanted by Washington has become leader of a key faction of Abu Sayyaf, the al-Qaida-linked extremist group in the southern Philippines for which he has previously acquired foreign funding, the Philippine military says.

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Young war veterans returning home to unemployment

The unemployment rate last year for young Iraq and Afghanistan veterans hit 21.1 percent, the Labor Department said Friday, reflecting a tough obstacle combat veterans face as they make the transition home from war.

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