BAGHDAD ( AP) — Iraqi officials say assailants have killed a Shiite mother and her three children after breaking into their house in Baghdad. Police say the attackers burst into the family’s home early today in the Zafaraniyah neighborhood in southeastern Baghdad before slitting the throats of the mother and children. The father was not […]

TOULOUSE, France (AP) — A gunman claiming al-Qaida links and suspected in the killings of three Jewish children, a rabbi and three paratroopers barricaded himself in an apartment today after a predawn police raid erupted into a firefight. Hundreds of police surrounded the building in the southwestern city of Toulouse after three officers were wounded […]

NEW ORLEANS ( AP) — Mel Parnell, the left-handed pitcher who faced the infamous Green Monster at Fenway Park and some of the best hitters of the 1940s and early 1950s, has died at age 89. His son, Dr. Mel Parnell Jr., said today he informed the team of his father’s death. Parnell, a New […]

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — It’s called the Run for the Roses, but thousands of tulips are also part of the landscape at Churchill Downs during the Kentucky Derby. Not this year. Track horticulture director Matt Bizzell says the unusually warm winter means the tulips will bloom about two weeks too early for the first Saturday […]

WASHINGTON ( AP) — Robert De Niro says he meant no offense when he joked at a presidential fundraiser featuring Michelle Obama that America might not be ready for a white first lady. “My remarks, although spoken with satirical jest, were not meant to offend or embarrass anyone — especially the first lady,” De Niro […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitt Romney says he’s “almost there” in his six-year pursuit of the Republican presidential nomination after defeating Rick Santorum in the Illinois GOP primary. There are signs that big GOP donors agree, as major contributors shift more dollars in his direction. “ Tonight’s win means we are that much closer to securing […]

RUMFORD ( AP) — The mother of two Rumford toddlers who fell about 16 feet out of a second-floor window of their home says neither child suffered any serious injuries. Angela Malchisky tells the Sun Journal that other than a few scratches from the icy snowbank they landed on, 3- year-old Madison and 2-yearold Aiden […]

DOVER-FOXCROFT (AP) — A 37- year- old Brownville woman has gone on trial for allegedly giving marijuana and alcohol to her daughter’s 13- and 14-year-old friends. Tanya Donnelly is being tried on charges including aggravated unlawful furnishing of marijuana, furnishing of alcohol to minors, and endangering the welfare of a child. The Bangor Daily News […]

BANGOR (AP) — The chief executive of Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems says a former employee of the company’s charitable arm has been accused of taking about $55,000 from the nonprofit. President and CEO Michael Crowley says Eastern Maine Healthcare Charities discovered the missing funds in early March through a regular accounting review. The organization is […]

MARS HILL ( AP) — A northern Maine man has been indicted on drunken driving and drug possession charges in connection with a car crash in September that took the life of another man. State police announced Tuesday that 51- year- old William Barton of Mars Hill was indicted on charges of operating under the […]