WATERVILLE (AP) — Maine drug agents say a 26-year-old man faces drug trafficking charges in connection with the seizure of 2.5 pounds of the synthetic mind-altering drug known as “bath salts.” Travis Griffin of Thomaston was charged Tuesday after agents found a pound of bath salts in a vehicle that had been impounded by Waterville […]

CHICAGO One is a healthy first-grader, the other an honors college student majoring in psychology. Once the tiniest babies ever born, both girls are thriving, despite long odds when they entered the world weighing less than a pound. A medical report from the doctor who resuscitated the infants at a suburban Chicago hospital is both […]

Hurricane prediction delayed to spring FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — Hurricane forecaster William Gray will wait until spring to predict how many storms will form in the Atlantic. Gray and his research partner at Colorado State University, Philip Klotzbach, usually start making predictions in December but this month, for the first time in 20 years, […]

WASHINGTON ( AP) — Wholesale prices rose a modest 0.3 percent last month as companies paid more for such items as food and pharmaceuticals. But energy prices barely rose, keeping inflation in check. In the 12 months ending in November, wholesale prices have increased 5.7 percent, down from a 5.9 percent yearover year pace in […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — A massive defense bill is on the brink of final passage after the Obama administration and Congress resolved a fierce struggle over the president’s ability to prosecute terrorist suspects in the civilian justice system. The House voted 283-136 for the $ 662 billion measure Wednesday night, a rare bipartisan vote that reflected […]

BRUSSELS (AP) — Russia, hoping to keep its largest export market from collapsing, will give at least $10 billion to the International Monetary Fund to help support the struggling euro currency, an aide to President Dmitry Medvedev said today. Russian officials have said in the past that the country would offer up to $ 10 […]

PORTLAND (AP) — Maine’s medical examiner says autopsies have failed to determine how a husband and wife died in Portland, but there’s nothing to indicate foul play. Spokesman Mark Belserene said Wednesday that additional studies were ordered before a final conclusion is reached on the cause of death. Portland police have identified the couple as […]

MULLAN, Idaho ( AP) — Seven miners were safely removed from an underground mine in northern Idaho after they were injured by a rock burst while working more than a mile deep, a mine company official said late Wednesday. One of the miners was taken to a hospital with nonlife threatening injuries, while the other […]

WASHINGTON ( AP) — Most Americans want Congress to vote to continue the payroll tax reduction, according to a new Associated Press- GfK poll that comes as Democrats and Republicans wrestle over whether to extend the cut through 2012. It’s the latest instance in which lawmakers on Capitol Hill have allowed partisan sniping to hold […]