WASHINGTON ( AP) — Capping a full retreat by House GOP leaders, Congress will convene today in hopes of approving a stopgap measure renewing payroll tax cuts for every worker and unemployment benefits for millions — despite serious opposition among some tea party Republicans. Today’s unusual session, if all goes according to plan, will send […]
2011
Posted inTimes Record
BRIEFS
Twin explosions shake Syrian capital DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Twin explosions shook the heart of the Syrian capital today, and state TV blamed a double suicide car bombing that it said may have been the work of al-Qaida. The state TV report said a number of military personnel and civilians were killed in the blasts […]
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Calif. nurses go on strike
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Nurses in California went on strike Thursday — some for the second time in three months — in the latest dispute between nurses and hospital management over health-care costs, staffing levels and sick leave. The California Nurses Association — the union behind the one-day walkout — expected 6,000 nurses at nine […]
Posted inTimes Record
Jobless claims keep falling
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the latest sign that the economy is surging at year’s end, unemployment claims have dropped to the lowest level since April 2008, long before anyone realized that the nation was in a recession. Claims fell by 4,000 last week to 364,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. It was the third straight […]
Posted inTimes Record
BRIEFS
Customs leader to leave position WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of Customs and Border Protection will leave his post at the end of the month. The agency said Commissioner Alan Bersin told President Barack Obama on Thursday that he intended to leave office Dec. 30, the day before his appointment to the job expires. David […]
Posted inTimes Record
In Israel, a higher profile for Christmas
The founders of Neve Shaanan, a neighborhood in southern Tel Aviv, planned their streets in the shape of a seven-branched candelabra — a symbol of their Jewish faith. Ninety years later, the streets are full of Christmas decorations, reflecting a flowering of Christianity in Israel’s economic and cultural capital. Tens of thousands of Christian foreigners, […]
Posted inTimes Record
Special Christmas services set around the Mid-coast
As Christmas weekend gets under way, several local congregations have special services and observances planned. Among them: Brunswick United Methodist Church BRUNSWICK — The United Methodist Church will hold a pair of Christmas Eve services on Saturday. The first, at 7 p.m., will be a family service with a special time for children. At 11 […]
Posted inTimes Record
N.C. parent unhappy that students were able to take Bibles home from school
WEAVERVILLE, N.C. (AP) — A Buncombe County mother was unhappy when her son came home from his fifthgrade class at North Windy Ridge intermediate school with a Bible. The state’s largest civil liberties group says the school overstepped its bounds. Ginger Strivelli says her son came home from North Windy Ridge school in Weaverville on […]
Posted inTimes Record
Christmas, through the eyes of … a wise man
The first Christmas, as told through the eyes of a wise man, by the Rev. Edward Greene. “A cold coming we had of it, Just the worst time of the year For a journey, and such a long journey: The ways deep and the weather sharp, The very dead of winter.” — from Journey of […]
Posted inTimes Record, Times Record Opinion
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus
THIS FAMILIAR EDITORIAL first appeared in The New York Sun in the year 1897. It was written by Francis Pharcellus Church, an assistant to the editor of The Sun. It is perhaps the most famous holiday editorial of all time, and it has as much meaning today as it did 114 years ago. We take […]