Health insurance rate-setting map would raise costs, official says

A proposal to split California into six zones for setting health insurance rates would drive premiums up as much as 23% for...

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Complaint alleges racial bias in Palmdale elections

Latinos and African Americans make up about two-thirds of the population of Palmdale. But since the city's incorporation in...

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Fergie, Josh Duhamel expecting their 1st child

NEW YORK (AP) — Her hump, her hump, her lovely lady lump: Fergie is pregnant with her first child.A representative for the Black Eyed Peas singer confirmed the news Monday. Fergie's actor husband Josh Duhamel tweeted about the news with joy, saying: "Fergie and Me and BABY makes three."The 37-year-old Fergie and 40-year-old Duhamel married in 2009. She joined the Black Eyed Peas when the group released...

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National Briefing | South: Abortion Curbs Clear Senate in Arkansas

The State Senate voted 25 to 7 on Monday to ban most abortions 20 weeks into a pregnancy. The measure goes back to the House to consider an amendment that added exceptions for rape and incest. The legislation is based on the belief that fetuses can feel pain 20 weeks into a pregnancy, and is similar to bans in several other states. Opponents say it would require mothers to deliver babies with fatal...

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Audit of Fed's gold finds it's safe, more pure than expected

NEW YORK — Turns out the Federal Reserve's gold is secure and a bit more pure than previously thought — or so the government...

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Seawater desalination plant might be just a drop in the bucket

CARLSBAD, Calif. — Dreamers have long looked to the Pacific Ocean as the ultimate answer to California's water needs: an inexhaustible,...

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Singer Mindy McCready dies in apparent suicide

HEBER SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) — Mindy McCready, who hit the top of the country charts before personal problems sidetracked her career, died Sunday in Arkansas in an apparent suicide. She was 37.The Cleburne County Sheriff's Office said in a news release that McCready was found dead at a residence in Heber Springs from what appears to be a single, self-inflicted gunshot to the head. An autopsy is pending.It...

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Well: Health Effects of Smoking for Women

The title of a recent report on smoking and health might well have paraphrased the popular ad campaign for Virginia Slims, introduced in 1968 by Philip Morris and aimed at young professional women: “You’ve come a long way, baby.”Today that slogan should include: “…toward a shorter life.” Ten years shorter, in fact.The new report is one of two rather shocking analyses of the hazards of smoking and...

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Stuntwoman leaps off tall buildings — and makes it look ugly

Before climbing the scaffold, Heidi Pascoe checked the wind — throwing a handful of dirt into the air to see how hard it was...

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Deasy wants 30% of teacher evaluations based on test scores

L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy announced Friday that as much as 30% of a teacher's evaluation will be based on student test scores,...

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