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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says he's sorry Americans are losing health insurance plans he said they could keep.Obama is apologizing to Americans who have found themselves in that situation based on assurances they got from him. He tells NBC News that the administration will do everything it can to help people who are in a difficult situation because of the cancellations.Obama for years [...]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Insurance cancellations are fueling a political backlash against President Barack Obama and Democrats supporting his health care overhaul, but they may be a silver lining for the law itself.It's Economics 101, a little-noticed consequence of a controversial policy decision. And there are winners and losers.Millions of people who currently buy their own health insurance coverage are [...]

MANILA, Philippines (AP)The world's strongest typhoon of the year slammed into the Philippines early Friday. It had been poised to be the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded at landfall, a weather expert said."There will be catastrophic damage," said Jeff Masters, a former hurricane meteorologist who is meteorology director at the private firm Weather Underground.

A four-car accident in the eastbound lanes of the McCluggage Bridge forced bridge traffic into one lane for almost an hour Thursday afternoon.A car slowed in an attempt to merge into the left late about 2 p.m. and the car behind it did not slow down causing it to crash into the rear of the first car. Two other cars rear-ended behind the initial crash.No one was injured in the crash, but two cars were towed [...]

Officials of Proctor Hospital and UnityPoint Health-Methodist focused on how the union will benefit the hospitals, physicians and the community during a press conference at the Hult Center today. The press conference followed up on the official announcement Tuesday after state regulators unanimously approved their affiliation agreement.Proctor gets a new name, UnityPoint Health-Proctor, and joins Methodist in the Iowa-based Unity Point Health [...]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today's fourth and eighth graders are doing better than their predecessors in math and reading, but even with record scores, it's too early to celebrate.The vast majority of the students still are not demonstrating solid academic performance in either subject, according to the 2013 Nation's Report Card, which was released Thursday.Just 42 percent of fourth graders and 35 percent [...]

PEORIA ‒ A former Dunlap High School teacher was sentenced Thursday to six months in jail and 30 months of probation for secretly videotaping colleagues using a faculty bathroom earlier this year.Guy L. Sandy, 53, of 401 N. French Drive, pleaded guilty in Peoria County Circuit Court to two felony counts of unauthorized videotaping. He had faced up to five years in prison but that was unlikely given he had no criminal record.He was immediately taken into [...]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Senate pushed toward a historic vote on legislation outlawing workplace discrimination against gay, bisexual and transgender Americans, demonstrating the nation's quickly evolving attitude toward gay rights nearly two decades after Congress rejected same-sex marriage.All 55 members of the Democratic majority, including senators from the Deep South, and several Republicans were expected to unite on Thursday in backing [...]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. economy expanded at a 2.8 percent annual rate from July through September, a surprising sign of strength ahead of the 16-day partial government shutdown. Exports rose, businesses stocked up, home construction increased and state and local governments spent at the fastest pace in four years.The Commerce Department says growth increased from a 2.5 percent annual rate in the April-June period to the fastest [...]

LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Swiss scientists say Yasser Arafat ingested radioactive polonium, most probably as a result of a deliberate poisoning.The Swiss lab examined Arafat's remains and his underclothes and a travel bag that he had with him in the days before his death in a Paris hospital and found that the polonium and lead amounts could not be naturally occurring. The timeframe of his illness and death were also consistent with [...]