It is a penetrating question. The belief that President Obama's election heralded immediate change was so strong that shortly after his win, the blog Debate Link featured a Nov. 7, 2008, column entitled. "Do We Still Need Civil Rights After Obama?"

With President Barack Obama hosting a major Asia-Pacific economic summit in Honolulu in November - one that will draw dozens of heads of state and focus international attention on the tourist mecca - state leaders have begun pressing for solutions to solve a homelessness problem that's as deeply entrenched in Hawaii as nearly anywhere in the country

Osama bin Laden's personal files revealed a brazen idea to hijack oil tankers and blow them up at sea last summer, creating explosions he hoped would rattle the world's economy and send oil prices skyrocketing, the U.S. said Friday.

ATLANTA (AP) -- "Zombie apocalypse." That blog posting headline is all it took for a behind-the-scenes public health doctor to set off an Internet frenzy over tired old advice about keeping water and flashlights on hand in case of a hurricane.

Wisconsin's Republican governor and GOP leaders in several other states are facing increasing pressure to back off from deep spending cuts to education and social programs in light of higher than expected revenue projections as the economy improves.

The news about both Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Arnold Schwarzenegger has brought renewed attention to what seems like a myriad of past allegations of sexual harassment by the two politicians. Strauss-Kahn and Schwarzenegger have also both now acknowledged relationships with women who worked for them.
So, when something happens between a boss and employee, where's the line between harassment and a consensual relationship? It turns out the law isn't as clear as you might think.

About 100 students walked out of class at a suburban Atlanta high school on Tuesday, protesting Georgia's new law cracking down on illegal immigration and a new Georgia university system policy that effectively bars illegal immigrant students from the five most competitive state colleges and universities.

Documents federal agents left behind during a September raid of an anti-war activist's home shed some light on the evolution of an investigation into apparent connections between local activists and radical groups in Colombia and the Middle East.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Researchers commissioned by the nation's Roman Catholic bishops to analyze the pattern of clergy sex abuse have concluded that homosexuality, celibacy and an all-male priesthood did not cause the scandal.
The study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York instead said that the problem was largely the result of poor seminary training and insufficient emotional support for men ordained in the 1940s and 1950s, who were not able to withstand the social upheaval they confronted as pastors in the 1960s. Crime and other deviant behavior increased overall in the United States during this period, when the rate of abuse by priests was climbing.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- For homebuilders, it hardly feels like an economic recovery.
Nearly two years after the recession ended, the pace of construction is inching along at less than half the level considered healthy. Single-family home building, the bulk of the market, has dropped 11 percent in that time.
Builders are struggling to compete with waves of foreclosures that have forced down prices for previously occupied homes. The weakness is weighing on the economy: Though new homes represent a small portion of overall sales, they have an outsized effect on jobs.