WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama vows responsibility and accountability - but he blames his predecessor for the mess we're in.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama says his $3.6 trillion federal budget plan for 2010 begins to deliver on some of his campaign promises.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is still going through the 1,700 page federal stimulus plan so he hasn't made a final decision yet about whether he'll request the money for the state. But he does say, "I think expectations are probably higher than the reality of what these monies will do. And I think in some cases it's going to come with such strings attached that we probably can't accept some of the money." South Carolina's share of the stimulus money is about $8 billion. One example of the strings attached to the money is unemployment benefits. The stimulus plan requires states to offer unemployment benefits to part-time workers who lose their jobs, which the state doesn't do now. The state has already had to borrow millions from the federal government to be able to keep paying benefits. "If you can't pay for the current benefits, can you really afford to expand benefits? So there are some Catch-22s in the bill like that," Gov. Sanford says.He fought the bill before it was passed an

The Dutch authorities confirmed Friday the identities of five Turks and four Americans who perished in a jetliner crash at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport.

The Turkish pilots' association said Friday a Turkish jet that crashed at Amsterdam appeared to be the victim of "wake turbulence" as aviation experts stepped up their investigation.

Lawmakers vote to close loophole enabling high-cost loans. The Virginia General Assembly appears to be ready to take more action against payday lenders in the state.

Nevada cities seek authority to raise taxes

Lead paint, choking hazards reported. CBB Group Inc. is recalling about 39,000 toys sold at dollar stores and toy stores nationwide.

With Suge Knight?s victim MIA, trial win would have been iffy. There?s a reason hip-hop mogul Marion ?Suge? Knight keeps David Chesnoff, Richard Schonfeld and other well-paid criminal lawyers nearby.

Silent Diving Systems is recalling about 820 scuba diving hoses because of a drowning hazard.

Culinary school grads use their expertise to create a line of healthful food for Fido. Jillian Plaster met her husband-to-be, Ian Kester, over sizzling pans three years ago at a Las Vegas cooking school.

CroMoto S.U.L. handlebar stems were also sold individually. Salsa Bicycles is recalling about 8,600 bicycles because the handlebar stems can crack or break, posing a fall hazard to the consumer.

Cowboy Troy?s modern mashup act suits weekend?s NASCAR crowd. If Cowboy Troy hadn?t existed, some marketing genius would have invented him. A 6-foot-5 black conservative Republican TV-show-hosting 38-year-old father of 2-year-old triplets, Cowboy Troy calls his Big Tent criss-crossover combo platter of country, rap and grunge rock ?hick-hop? and ?y?allternative,? and hits the sweet spot for multiple pop culture niches.

Times may be bad, but that doesn't mean you have to look bad. A new report from market research firm Mintel finds Americans are pouring more money into the fountain of youth known as anti-aging skincare.

Coco Montoya even listens to the Bee Gees.

Texas plant sample tests positive for strain that caused nationwide outbreak. A sample of peanut meal from the Peanut Corporation of America's (PCA) Texas plant has tested positive for the same strain of salmonella linked to the nationwide outbreak that has sickened hundreds of people and may have caused the deaths of nine others, state health officials announced Wednesday.

In December, when odds on which driver would win the Daytona 500 first appeared in Las Vegas, Matt Kenseth of the Roush Fenway Racing team was listed at 22-1.

Order prevents charging of up-front payments to help homeowners. A Florida court has issued an order temporarily prohibiting an Orlando loan modification company from charging up-front fees to homeowners for its services.

With every major Republican and conservative special

While many banks remain stable, big losses overshadow the rest. U.S. banks and savings and loans lost a combined total of $26.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008, a decline of $27.8 billion from the $57.5 billion that the industry earned in the fourth quarter of 2007 and the first quarterly loss since 1990.

Nevada Legislature on right track with bill to improve rainy day fund, but it is only a start. Emergencies by nature are unpredictable, which is why it makes sense for Nevada?s budget to include a rainy-day fund the state?s residents can fall back on.

Behavioral shift seen as long-term. Economic concerns and uncertainty about the future of gas prices are keeping drivers off the road, even though gasoline prices have declined sharply from last summer's historic highs.

A power distribution grid based on decades-old assumptions needs modernization. One barrier stands in the way of beginning an appreciable national transition toward energy derived from the sun, wind, underground hot water and other renewable sources.

If the spirit of America shines bright, the nation will come out of recession quickly. President Barack Obama presented Americans with a blunt assessment of the economic situation Tuesday night in his speech to Congress. But at the same time, he rallied the country, offering hope.

$8.8 million project will give workers more elbow room. Visitors to McCarran International Airport might assume that the heart of the operations is found atop the air traffic control tower. And make no mistake, it?s from that perch that controllers direct the air and ground traffic that make McCarran one of the busiest airports in the country.

Black business leaders share ideas for acquiring a portion of federal funding. The mood was something between a high school reunion and a pumped-up gathering of Who?s Who of Black Las Vegas.

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ALL IN

CARSON CITY The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce is the like the kid who taunts the barking, chained-up dogs in the neighborhood.

Response to Obama?s Tuesday address takes fallacious swipe at Las Vegas. WASHINGTON Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal leveled a colorful if well-worn zinger at Democrats and at Las Vegas on Tuesday in the nationally broadcast Republican response to the presidents address to Congress.

But officials walk back plan to send county only 14 percent of stimulus road money they control. CARSON CITY Gov. Jim Gibbons decided Wednesday that the debate over transportation stimulus spending in Nevada will occur in public.

CARSON CITY Sig Rogich, the longtime Republican operative with decades of experience in national politics, offered a robust endorsement Wednesday of Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

British sculptor Antony Gormley invited members of the public Thursday to submit themselves as works of art for a new 'living monument' in London's Trafalgar Square this summer.

Ten Democratic senators joined Republicans in defeating a domestic partnership bill in New Mexico.

Under Darwinian pressure, genes that don't help the struggle to survive get squeezed out of the genetic code, leaving the ones that are fitter.

Iraq displayed growing political maturity last month in holding peaceful provincial elections that drew a large turnout, the UN special representative in Iraq said Thursday.

An experimental drug called fampridine improves walking ability in some patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), a disease of the nervous system that crimps mobility, a study published on Friday in The Lancet says.

Japanese factory output fell a record 10 percent in January and consumer spending tumbled as Asia's largest economy was left reeling by its worst recession in decades, official data showed Friday.

South Korea's current account swung to a deficit in January as exports plunged because of the global economic slump, the central bank said Friday.

Top Democratic lawmakers Thursday urged Congress architect Stephen Ayers to switch the Capitol's century-old power plant from burning coal to using natural gas, in keeping with an initiative launched in 2007.

The United States has no intention of trying to topple North Korea's regime despite concerns about its behavior and questions over succession, a senior US official said Thursday.

Troubled US mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae said Thursday it lost almost 60 billion dollars last year and expected to suffer more losses in 2009, and asked for a further 15.2 billion dollars in government aid.

Troubled US mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae said Thursday it lost almost 60 billion dollars last year and asked the Treasury Department for a further 15.2 billion dollars in aid.

New York newspaper Newsday plans to start charging users of its website, a top executive of the company which owns the daily said Thursday.

Top seed Mardy Fish defeated fellow American Vince Spadea 6-4, 6-1 Thursday to reach the quarter-finals of the 500,000-dollar ATP Delray Beach International Championships.

Tiger Woods's return from an eight-month layoff ended abruptly Thursday as South African Tim Clark knocked the world number one out of the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship.

US veteran Bo Van Pelt fired a sizzling seven-under par 63 here Thursday to seize a two-stroke lead after the opening round of the 3.6 million-dollar US PGA Mayakoba Classic.

Rasheed Wallace has avoided a one-game National Basketball Association suspension thanks to the rescinding of two technical fouls and will play Friday when Detroit will visit Orlando.

President Barack Obama unveiled Thursday an unprecedented bid to reform the country's ailing health care system, aiming to endow millions of Americans with much-needed insurance and give a shot in the arm to the ailing economy.

General Motors warned of a "challenging" year ahead as it posted a 30.9-billion-dollar 2008 loss Thursday, bringing the tally from four consecutive years of bleeding balance sheets to a whopping 86.6 billion dollars.