The Army National Guard

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - The flooded Red River moved within inches of its crest at Fargo, North Dakota on Sunday, but dikes of earth and sandbags kept the water from causing major damage, officials said.

Tiny community in Montana's struggling northwest buries young soldier killed in Afghanistan. Residents from the small communities just outside the mountains of Glacier National Park buried one of their own Saturday, a young soldier from Hungry Horse killed by Afghan insurgents earlier this month.

WINCHESTER - On a clear sunny day, Paul Welliver slogged through his swampy backyard as heavy-duty pumps hooked to a blaring generator belched water from his flooded home. With no flood insurance to help him recover, Welliver was hoping that a state of emergency declared by Governor Deval Patrick would mean that he and other inundated residents would get relief from the government. ``I'm heartbroken,'' he said, looking at his yard, where tools and lawn equipment floated in 3 feet of water. ``I feel like I got beat up.'' But Welliver and others mucking out damaged basements are mostly on their own. Other than to give the governor broad powers to, for example, mobilize resources such as the National Guard, the state of emergency offers no real help for homeowners. Massachusetts expects to ask the federal government for help, but any aid that might be forthcoming is likely to go to only those homeowners who have suffered a near total loss. ``There isn't any direct impact to residents othe

Volunteers along rising Red River fill more sandbags, build dikes to prepare for flood waters. Volunteers in North Dakota were in flood-fighting mode again Tuesday filling sandbags while contractors constructed clay levees along the fast-rising Red River to help protect nearby homes from the murky waters.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - The Red River rose closer, as expected, to causing major flooding at Fargo, North Dakota, on Tuesday, rising more than two feet since Monday afternoon.

Police escorted convoys of flatbed trucks carrying piles of sandbags into neighborhoods along Fargo's Red River on Monday as residents began preparing to keep the looming flood waters away from their homes.

Law officers may be less patient, quicker to use force after combat deployment, study finds. For soldiers patrolling in Iraq and Afghanistan, death can come from a bomb hidden in a trash pile or an innocent-looking face in the crowd. Returning home alive can depend on the quick turn of a steering wheel or pull of a trigger.

Team that helped GOP's Brown win Mass. Senate race tries campaign template elsewhere. The political team that helped Scott Brown stage his improbable victory in the Massachusetts Senate race wants to apply its winning strategy elsewhere this election year. First stop: Rhode Island.

New trial granted for man convicted in spree that killed 5 teens in post-Katrina New Orleans. A Louisiana judge has ordered a new trial for a man convicted of murdering five teenagers in a 2006 shooting spree.

Ill. soldier in Afghanistan gets dishonorable discharge after child porn charge. The National Guard says a western Illinois soldier charged with possession of child pornography in Afghanistan has been discharged from the Army and will not face a court-martial.

A new team? Olympic bobsledders John Napier, Mike Kohn hope to serve with military overseas. The Olympics are over, and U.S. bobsled pilots John Napier and Mike Kohn have put away their red, white and blue racing suits.

Congressman: No poison plot at SC's Fort Jackson; 4 detained soldiers involved in petty crimes. An Army probe into allegations of verbal threats involving a base's food supply has revealed that none of the five soldiers detained was involved in any plot to poison food at the base, a congressman said Sunday.

Nearly 200K still without power in Northeast as utility crews continue post-storm restorations. Nearly 200,000 homes and businesses were still without power Sunday as restoration efforts continued days after a slow-moving storm battered the Northeast with heavy snow, rain and high winds.

Wash. teacher killed outside elementary school before classes; deputy shoots suspect. The stalking began with bursts of phone calls ? 10 or 15 in a day, about once a year, from an old college acquaintance. Then, flowers and unwanted visits, an anti-harassment order, an arrest ? and bail.

CARSON CITY Most of Nevadas government will soon transition to a four-day workweek. But the reasons for it go beyond filling the states $887 million deficit.

With all the recent hullabaloo over Clark County employeesÕ salaries ? including the $200,000 average in salary, overtime and benefits for firefighters ? you might be surprised to know how many county workers moonlight to make extra money.

Navy says helicopter on training exercise crashed in W.Va.; all 17 aboard rescued from scene. The Navy says everyone aboard a helicopter that was forced to land in a remote area of West Virginia has been evacuated.

A Navy helicopter crashed Thursday during a training exercise in a remote, mountainous area of West Virginia, injuring several of the 17 aboard, the military said.

WASHINGTON - Sounding like a potential rival for President Obama in 2012, Mitt Romney delivered a brutal critique yesterday of what he called American liberal ``neo-monarchists'' as he sought the favor of traditional conservatives and insurgent tea party activists at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. While Romney received several standing ovations in the packed ballroom, his reception did not have the same feverish enthusiasm awarded to such new faces as Marco Rubio, a conservative US Senate candidate from Florida, and Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown, who, in a surprise appearance, introduced Romney. Last year, Romney won a straw poll of conference members for their favorite presidential candidate for 2012, and he has raised the most money of any potential GOP candidate, despite his failed 2008 bid. But the conservative movement has changed radically in a year. And some in the audience yesterday said they considered Romney a candidate of the past, not one who could

Don't tread on me: State lawmakers curry conservative favor with anti-Washington measures. With tax collections tanking and jobless rates at record highs, state legislators hundreds of miles from Washington have found an easy way to appeal to conservative voters: Bash the federal government.