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ALBION Calif. – Sweat rolled down Lisa Mirander’s forehead as she hacked a tangle of saplings and brush down to bare dirt to prevent a wildfire from spreading. It was a tough job, but no harder than the 13 months she served in Afghanistan. California’s wildfire season has become so …

Police were hunting Thursday for the getaway car in a double shooting at an Atlanta Starbucks, according to local media reports. The gunman entered the cafe at approximately 9:15 p.m. Wednesday, fired multiple shots and immediately fled the scene. A lawyer was critically wounded in the attack, and the suspect …

PANGUITCH, Utah – A tour bus went off a state highway near Bryce Canyon National Park in southern Utah, landing upside down in a creek bed and catching fire Thursday. At least five people aboard the bus were taken to hospitals with minor injuries, Utah Highway Patrol spokesman Cameron Roden …

Sold! I like the G8 so much that I’ve ordered a 2009 GT. Although the MPG is lower than my current ride, a 2000 Monte Carlo, I’m willing to sacrifice some fuel economy for a great ride! I’ve had the pleasure to use one for a day and wasn’t disappointed. …

Ask Blake Busmire about the Yankees, PlayStation, superheroes and comic books, and he’ll happily tell you they’re his favorites. The 8-year old gives you that same ear-to-ear grin when you ask about the new heart he’s waiting for. It’s been more than two months since Blake — bloated, battered and …

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine: Hold Your Horses The high price of gasoline may mean that Congress will now tell you to slow down. Republican Senator John Warner of Virgina has asked Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman to calculate what speed would provide optimum gasoline efficiency under current …

A new study from Yale University finds that teens who smoke are at risk for hearing loss, according to a BBC report. In tests on 67 teenagers ages 13 to 18, university researchers found that teens exposed to smoke had trouble focusing and interpreting sounds when there was a distraction. …

LONDON – Seven young people in an area of southern Wales have died in the last 12 months in what is feared to be a spate of suicides. Police said Wednesday they were examining the computer of a teenager found hanged last week. Natasha Randall, 17, was found dead in …

WASHINGTON – Telephone companies cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals because of the bureau’s repeated failures to pay phone bills on time, according to a Justice Department audit released Thursday. The faulty bookkeeping is part of what the audit, by the Justice Department’s inspector general, described …

LONDON – Princess Diana’s butler said that he did not know whether she had become engaged to Dodi Fayed shortly before she died, but that he believed that the relationship was already cooling. Paul Burrell, in his third day of testimony at the inquest into the couple’s Aug. 31, 1997, …