LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Obama administration on Monday asked California's largest for-profit health insurer to justify plans to hike customers' premiums by as much as 39 percent, a move that could affect some 800,000 customers.In a letter to the president of Anthem Blue Cross, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said she was very disturbed to learn of the planned increases, callin

WASHINGTON (AP) - Could this turn into something more than political theater?President Barack Obama's televised dialogue with Republican lawmakers on health care, promised for later this month, has the makings of an entertaining exchange. But the differences between the basic Democratic and GOP ideas are stark - and the two sides have increasingly hardened their positions in this election year.Yet

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (AP) - Rep. John Murtha, the tall, gruff-mannered former Marine who became the de facto voice of veterans on Capitol Hill and later an outspoken and influential critic of the Iraq War, died following complications from gallbladder surgery. He was 77.Rep. Bob Brady, a longtime friend, said Murtha's large intestine was damaged during surgery and an infection led him to be ho

WASHINGTON (AP) - A $20 cab ride to the airport skyrocketed to the "snow rate" of $100 in the nation's capital, and those travelers who could get to the airport or train station still had to haggle or wait in long lines to escape the snowbound Mid-Atlantic.The most pressing matter: get out before another foot or more of snow comes Tuesday."I'm done with city, urban snow life," said Chris Vaughan,

WASHINGTON (AP) - Planes were grounded, trains stood still and Greyhound buses weren't rolling in the Mid-Atlantic region on Sunday, leaving stranded travelers wondering when they'll be able to escape the icy, gray mess created by a major snowstorm.Hundreds of thousands of homes were without power with temperatures below freezing all day, and utilities warned it could be days before electricity is