ASHEVILLE, N.C. - A dozen or more people sitting on mats and practicing deep breathing exercises is not what you'd expect to see at a detention facility, but it's happening in at least one in North Carolina - with positive results. The Buncombe County Detention Facility has embarked on a pilot prog ...Read More

MILWAUKEE, Wis. - State Sen. Chris Larson says Wisconsin's "woefully inadequate" drunken-driving laws are the most lenient in the nation. While state law now regards a first-time drunken-driving offense as a misdemeanor, a bill sponsored by Larson, D-Milwaukee, would force an immediate consequence ...Read More

PORTLAND, Ore. - Getting more free mobile phones into the hands of more low-income Oregonians is the goal of a new partnership. SafeLink Wireless, an emergency mobile phone provider, and CareOregon, the nonprofit that provides health plan services for Medicaid members, have teamed up to offer free ...Read More

NEW YORK - Legislators, consumer advocates and environmentalists are pledging to step up their campaign for a state law to require labels identifying foods with genetically modified ingredients. Gathering today at City Hall in New York City, they're vowing to make the bipartisan GMO labeling bill a ...Read More

NEW YORK - With the conviction of former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, good-government advocates think Albany finally may take reform seriously. Silver, D-Manhattan, is the latest in a long line of legislators found guilty of corruption, and the trial of Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Roc ...Read More

DENVER - In the aftermath of last week's attack on a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, allies of the clinics are demanding accountability from politicians for their hostile rhetoric against the health-care provider. Presidential candidate Ted Cruz has called Planned Parenthood "barbari ...Read More

BISMARCK, N.D. - It took two years of delays, but this week the Environmental Protection Agency finally released new renewable-fuel standards for the country. The rules include upping the amount of renewable fuel, mostly corn-based ethanol, to more than 18 billion gallons by 2016. That will bring r ...Read More

AMHERST, Mass. - While 100 world leaders take part in climate talks today in Paris, action is being taken now on a college campus in the Commonwealth to reduce carbon emissions. Hampshire College President Jonathan Lash said an impact study is in the works with Eversource, the local utility, and So ...Read More