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NEW YORK (AP) — Comedian Joan Rivers has died at a New York hospital at the age of 81. Word of her death comes from her daughter, Melissa. Joan Rivers was hospitalized last week after going into cardiac arrest at a doctor's office.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is launching a broad investigation into the practices of the Ferguson, Missouri, police department. That's according to Attorney General Eric Holder. The announcement comes in the aftermath of the shooting last month of an unarmed black 18-year-old by a white police officer in the St. Louis suburb. It's a separate inquiry from an ongoing federal civil rights investigation into the circumstances of the shooting of Michael Brown by Officer Darren Wilson. A local grand jury is also investigating.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power says the United States is concerned that the most dangerous terrorist groups could get hold of chemical weapons if Syria is hiding any stockpiles. The Security Council was briefed today by the head of the international effort to rid Syria of its chemical weapons. She says her team is still working with Syria's government to resolve discrepancies.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The jury has reached a verdict in the federal corruption trial of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife, Maureen. The jurors are expected to announce the verdict this afternoon, their third day of deliberations. McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, are charged in a 14-count indictment with doing special favors for Jonnie Williams, the CEO of a dietary supplements maker, in exchange for more than $165,000 in gifts and loans. The defense sought to convince the jury that the couple could not have conspired because they were barely speaking.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A liberal-leaning think tank is unveiling a health care cost-control plan that borrows some Republican ideas. It's from the Center for American Progress, which is closely associated with the White House. And it calls for empowering the states. Several former Obama and Clinton advisers have signed on to the plan. Individual states would set their own targets to curb the growth of health care spending. If they succeed, they'd pocket a share of federal Medicare and Medicaid savings, ranging from tens of millions to $1 billion or more.
NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials say smoking is banned in more than eight out of 10 U.S. homes — nearly twice what the numbers were two decades ago. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found smoking is even forbidden in nearly half of homes where an adult smoker resides, up from one in 10 households with smokers in the early 1990s. CDC experts attribute the changes to shrinking smoking rates and a shift in how many people think it's OK to smoke around nonsmokers.
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