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PACE, Fla. – Authorities in the Florida Panhandle say they have arrested a woman suspected of severely neglecting a 4-year-old boy. Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Sgt. Scott Haines says the boy weighed only 10 pounds when he was hospitalized earlier this month but his condition is improving. Deputies on Friday …

WASHINGTON – One in 10 voters believes Barack Obama is Muslim, a mistaken impression that lingers across party lines, a poll showed Wednesday. Fourteen percent of Republicans, 10 percent of Democrats and 8 percent of independents mistakenly think he is Muslim, according to a survey by the nonpartisan Pew Research …

RICHMOND, Va. – Legislation toughening Virginia’s cockfighting and dogfighting laws is on its way to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s desk after winning final General Assembly approval Monday. Without debate, the Senate unanimously passed the measure, which previously had cleared the House of Delegates. Kaine supports the legislation. Virginia is one …

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A mother and daughter were found guilty Tuesday of keeping a Haitian teen as their slave for six years in their South Florida home. Evelyn Theodore and her daughter, Maude Paulin, were convicted of conspiring to violate Simone Celestin’s Thirteenth Amendment rights to be free from …

NEW YORK – The crucial day in determining investors’ sentiment toward the financial sector will be on Tuesday, as both Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers report first-quarter earnings, the Financial Times reports. Click to read analysis from the Financial Times

LOS ANGELES – Looks like Britney Spears isn’t hitting the gym hard enough. Photos from X17Online.com and featured in the U.K.’s Daily Mail show the fallen pop princess in Los Angeles Monday wearing hot pink shorts with cellulite lacing her chunky thighs. “She reportedly visited a liposuction specialist last year …

WASHINGTON – The District of Columbia made a final defense of its strict ban on handguns Wednesday, the last legal filing to the U.S. Supreme Court before the justices hear arguments on whether the city’s three-decades old law is unconstitutional. The case could produce the most in-depth examination of the …

The Supreme Court has turned down an appeal from a county sheriff who objects to transporting jail inmates for elective abortions. An Arizona sheriff wanted the justices to allow him to enforce a jail policy that bars transporting inmates for abortions without a court order. Arizona courts said the policy …

WASHINGTON – Santa Claus was there, too, but three children who attended a holiday reception at the White House on Monday preferred to climb up on a chair with President Bush and the first lady. The children were among the 150 fourth graders — most of them sons and daughters …

WASHINGTON – Congress on Thursday approved a one-month extension of the Patriot Act and sent it to President Bush in a pre-Christmas scramble to prevent many of its anti-terrorism provisions from expiring Dec. 31. The Senate, with only Sen. John Warner, R-Va., present, approved the Feb. 3 expiration date four …