July 30, 2008 in City on Page A1 A quarter-million ballots will be dropped in the mail starting today in Spokane County, giving voters a chance to whittle down a long list of candidates for federal, state and …

July 30, 2008 in Nation/World on Page A1 WASHINGTON – The indictment of Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, on corruption charges Tuesday throws into question his grip on a Senate seat that he has held for decades and offers …

July 30, 2008 in Nation/World on Page A2 Using a thin beam of synchrotron X-rays generated by a particle accelerator, European scientists have reconstructed a portrait of a peasant woman painted by Vincent van Gogh that had been …

July 30, 2008 in Nation/World on Page A3 CHICAGO – For the first time, an experimental drug shows promise for halting the progression of Alzheimer’s disease by taking a new approach: breaking up the protein tangles that clog …

July 30, 2008 in Nation/World on Page A3 WASHINGTON – The House on Tuesday apologized to black Americans, more than 140 years after slavery was abolished, for the “fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity of slavery and Jim …

July 30, 2008 in Nation/World on Page A3 City officials are putting South Los Angeles on a diet. The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to place a moratorium on new fast-food restaurants in an impoverished swath of the …

July 30, 2008 in Nation/World on Page A4 The number of AIDS deaths worldwide dropped 10 percent in 2007, as did the number of new infections in children, because of increasing access to treatment, the United Nations reported …

July 30, 2008 in Nation/World on Page A4 BAQOUBA, Iraq – The Iraqi government’s most ambitious effort yet to stamp its authority over long-troubled parts of the country began Tuesday with polite requests to search homes in and …

July 30, 2008 in Nation/World on Page A5 WASHINGTON – Bush administration officials reassured Israel’s defense minister this week that the United States has not abandoned all possibility of a military attack on Iran, despite widespread Israeli concern …

July 30, 2008 in Nation/World on Page A6 WASHINGTON – For four days, Sen. John McCain and his allies have accused Sen. Barack Obama of snubbing wounded soldiers by canceling a visit to a military hospital because he …

July 30, 2008 in Nation/World on Page A6 YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. – Visitors trying to photograph Yosemite National Park’s famed peaks on Tuesday instead took shots of flying ash blowing in from an out-of-control wildfire burning just …

July 30, 2008 in Nation/World on Page A7 BOSTON – The Massachusetts House voted Tuesday to repeal a 1913 law that had been used to block gay marriages involving out-of-state couples, all but assuring that the state will …

July 30, 2008 in Business on Page A8 ST. LOUIS – Agricultural lobbyists didn’t want to give up federal subsidies to see the WTO negotiations succeed. But that doesn’t mean they are happy the talks collapsed Tuesday. John …

July 30, 2008 in Business on Page A8 The weak economy is putting a squeeze on workers in their 50s and 60s. Having spent their careers with only one or two employers, many are looking for work for …

July 30, 2008 in Business on Page A8 Department store chain Mervyns LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday. The Hayward, Calif.-based chain, along with certain of its affiliates, filed for protection from its creditors in …

July 30, 2008 in Business on Page A8 Venezuela is officially taking away a gold concession that Coeur d’Alene-based Hecla Mining Co. recently sold. The company last month sold its Venezuelan subsidiaries to Rusoro Mining Ltd., of Vancouver, …