Recently in National Category

Boy, 9, to be charged in shooting of girl, 8

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Charges are expected to be filed against a 9-year-old boy who brought a gun to his Washington state elementary school that went off and critically hurt a classmate.

At the end of school Wednesday, a bullet went through 8 year-old Amina Kocer Bowman's backpack and into her abdomen. She remained in critical condition Thursday after surgery at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, hospital spokeswoman Leila Gray said.

Under Washington state law children between 8 and 12 years old can face charges if a court determines the child has the ability to understand an act is wrong, prosecutor Todd Dowell told CBS News.

Investigators were trying to determine how the 9-year-old boy got the .45 caliber gun from his mother's house and why he would bring it to school.

"I just want everyone to know that my kid made a mistake. It was a terrible mistake," the boy's father, Jason Cochran, told the Associated Press outside the courtroom.

NASA cutting missions to Mars

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NASA is planning to propose major cuts in missions to explore other planets, especially Mars, scientists say.

Due to limited money for science and a over-budget new space telescope, the agency had to cut missions to the neighboring planet in favor of exploring elsewhere.

The two proposed missions were joint missions with Europe expected to be in 2016 and 2018. NASA has previously agreed to pay a total of $1.4 billion for the missions, Fox News said.

Some missions to Mars will continue, but the fate of more major flights is unclear, including a plan to bring rocks from the red planet back to Earth.

The percentage cut to planetary missions is in the double digits, scientists told Kare 11. There are no cuts being done to NASA's Earth sciences budget.


After receiving backlash from the media for cutting funding to Planned Parenthood, Komen foundation founder Nancy Brinker apologized and reversed her decision on Friday.

The foundation said it would be stopping more than $650,000 grants to Planned Parenthood, money that went to funding breast cancer screenings. Planned Parenthood supporters lashed out on Facebook, Twitter, and via email and phone calls.

"They really wanted a chance to register their frustration and to say no to politics coming before women's health," said Jen Aulwes, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood in the Midwest.

Supporters raised 3 million dollars to fund breast cancer screenings just in this past week, Kare 11 reports.

Planned Parenthood does a physical breast exam on every woman as part of a regular physical, and refers mammograms to any woman over 40. About 80 percent of its clients are younger than 35, and may not see other doctors. This exam could be the only method of detecting breast cancer for some, the Star Tribune reports.

Komen founder Nancy Brinker said the group is committed to women's health, and that the move was "not political," Kare 11 reports.

Mysterious verbal and twitching tics affecting 15 Leroy teens are still unexplained three months later.

In October, 15 New York teenage girls and one boy started to swing their arms and twitch uncontrollably. All 16 teens attend Leroy Junior-Senior High School, which leaves parents wondering if the school is to blame, CNN reports.

The media craze surrounding the story grew as famous environmental activist Erin Brockovich sent investigators to look for environmental causes. The team tested water and soil samples, particularly concerned because of a chemical spill near the school grounds in 1970, CBS reports.

So far nothing out the ordinary has been found, but doctors have concluded that 11 of these teens have a stress-induced "conversion disorder" which starts as an emotional problem that becomes a physical problem in time, CNN reports.

Some parents refuse to accept that this is simply a psychological issue and are still searching for answers.

Gingrich defends moon colonization plans

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Newt Gingrich laid out plans to colonize the moon on Wednesday, with hopes of putting an American base on the moon by the year 2020.

During his speech, Gingrich was very serious about his plans despite some of his opponents' jabs at his vision, CNN reports.

Rival Mitt Romney has said that he is simply not willing to invest the money in this kind of project. Opponent Ron Paul went to the route of defending health care and vying to make it more of a priority, Huffington Post reports. Rick Santorum sided with Ron Paul, saying that America's deficit required cutting programs, not irresponsibly exploring the moon.

Gingrich says his moon colonization plans are very much about doing something bold and big to bring the country together. He also mentioned wanting to get there before the Chinese, implying a fear that another part of the world could beat us to it.

The hopeful future president doesn't want to stop at the moon, either. If elected president, Gingrich aspires to tackle Mars as well, CNN reports.

Taco Bell adds breakfast menu

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Taco Bell is following the footsteps of other fast food restaurants who have been pressured to add breakfast items to their menus.

The Mexican-style food chain has launched its breakfast menu at nearly 800 restaurants , primarily located within 12 Western states. The new menu includes stuffed burritos stuffed with a wide variety of ingredients, hash browns, hot or iced coffee, and orange juice, Kare 11 reports.

Brian Niccol, Taco Bell's chief marketing and innovation officer, tells Chicago Sun-Times that although Taco Bell has had plenty of breakfast time customers, the company deserves more than just a fair share.

This new menu is expected to help enormously due to the fact that breakfast demand in fast food restaurants has grown so rapidly. Due to economic struggles, people are generally more likely to splurge on a fast food breakfast than dinner out at a restaurant.

If the launch goes as expected, Taco Bell will have breakfast burritos on menus nationwide by the year 2014, Kare 11 reports.

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