LAUREL, Mississippi (AP)  The work has always been stupefying and hard. Hour after hour standing on the line, soldering or welding or drilling in screws.
Even in today's nightmare economy, most people wouldn't want this daily grind that steals the soul in 12-hour shifts paying as little as $280 a week, before taxes.
But such labor prospers here in mostly rural Jones County, home to Laurel, where the area's biggest employer, Howard Industries, maintains a sprawling factory that builds electrical transformers and other big equipment behind a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. ...

Don Imus makes no excuses for his offensive remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team, but says: "I deserved a second chance." He's 14 months into that second chance, trying to make the most of it. The new "Imus in the Morning" has key differences from the old one in tone and is certainly different visually, with the addition of two comedians who are Black, Karith Foster and Tony Powell. "What happened is what should have happened," Imus said in an interview. "So much good has come out of what happened. I really do think it's like an alcoholic, which I am, and a drug addict, which I am. You're presented with the unique opportunity to be a better person than you had been. ...

Zimbabwean police called off an opposition rally in their capital Sunday, prompting accusations of political interference on the eve of a regional summit on the southern African nation's political crisis. Opposition spokesman Nelson Chamisa said leaders of his Movement for Democratic Change had organized the rally to update members on their position headed into the talks, set to take place in South Africa on Monday ...

OLYMPIA—Attorney General Rob McKenna Thursday applauded the U.S. Supreme Court for reinstating the murder convictions of an accomplice in a gang-related drive-by shooting at Seattle's Ballard High School.
"Today's decision helps brings closure to the family of a girl murdered on the steps of her high school," McKenna said. "Our office argued, and the Supreme Court agreed, that the convictions for the accomplice in this despicable drive-by were constitutional." ...

Richard Hugo House's InPrint Series presents "Online Publishing, Blogging, and Marketing for Writers," a panel discussion with writers, bloggers and editors who have made the Internet work for them, on Thursday, Jan. 29, at 7 p.m. at Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave in Seattle.
Panelists include bloggers-turned-novelists Rebecca Agiewich and Cherie Priest and writer/editors Eileen Gunn and Cat Rambo.
"As old-media publishing houses face increasing challenges in these uncertain economic times, writers must think outside of the box," said InPrint coordinator Leslie Howle. "Blogging, Twitter, podcasting and social networking sites are tools writers can use to build their reputations and readership at very little cost." ...

The Seattle Public Library, United Way of King County and the American Association of Retired Persons are collaborating to offer free tax preparation service through April 15 at 11 locations of The Seattle Public Library.
Trained volunteers will answer questions and help prepare personal tax returns. The service is not available for business tax returns.
Tax assistance will be available at the times and locations listed below. ...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Most congressional Democrats say the quickest way to save homeowners like Troy Butler of Saginaw, Mich., is to let them declare bankruptcy and allow judges to dictate new mortgage terms. Easy, except the lenders that would absorb the pain -- and lose control of any deals to ease the terms -- do not want to get dragged into bankruptcy court by millions of overextended borrowers. ...

Job vacancies in Washington last fall were 32 percent fewer than just six months earlier, according to the latest job-vacancy report from the Employment Security Department. The survey showed that Washington companies were attempting to fill an estimated 50,593 open positions in the fall of 2008, compared to 74,744 open positions in the spring of the same year.  ...

Larry Evans, the father of a T.T. Minor student, joined several hundred parents, students and teachers Sunday Jan. 25 at a march and rally at the school to stop the school closures set to be finalized Jan. 29 by Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson. Larry Evans' daughter has already had to change schools once -- she moved to T.T. Minor following the closure of Martin Luther King Elementary School in 2006. 
Currently on the table are plans to close five schools, relocate eight programs and eliminate five programs, including the African American Academy ...

WASHINGTON (AP) _ It's already been a lousy year for workers less than a month into 2009 and there's no relief in sight. Tens of thousands of fresh layoffs were announced Monday and more companies are expected to cut payrolls in the months ahead.
A new survey by the National Association for Business Economics depicts the worst business conditions in the U.S. since the report's inception in 1982.
Thirty-nine percent of NABE's forecasters predicted job reductions through attrition or "significant" layoffs over the next six months, up from 32 percent in the previous survey in October ...