Flooded mobile home park becomes city park in Hollister HOLLITER, Mo. - Holland Mobile Home Park flooded in both the spring of  2008, and the spring of 2011.  Lake Taneycomo couldn't take any more rain, and flooded the neighborhood. "Both times we  had to do water rescues of families that did ...

Alleged cheating on MAP tests prompt district, and state investigation CAMDENTON, Mo - School administrators are looking into allegations a teacher helped students cheat on a state-mandated test. Two staff members at Camdenton Middle School are on administrative leave while the district looks into claims testing procedures were violated during this ...

Gas line rupture leads to evacuations at the University of Arkansas FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) - The University of Arkansas says evacuations at its Fayetteville campus have ended after a leak was stopped following a gas line rupture. The school said an emergency crew stopped the leak at about 12:10 p.m. Wednesday. The ...

Older generation teaches younger generation how to give back Springfield, Mo. -- One day each month dozens of volunteers get together for a type of old-fashioned sewing circle.  They make thousands of specialty items meant for people in the hospital.  For the first time Wednesday, Cox Health expanded that program ...

Greene County deputy's alertness led to 2 arrests for 4 stolen vehicles SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A man and a woman are in custody and suspected of stealing two cars and two motorcycles in southwest Missouri.  They were arrested on Wednesday morning about 7:30 after a Greene County sheriff's deputy patrolling north of Springfield ...

Missouri woman wins $13 million judgment against Vatterott College in lawsuit KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri woman has won a $13 million judgment against Vatterott College in a lawsuit over advice she was given during enrollment at the school. Jennifer Kerr of Belton alleged that she was misled when she ...

New Colo. wildfire prompts evacuations of homes
EVERGREEN, Colo. (AP) — A new wildfire in the foothills southwest of Denver forced the evacuation of dozens of homes Wednesday as hot and windy conditions in much of Colorado and elsewhere in the West made it easy for fires to start and spread.

Dotcom 'in tears' after Megaupload files deleted
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom said Thursday he was "in tears" after a European company deleted all the data it was hosting from his shuttered file-sharing site.

Afghan government to shun U.S. talks with Taliban
By Hamid Shalizi and Lesley Wroughton KABUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Revived Afghan peace talks hit their first roadblock on Wednesday, a day after they were announced, as Afghan President Hamid Karzai said his government would not join U.S. talks with the Taliban and would halt negotiations with Washington on a post-2014 troop pact. The United States and the Taliban had announced on Tuesday that officials from both sides will meet in Doha, the capital of Qatar, in coming days, in a step forward for a stuttering peace process after 12 years of bloody and costly war between U.S. ...

China's Xi harks back to Mao in party 'cleanup'
BEIJING (AP) — China's new leader Xi Jinping is commanding wayward Communist Party cadres to purify themselves of corruption, and he's summed it up in a pithy slogan as Mao Zedong might have done: Look in the mirror, take a bath.

Actor James Gandolfini dies in Italy at age 51
LOS ANGELES (AP) — James Gandolfini, whose portrayal of a brutal, emotionally delicate mob boss in HBO's "The Sopranos" helped create one of TV's greatest drama series and turned the mobster stereotype on its head, died Wednesday in Italy. He was 51.