It's tough to find a foreclosure sign in Bismarck, N.D. Banners announcing "Now Hiring" are much more common. Over at the mall, the Scheels sporting-goods store is so busy on weekends that some shoppers have sworn to go only during the week. Want to make jokes about North Dakota Sure, the state's got three times as many cattle as people, and a typical day in January is a balmy 20°F. But the folks who live here, unlike those ...

Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi returned to the United States on Friday after enduring a 100-day ordeal in an Iranian jail. Landing at Washington's Dulles International Airport on a flight from Vienna, Austria, a smiling Saberi said she was feeling "very good." Saberi thanked those who campaigned for her release, including her supporters in Iran. "The one thing that kept me going when I was in prison was singing the national anthem to myself," said Saberi, flanked by her parents. "It ...

In a surprising gesture of white knighthood, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to the aid of Roxana Saberi, the Iranian-American journalist detained in a Tehran prison on spying charges. Known more for being a regular sparring partner with the United States, Ahmadinejad made a rare intervention into Saberi's case on Sunday by declaring that she should have the legal right to defend herself. Also on Sunday, President Obama called for Saberi's release. "I am gravely concerned with her safety ...

President Obama said his administration plans to keep a close watch on and help fight the rising waters in the Dakotas and Minnesota. "Even as we face an economic crisis which demands our constant focus, forces of nature can also intervene in ways that create other crises to which we must respond and respond urgently," Obama said Saturday in his weekly webcast. "For the people of North and South Dakota and Minnesota who live along rivers spilling over their banks, ...

Two retired Turkish generals are accused of masterminding a plot to overthrow the government, according to an indictment officially released Wednesday that charged more than 50 others as their accomplices. The last flood even near that level was in 1997, when the river crested at 39.6 feet. The record for the Red River in Fargo, the state's most populous city, was set in 1897 at 40.1 feet, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Red River was one ...

City officials spent much of Wednesday working on a revised plan after the National Weather Service issued a foreboding forecast for the Red River: a 41-foot crest predicted to hit Saturday. The last flood even near that level was in 1997, when the river crested at 39.6 feet. The record for the Red River in Fargo, the state's most populous city, was set in 1897 at 40.1 feet, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Red River was ...

More rainfall combined with melting snow has increased the risk of severe flooding in North Dakota, with the city of Fargo bracing for what could be a local disaster of historic proportions. City officials estimated Tuesday that as many as 10,000 volunteers have come forward since Sunday to aid in a sandbagging effort that's taken over North Dakota State University's central arena, the Fargodome, and to help build levees along the now closely watched Red River. "We've had almost too ...

One in 50 children is homeless in the United States every year, according to a report released Tuesday. The report, by the National Center on Family Homelessness, analyzed data from 2005-06 and found that more than 1.5 million children were without a home. "These numbers will grow as home foreclosures continue to rise," Ellen Bassuk, president of the center, said in a statement. The study ranked states on their performance in four areas: the extent of child homelessness, the risk ...

Three years ago, Phillip Loughlin made a choice he knew would brand him as an outsider with many of his fellow hunters: He decided to shoot "green" bullets. "It made sense," Loughlin said of his switch to more environmentally friendly ammo, which doesn't contain lead. "I believe that we need to do a little bit to take care of the rest of the habitat and the environment -- not just what we want to shoot out of it." Lead, a ...