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ABOARD THE HEARTLAND FLYER — Amtrak and transportation officials from Oklahoma and Texas have started a yearlong test to see whether beef-based biodiesel can efficiently run The Heartland Flyer passenger train between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth. Texas cattle are supplying 20 percent of the fuel for the 3,200-horsepower engine, the rest is regular No. 2 diesel.

Down in Bernard Malin's basement is a softly thrumming metal box that turns natural gas into hot water and generates $600 to $800 worth of electricity a year - a bonus byproduct of heating his home. "It's like printing money," says Mr. Malin, the first person in Massachusetts - perhaps in the nation - to own a residential "micro combined-heat-and-power" system, also known as micro-CHP. But he's not likely to be the last. Since Malin changed his home heating system to micro-CHP in February, 18 other families in the Boston area also have adopted the technology, which squeezes about 90...

WASHINGTON - Investigators have uncovered no signs of U.S.-based terrorists linked to a plot to blow up airliners headed to the United States, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Friday. "Currently, we do not have evidence that there was, as part of this plot, any plan to initiate activity inside the United States or that the plotting was done in the United States," Chertoff said, a day after British authorities announced the arrests of two dozen suspects. The arrests led the Bush administration to put the U.S. on its highest threat alert for flights headed to the United States from...

A Chicago man arrested last month and charged with illegal possession of a weapon has been identified by federal prosecutors as a former member of an alleged group of aspiring terrorists based in Miami. In court documents filed Thursday, prosecutors identified the man as Charles Stewart or "Sultan Khan Bey," and said he apparently belonged to an organization called the Moorish National Republic, for which he was trying to recruit members. Stewart has not been charged in the terrorism case. The group in Miami was arrested June 22. Six men are accused of seeking to support what they thought was...

To all those of you who proclaimed the California Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Dead on Arrival in it’s first committee; I am happy to inform you that you were wrong! Read More...

SAN DIEGO - A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted the head of a worldwide evangelical movement on charges of income tax evasion. Morris Cerullo, president of Morris Cerullo World Evangelism, misstated his income by $550,000 between 1998 and 2000, according to the indictment. Cerullo was charged with three counts of filing false tax returns, each of which carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $100,000 penalty. Arrangements were being made for Cerullo's surrender, said Assistant U.S. Attorney George Hardy. Cerullo, an evangelist known for his cable network and worldwide crusades, could not be reached for...

SACRAMENTO -- Senate Democrats plan to announce today their own reform plan for redistricting, which would retain their political control of the process of drawing legislative and congressional district boundaries. According to a copy of the proposal obtained by the Daily News, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to transfer the Legislature's redistricting power to a nonpartisan panel of retired judges would be scrapped. That authority would instead be given to a commission of seven political appointees, four of whom would be chosen by legislative leaders. Republican leaders said the administration was unlikely to accept the plan but acknowledged it could be...

Taser sues N.C.-based rival over advertising Associated Press Posted on Tue, Dec. 21, 2004 SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Taser International Inc. has filed a lawsuit against North Carolina-based rival Stinger Systems Inc., a rival maker of stun guns, alleging false advertising and unlawful patent marketing. On Tuesday, Taser said Stinger claims to be certified by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and that its gun was the first ATF-certified weapon. Scottsdale-based Taser said the ATF does not certify stun guns, it regulates them, and also said it now owns a product that has been regulated by the ATF since the...

Things My Math Teacher Did Last Year: 1. Forgot how to find the slope of a line. 2. Tried to express the difference between ( 2 Sin x) and ( 5 Sin x) by yelling out what they would sound like if you turned them into sounds. 3. Pointed the overhead projector out the window instead of at the screen. 4. Taught us the difference between vertical and horizontal. 5. Took a little bit too long to reduce 36/108 to 4/12, and just as long to reduce that to 1/3. 6. Made sure that we were fully aware that Moses...

VALE, Ore. - Eight Oregon-based firefighters were killed Sunday when their returning van collided with a truck on a remote highway west of this Eastern Oregon town, Malheur County Sheriff Andy Bentz said. He said all were under the age of 23 and worked for First Strike Environmental, a Roseburg-based contract firefighting company. Flags at Seattle fire stations were flying at half staff on Monday in honor of the eight fallen firefighters. Fire coordinators said the van was coming back from the South Fork fire, burning since Aug. 10 on the Boise National Forest about 25 miles northeast of the...

<p>SACRAMENTO – The state's recently approved budget relies on $20 billion from a variety of sources that could fall through before the end of the year - potentially opening another gaping hole in California's spending plan.</p> <p>The total $20 billion at risk represents roughly one-fifth of the state's budget and banks heavily on the altruism of state workers, more revenue from gaming tribes and a swift upturn in the economy, records and interviews show.</p>

<p>EATON, Ohio -- Police officers who carried out a drug raid last year that left a West Alexandria man dead and turned up only a small amount of marijuana were ill prepared and lacked experience in dangerous searches, a law enforcement report shows.</p>

Stealth bombers could be based on British soil The Pentagon may base B-2 stealth bombers on the British Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia. It would be the first time the bombers have been based outside the US and would be seen as preparation for war on Iraq. US military chiefs are reported to be considering the move and have reportedly discussed it with officials in the UK. The bombers flew many round trip attack missions over Afghanistan from their home base in Missouri. Basing the bombers at the Indian Ocean site would cut in half the distance they would...

This is a WorldNetDaily printer-friendly version of the article which follows. To view this item online, visit http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=27210 Monday, April 15, 2002 James Baker quietlylobbies IndiaSecret visit to gain support for Iraq attack, partner for oil Posted: April 15, 20021:00 a.m. Eastern By Shantanu Guha Ray © 2002 WorldNetDaily.com NEW DELHI – The visit was shrouded in secrecy. Only a few dozen people in India knew that James Baker – former U.S. secretary of state, Texan oil man and close confidant and key strategist for Presidents George Bush and George W. Bush – arrived in Delhi a fortnight ago. The visit...