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Fox News anchor Chris Wallace on Monday remembered the late former Secretary of State Colin Powell and his controversial speech before the United Nations in 2003 about weapons of mass destruction before the Iraq War began. "I think the low light of his career was in 2003, when he addressed the United Nations and made the case that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. He didn't want to make that speech," Wallace said during Fox's coverage of Powell's death. "He took a lot of pressure from people in the Bush 43 white house including vice president Cheney who was...

 What happened today.

Above: The Granite Mountain Hot Shots of Prescott, Arizona. 19 of 20 crew members perished in the Yarnell Hill fire today.- Gusty, hot winds blew an Arizona blaze out of control Sunday in a forest northwest of Phoenix, overtaking and killing 19 members of an elite fire crew in the deadliest wildfire involving firefighters in the U.S. for at least 80 years - and the worst since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001/ Members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots were forced to deploy their fire shelters - tent-like structures meant to shield firefighters from flames and...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18, 2005 – The Army and Marine Corps are recalling about 18,000 protective vests, but officials emphasize that troops wearing them aren't at risk and that the recall has nothing to do with ballistic plate protection. The recall, announced Nov. 17, affects 18,425 Outer Tactical Vests - 8,083 from the Army and 10,342 from the Marine Corps, defense officials said. Officials call the recall a precautionary measure, ordered because the 14 affected lots of vests may not have met contractual specifications regarding ballistic performance when they were produced and fielded between 1999 and 2001. An administrative review conducted...

CAMP AL QA’IM, Iraq (Nov. 2, 2005) -- The 3rd Mobile Assault Platoon took sniper fire all day as they conducted a relief in place with 1st Mobile Assault Platoon. As Lacey Springs, Ala., native Lance Cpl. Bradley A. Snipes, antitank assault man, 3rd MAP, Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, sat in the turret of his hummer watching his assigned sector behind his M-2 .50 caliber machine gun, it happened. “We were doing a relief in place with [1st MAP] and had been taking sniper fire across the wadi all day,” Snipes, the 21-year-old, 2002 graduate of Brewer...

Friend Killed On Dare After Bullet Pierces Protective Vest POSTED: 4:06 pm EST December 15, 2004 OROFINO, Idaho -- A man has been charged with involuntary manslaughter for fatally shooting his friend through a protective vest on an apparent dare, police said. Alexander Joseph Swandic, 20, died of a gunshot wound to the heart Monday after donning a protective vest and asking David John Hueth, 30, to shoot him, police said. Hueth initially told police that Swandic's wound was self-inflicted, but later admitted to the shooting. The two had apparently tested the vest by propping it against a dirt bank...

OROFINO, Idaho -- A man has been charged with involuntary manslaughter for fatally shooting his friend through a protective vest on an apparent dare, police said. Alexander Joseph Swandic, 20, died of a gunshot wound to the heart Monday after donning a protective vest and asking David John Hueth, 30, to shoot him, police said. Hueth initially told police that Swandic's wound was self-inflicted, but later admitted to the shooting. The two had apparently tested the vest by propping it against a dirt bank and shooting it twice, police said. Police said the vest was designed to protect against grenade...

New research into primitive protective proteins from the immune systems of sharks could lead to more versatile drugs to battle diseases such as cancer and dangerous bacterial infections and to robust diagnostic kits that could easily leave the lab, an area of intense research following the anthrax attacks of 2001. In a study published Thursday online by the journal Science, researchers at The Scripps Institute in La Jolla, CA, and the University of Maryland at Baltimore determined that the structure of the primitive antibody that marks a difference between the immune systems of sharks and mammals is unusually simple. Ian...

ARLINGTON, Va. — Working full-tilt, nine contractors have finished crafting 160,000 Interceptor body armor vests, and the equipment is now en route to units preparing to deploy to Iraq and a central distribution point in Kuwait, according to Army officials. This month’s production run of the Interceptor tactical vests fulfills a promise to Congress by Army officials, who said that by January the service would have enough of the vests to outfit every soldier deployed to Iraq, according to Army spokesman Maj. Gary Tallman. “Congress has been notified that the requirement has been met,” Tallman said Friday. Interceptor vests are...

I watched with disgust as the daily Centcom briefing on the war for Iraq took place Wednesday morning. While there has been an obvious anti-American tenor from the press corps throughout Iraqi Freedom, the questions on Wednesday were so virulent that they are worth revisiting. First and foremost, the majority of reporters did not have questions at all. The majority of reporters wanted to do nothing more than make a statement on camera, and then ask Brigadier General Vincent Brooks to address it. One of these statements was the regurgitation of an Internet rumor that said Vice President Dick...

“I have concluded that this case was mismanaged if viewed from the perspective of the family and their philosophical views,” Puckett wrote in a prepared statement. “I find it increasingly frustrating, and for me unacceptable, that our society, and more specifically our government, goes out of its way to be inclusive of harmful and often deviant lifestyles, but stands rigid against those families who have a solid Christian lifestyle or are unwilling to accept dependency on the government for subsistence. I hope that in the future the director of Social Services will take a more active role in ensuring that...

Start Of Stratton Case Might Be The End By Allison Hart Mecklenburg commissioners aren’t the only ones who will be reviewing the Stratton case next week. On Monday, Feb. 17 the Strattons will go before the North Carolina Court of Appeals to contest the legality of one of their first court hearings. The Strattons claim their adjudication hearing, held on March 12, 2001, did not follow due process laws and that they were coerced into forfeiting their right to present evidence and witness testimony during the hearing. In juvenile court, the adjudication hearing determines if children brought into the custody...

Designing Trees The same, often controversial gene-tweaking techniques that brought uspest-resistant fruits and vegetables now have a new target: trees. By Naomi Lubick Image: Courtesy of S. MerkleUNTIL THE BLIGHT, majestic American Chestnut trees dominated many U.S. forests. This image was taken in 1910 in the Great Smokey Mountains of North Carolina. To gain an appreciation for the promise--and perils--of genetically modified trees, consider the case of the American chestnut. Few trees have had such a remarkable presence and impact on the American landscape and ecosystem as the chestnut. Mature trees grew to 100 feet tall and their trunks...