Boys 1999 disappearance raises questions, regrets

By (AP)

No one claims to know what happened that summer in 1999 when 11-year-old Adam Herrman disappeared from the mobile home park where he lived with his adoptive parents.

But the biggest mystery may be why no one reported him missing until nearly a decade later.

The search for Adam _ who would be 21 if he is still alive _ has confounded authorities and left family members regretting that they did not do more when they noticed he was gone.

His disappearance finally came to light last week when authorities _ acting on a tip to the Sedgwick County Exploited and Missing...

US News

What slump? Fort Riley booming with construction

By Orlin Wagner (AP)

While the national economy was slumping last year, business at Fort Riley was booming.

Brig. Gen. Perry Wiggins, commander of the 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley, said Tuesday that soldiers, families and the surrounding communities in northeast Kansas can expect much of the same this year as more soldiers arrive.

\"It would be an under-exaggeration to say it was a whirlwind that took place here and really, things were moving pretty fast,\" Wiggins said.

The Army has been expanding operations at Fort Riley since 2006 when the division headquarters returned from...

Global News

NKorea to elect new rubber-stamp parliament

By (AP)

North Korea said Wednesday it would finally elect new members to its rubber stamp legislature _ a move delayed for several months amid speculation about leader Kim Jong Il\'s health.

The regime also appeared to be shaking up its Cabinet, naming at least five new ministers to economic posts in what analysts say is an attempt to revive the nation\'s economy after losing South Korean aid amid frayed ties.

Analysts say the decision to hold the elections, typically held every five years, on March 8 is a sign Kim\'s health is improving after he reportedly suffered a stroke in...

Political News

Former Australian leader has Blair House reserved

By Charles Dharapak (AP)

It\'s a D.C. property so exclusive that even the president-elect couldn\'t reserve it. So who\'s staying at Blair House, the White House\'s guest quarters across Pennsylvania Avenue?

Turns out it\'s former Australian Prime Minister John Howard, according to The Washington Post.

Even Howard is only staying one night: Jan. 12, the night before President George W. Bush will present him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his support in the Iraq war. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe are receiving the honor as well, but they\'ve...

Vice President Dick Cheney says Russia's military actions in Georgia "must not go unanswered."

Cheney spoke Sunday afternoon with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. "The vice president expressed the United States' solidarity with the Georgian people and their democratically elected government in the face of this threat to Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity," Cheney's press secretary, Lee Ann McBride, said.

Cheney told Saakashvili "Russian aggression must not go unanswered, and that its continuation would have serious consequences for its relations with the United States, as well as the broader international community," McBride said. Read More...

Iraq's foreign minister insisted Sunday that any security deal with the United States must contain a "very clear timeline" for the departure of U.S. troops. A suicide bomber struck north of Baghdad, killing at least five people including an American soldier.

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told reporters that American and Iraqi negotiators were "very close" to reaching a long-term security agreement that will set the rules for U.S. troops in Iraq after the U.N. mandate expires at the end of the year. Read More...

Michael Rodriguez remembers the exhilaration of newfound freedom when he hid in the back of a stolen truck as he and six of his buddy convicts staged one of Texas' most notorious prison breaks.

Then he recalls seeing his photo on national TV and grasping the reality that their Hollywood-style plan to rob a Nevada casino had gone terribly awry. He and his fellow fugitives were being hunted everywhere as the killers of a police officer, Aubrey Hawkins, at a store they robbed outside Dallas. Read More...