DURHAM, N.C. – A lawyer for at least one of the Duke University men’s lacrosse players accused of raping and beating a stripper said Wednesday that he expects one or more of the students to be indicted next week. “It seems all along, they [district attorney’s office] have been intent …

This is a partial transcript of “The Big Story With John Gibson,” April 17, 2006, that has been edited for clarity. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DR. LISA HARK, HOST, “HONEY WE’RE KILLING THE KIDS!”: If your children continue to eat a high-fat, high-sugar, high-calorie diet, there is a high likelihood that …

WASHINGTON – President Bush said Friday he would use his power to veto spending bills if Congress does not cut the federal budget as he has asked. In over five years in office, Bush has never vetoed any bill. But he said that restraining spending was crucial to cutting the …

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Four pharmacists who refused to sign a pledge promising to dispense the morning-after birth-control pill sued Walgreen drug stores Friday, alleging they were illegally fired. The lawsuits accuse Walgreen Co. of violating the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act. The pharmacists were being represented by the …

WASHINGTON – Needing a wheelchair isn’t always the biggest complaint of people left paralyzed by spinal cord injury — it’s also the loss of bladder control. On Monday, Michigan doctors began a unique experiment to see if rerouting patients’ nerves just might fix that problem. It’s a delicate operation: Surgeons …

PARIS – President Jacques Chirac announced Thursday that France will send 2,000 soldiers to southern Lebanon and hopes to retain command of the U.N. peacekeeping force, as a top European Union official said international troops could start deploying within days. The offer by France, Lebanon’s former colonial ruler and key …

PORTLAND, Ore. – Grass that was genetically engineered for golf courses is growing in the wild, posing one of the first threats of agricultural biotechnology escaping from the farm in the United States, a new study says. Creeping bentgrass was engineered to resist the popular herbicide Roundup to allow more …

NEW YORK – Top editors from the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times, responding to criticism over publishing stories about a government program that tracked millions of financial records in search of terrorists, on Saturday defended their decisions to publish government secrets. “We weigh the merits of publishing …

WASHINGTON – Crude oil prices were steady Friday as concerns about Mideast fighting were weighed against comments by the U.S. Federal Reserve chief that surging energy prices are crimping economic growth. Light sweet crude for September delivery slipped 7 cents to $74.20 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. …

SAN FRANCISCO – Electronic Arts Inc. said Thursday that sales of its latest “Madden” football video game grossed more than $100 million in its first week, the biggest launch in the franchise’s 17-year history and the latest sign of an improving outlook for the industry. EA, the world’s largest video …