Having been an educator since 1972, I have seen a variety of gimmicky quick-fix programs come and go.

The senator trying to rewrite the nation’s financial industry rules is dropping plans to create a stand-alone consumer financial protection agency and to give a single regulator the power to oversee all banks, according to people familiar with the evolving proposal.

When Alabama’s new open meetings law was passed in 2005, Montgomery attorney Dennis Bailey predicted officials would begin getting around it by holding serial meetings.

Demario Terrell Davis’ 2004 arrest on a misdemeanor marijuana charge popped up on a federally required background check when he sought to buy a military-style rifle the following winter.

The man, who appeared to be about 40 years old, walked through the front door of the Community Market recently with his head lowered. He was of hearty stock and had never been in such a place and had never made such a request.

Read the words “tax cuts” and our eyebrows rise. Hear the words “tax cuts” and our ears perk.

I am inching my way through this huge book my economics professor daughter gave me; she constantly tries to educate me.

I read a column this week by a woman whose former colleague periodically wrote a feature he referred to as “shaking out the reporter’s notebook.” It was all those things that he found interesting but didn’t deem worthy of standalone space.

The article “Hobbit Challenges Theory of Evolution” in Sunday’s Opelika-Auburn News is another attempt by fallen man to prop up a theory that is unprovable.

Along about this timeframe two years ago, I gambled away around $20,000. The amount I lost was trivial compared to the losses some people I know had. The casino that took my money seems to be an off-limits subject to most moralists who harbor the blanket policy of, “I’m against gambling.“

I won at VictoryLand! That’s right, I walked out of the Quincy’s 777 casino a winner last Friday afternoon.

When Gov. Sonny Perdue pitches in next week to help Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida in his bid to become a U.S. Senator, the gesture may be about more than helping out a fellow Republican in a tough campaign.

Johnny Lawrence, Lee County commissioner for district two, is seeking the Republican nomination for the district two seat for the commission in the June primary.

This Fort Payne native says education is his top issue, and he believes legalizing gambling can help pay for pre-kindergarten as well as students’ college tuition.

Legislative leaders expect Gov. Bob Riley will soon order across-the-board cuts of about 12 percent in the state operating budget, which would be the largest in more than a quarter-century and could mean widespread layoffs and reduced services at state agencies.

HBO and executive producers Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg are bringing Pfc. Eugene B. Sledge’s story to TV Sunday as part of their series, “The Pacific.”

The 10-part series follows the lives of Marines Eugene B. Sledge, Robert Leckie and John Basilone.

The series draws heavily on personal accounts, including Sledge’s memoirs “With the Old Breed on Peleliu and Okinawa” and “China Marine: An Infantryman’s Life after the World War II.”

News from the city of Auburn:

NEW YORK — In the years after the 9/11 terror attacks, 10,000 people who helped clear mountains of debris from Lower Manhattan filed lawsuits blaming New York City for failing to protect them from the toxic dust.

You might call it an anti-littering campaign of sorts.

Auburn confirms Jeff Lebo is out as head basketball coach. For more, read Andrew Gribble’s AUBlog.

President Barack Obama delayed next week’s Asian trip on Friday to seize on suddenly improved prospects for his sweeping health care legislation, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi forecast final passage of the overhaul in days

Twitter can now let the world automatically know your whereabouts as well as your thoughts and activities

Retail sales posted a surprising increase in February as consumers did not let major snowstorms stop them from storming the malls. The advance, the biggest since November, provided hope that the recovery from the Great Recession is gaining momentum

The Alabama Legislature is doing like a lot of Alabama’s schools and taking off next week for spring break

President Barack Obama has delayed his visit to Asia, his first international trip of the year, to focus on the push to salvage health care legislation after a year of contentious debate.

A band of thunderstorms has drenched Alabama and prompted the National Weather Service to issue a flash flood warning in the Birmingham area as a precaution. The flood warning was issued Friday morning for Shelby, Jefferson and part of Bibb County. But John Sirmon with the weather service office in Birmingham says it was issued mainly as a precaution.

Teen power won out on “American Idol” as Katie Stevens claimed a place in the top 12 while a more experienced singer got the ax. Stevens, 17, earned viewer support even though the show’s judges were disappointed earlier this week by her performance of “Breakaway” that Randy Jackson likened to karaoke.

A lesbian student who wanted to take her girlfriend to her senior prom is asking a federal judge to force her Mississippi school district to reinstate the dance it canceled The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi on Thursday filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Oxford on behalf of 18-year-old Constance McMillen, who said she faced some unhappy classmates.

Too much cancer screening, too many heart tests, too many cesarean sections. A spate of recent reports suggest that too many Americans — maybe even President Barack Obama — are being overtreated. Is it doctors practicing defensive medicine? Or are patients so accustomed to a culture of medical technology that they insist on extensive tests and treatments?

The driver of a vehicle involved in a fatal wreck early Monday morning on Shug Jordan Parkway in Auburn was arrested Thursday afternoon.