NEW YORK (AP) — The suicide rate among middle-aged Americans climbed a startling 28 percent in a decade, a period that included the recession and the mortgage crisis, the government reported Thursday. The trend was most pronounced among white men and women in that age group. Their suicide rate jumped 40 percent between 1999 and 2010. But the rates in [...]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — George Jones, the peerless, hard-living country singer who recorded dozens of hits about good times and regrets and peaked with the heartbreaking classic “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” has died. He was 81. Publicist Kirt Webster says Jones died Friday at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville after being hospitalized with fever and irregular blood pressure. Known [...]

A fearless Florida dad repeatedly punched an eight-foot alligator in the face after the vicious reptile locked his jaws onto his son’s arm. Joseph Welch battered the beast over the head after it grabbed hold of 6-year-old Joey, who’d fallen into water before a canoe trip at Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge, Boynton Beach, on Friday. “I heard these blood-curdling screams and [...]

BOSTON (AP) — In May of 2011, Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, then a senior at a prestigious high school, was awarded a $2,500 scholarship from the city of Cambridge, Mass., to pursue higher education. Now, Tsarnaev is on the run, described as “armed and dangerous” and suspected of the Boston Marathon bombing.   Two brothers, one now dead, one alive and [...]

GEORGETOWN, Colo. — Five snowboarders were killed Saturday afternoon after apparently triggering a backcountry avalanche on Colorado’s Loveland Pass, authorities said. Search and rescue crews recovered the bodies several hours after the slide, which was about 600 feet wide and eight feet deep, said Clear Creek County Sheriff Don Krueger. A sixth snowboarder caught in the avalanche was able to [...]

Want to ship your pants? Kmart has stepped out of the box to promote their online store and shipping procedures. The store has released a new ad that emphasizes if you can’t find what you want in stores, then you can find it online and have it sent to your home for free. The new ad campaign is called ‘Ship [...]

NEW YORK — Shoppers at a Target store in Brooklyn say a label that listed the color of a plus-size dress as “manatee gray” was insulting. The label for the same dress in smaller sizes described it as “dark heather gray.” The controversy was sparked when Susan Clemens noticed the discrepancy on Target.com and tweeted a picture highlighting her discovery. [...]

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. –  Like clockwork, they’re coming back — after 17 years. “They” would be cicadas, the big, noisy bugs that climb out of the earth about every decade and a half to make everyone’s life more exciting. Experts tell Gannett News Service that the bugs live underground and feed off fluid that gathers near the roots of plants, then [...]

(CNN) — Rutgers University fired head basketball coach Mike Rice on Wednesday after ESPN broadcast a video showing him physically and verbally abusing players. The video, which ESPN said features excerpts of practice sessions shot between 2010 and 2012, initially had earned Rice a three-game suspension, a $75,000 fine and a ticket to anger management classes. “You f**king fairy … [...]

Want a little public humiliation with those summer rolls? Eater reports that the owner of a Los Angeles restaurant has been taking to the eatery’s Twitter account to shame people who make reservations and don’t show up or call to cancel. “All the nice guests who wonder why restaurants overbook and they sometimes have to wait for their res should [...]

NEW YORK (AP) — Government health officials launched the second round of a graphic ad campaign Thursday that is designed to get smokers off tobacco, saying they believe the last effort convinced tens of thousands to quit. The ads feature sad, real-life stories: There is Terrie, a North Carolina woman who lost her voicebox. Bill, a diabetic smoker from Michigan [...]