Nation’s First Sex-Ed Standardized Testing Shows Students’ Gaps

The District of Columbia has released results for the nation’s first-ever standardized test that includes sex-education, showing that fifth- and eighth-graders have a lot to learn about their bodies.The test, known as the 2012 District of Columbia Comprehensive Assessment System (DC CAS), was administered to fifth-graders, eighth-graders and high school students throughout the city. Results were...

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A lesson in pop culture via Guantanamo

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — An Afghan man who is being held with the most significant terrorism suspects in U.S. custody has apparently gained extensive knowledge of western pop culture in an unlikely place: the top secret prison-within-a-prison in Guantanamo Bay.Nearly five years ago, Mohammed Rahim al-Afghani became the last prisoner sent to Guantanamo. He was accused of helping Osama bin Laden...

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Chavez suffers new complications in cancer fight

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Hugo Chavez's new complications after cancer surgery prompted his closest allies to call for Venezuelans to pray for him on Monday, presenting an increasingly bleak outlook and prompting growing speculation about whether the ailing leader has much longer to live.Vice President Nicolas Maduro looked weary and spoke with a solemn expression as he announced in a televised...

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Venezuelans offer prayers, songs for Hugo Chavez

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelans gathered on plazas and in churches to pray for President Hugo Chavez amid what seems an increasingly gloomy outlook for the ailing leader in his fight against cancer.Following an announcement that Chavez had suffered "new complications" from a respiratory infection after undergoing cancer surgery in Cuba, people were out in the streets of Caracas on Monday talking...

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Venezuelans take in shifting news on Chavez health

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelans began 2013 with a respite from shifting news about the health of President Hugo Chavez, who hasn't been seen in public since his fourth cancer-related surgery three weeks ago.The country was largely peaceful Tuesday after a New Year's Eve that saw a main government-organized celebration canceled due to Chavez's illness.Jorge Rodriguez, a Chavez ally and mayor...

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Venezuelan VP says he has visited Chavez twice

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's vice president says he has visited ailing President Hugo Chavez twice in Cuba and plans to return home to Caracas.Vice President Nicolas Maduro says he spoke with Chavez during their visits. Maduro says the president has "the same strength as always," despite a health situation that he described as complex three weeks after his cancer surgery.Maduro says he will...

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Rate on 30-year mortgage ticks up to 4 pct.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The average rate on the 30-year mortgage stayed hovered above the record low for a third straight week. But cheap mortgage rates have done little to boost home sales or refinancing.Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on the 30-year loan ticked up to 4 percent from 3.99 percent. Six weeks ago, it dropped to a record low of 3.94 percent, according to the National Bureau of Economic...

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Rate on 30-year mortgage ticks up to 4 percent

WASHINGTON (AP) — The average rate on the 30-year mortgage hovered above the record low for a third straight week. But cheap mortgage rates have done little to boost home sales or refinancing.Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on the 30-year loan ticked up to 4 percent from 3.99 percent. Six weeks ago, it dropped to a record low of 3.94 percent, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.The...

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Rate on 30-year fixed mortgage falls to 3.98 pct.

The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage hovered above its record low for a fourth straight week. But cheap mortgage rates have done little to boost home sales or refinancing.Freddie Mac says the rate on the 30-year fixed loan fell to 3.98 percent from 4 percent the previous week. Seven weeks ago, it dropped to a record low of 3.94 percent, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.The...

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U.S. Housing Market Still On Life Support

With each passing year, the former Oracle of the Fed, Alan Greenspan, is reminded that there really was a housing bubble and lowering interest rates to record lows just matters worse.  Nearly four years after the housing market peak in 2007, record low mortgage rates are no match for falling incomes and 9% unemployment.The Case-Shiller Home Price Index, released on Tuesday, showed that nation...

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