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ECONOMY
FEDERAL COURT
Jobs rebound
Silence on dropped coke charges
US regains the jobs lost in the recession By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy has reached a milestone: It has finally regained all the private-sector jobs it lost during the Great Recession. Yet it took a painfully slow six
years, and unemployment remains stubbornly high at 6.7 percent. The comeback figures were contained in a government report Friday that showed a solid if unspectacular month of job growth in March. Businesses and nonprofits shed 8.8 million jobs during the 2007-09 recession; they have since hired 8.9
million. But because the population has grown since the big downturn, most analysts were hardly celebrating the milestone. Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the liberal Economic Policy Institute, called it a “pretty meaningless
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By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
A suspected cocaine smuggler who had been recently ordered detained
pending trial had his drug charges dropped by prosecutors, according to court records.
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NEW HOMES FOR OLD DOGS People like older pets By SUE MANNING ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — Erin O’Sullivan wants to change lives by finding new homes for old dogs. Visitors to her popular Facebook page say she has done just that by helping them discover the pets they didn’t know they were missing. O’Sullivan’s page tells stories about pooches past their prime that need loving homes and taps into the wellspring of animal lovers seeking calmer, well-trained dogs or those wanting to care for pets in their twilight years. Shelters will ask her to help place older dogs that aren’t as sought-after as puppies, many of which have extensive health problems that can
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Photo by Elli Frank | AP
This photo provided by Elli Frank shows herself with Tanya, an 8-year-old pit bull mix that was dumped as a puppy at a shelter in New York City, on Monday. Frank, founder of Mr. Bones & Co. in New York that takes in a few animals at a time, won’t acquire other dogs until Tanya has a home.
FORT HOOD
Investigators: Man mentally ‘unstable’ By WILL WEISSERT AND PAUL J. WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by J. Scott Applewhite | AP
The American flag flies at half staff at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Friday after a soldier went on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood that left four people dead Wednesday.
FORT HOOD — Unstable mental health may be a “fundamental, underlying cause” of a soldier’s shooting rampage at Fort Hood that left four people dead, though an argument with another service member likely preceded the attack, according to investigators. Spc. Ivan Lopez turned
his gun on himself after killing three people and wounding 16 others Wednesday at the sprawling Texas military base, where more than a dozen people were fatally shot by a soldier in 2009. An Army truck driver from Puerto Rico, Lopez was undergoing treatment for depression and anxiety while being evaluated for post-traumatic stress disorder, base officials said.
Lt. Gen. Mark Milley, senior officer at the nation’s largest Army base, said there was a “strong indication” that Lopez was involved in a verbal altercation shortly before the shooting, though it doesn’t appear he targeted specific soldiers during the attack. Investigators also are focusing on his mental health. “We have very strong evi-
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