Drugstore chain Rite Aid said today it will commit $3.4 billion to buy nearly 1,900 stores in the United States from a Canadian chain, the Jean Coutu Group, thrusting Rite Aid into the top ranks of the nation's prescription retailers, joining Walgreens and CVS.
Sales of new homes fell 4.3 percent in July, the biggest decline in six months and 21.6 percent below the same period a year ago, the Commerce Department reported today. It is yet another sign that the home-building market is in the midst of the "hard landing" that industry executives had previously expected to avoid. Sales for June were also revised downward.
According to a new Gallup Poll, 58 percent of Americans believe the five-year-old No Child Left Behind law has either harmed or had no effect on schools, compared withjust over a quarter who believe it has helped. And while most people approve of NCLB's goal of raising standardized test scores, few seem to support its methods. "Systematically, the public rejects every strategy in it," said Lowell Rose, director of the poll, which is jointly authored by Gallup and the Phi Delta Kappa teachers' association.
AP - After a flight on a state police plane, Mark Karr arrived Thursday in the city where 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey was slain to face charges in a homicide case prosecutors acknowledged is still in its "very early stages."
AP - With the purchase of two more German-made Dolphin submarines capable of carrying nuclear warheads, military experts say Israel is sending a clear message to Iran that it can strike back if attacked by nuclear weapons.
AP - Pluto, beloved by some as a cosmic underdog but scorned by astronomers who considered it too dinky and distant, was unceremoniously stripped of its status as a planet Thursday.
A string of shootings in the Vermont town of Essex Thursday left two people dead and four -- including the shooter -- wounded, police said. "At this point the scenes are secured and the community is safe," Essex Police Chief David Demag said. "We have a suspect in custody, and he has been identified as the only shooter."
Police investigating the murder of JonBenet Ramsey learned their suspect's name just five days before he was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand, prosecutors said Thursday in court papers.
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