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Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards admitted Thursday that he fathered a child with a former campaign videographer, confirming rumors and reports that had been swirling around the former North Carolina senator for months. "I am Quinn's father," Edwards said in a prepared statement, referring to Frances Quinn Hunter, the toddler he fathered with the videographer, Rielle Hunter. " . . . It was wrong for me ever to deny she was my daughter and hopefully one day, when she understands, she will forgive me."

At first glance, the photo-copied documents simply looked like government forms and applications. But when Susanne Mori read more closely, she found the story of her grandfather's life as he made his way in America more than five decades ago. Those 23 pages of facts and dates revealed how a young man, Jinbei Mori, left Japan and arrived in San Francisco the month after the 1906 earthquake, how he spent decades working for the Union Pacific...

People with atrial fibrillation, a common type of irregular heartbeat, should be referred for a surgical treatment called catheter ablation if an oral medication is not effective, said the authors of a study released Tuesday. In a head-to-head comparison of the two forms of treatment, catheter ablation was so superior in resolving the disorder and helping patients to feel better that the study was halted early. The results will be published today in the Journal of the American Medical Assn.

The Democratic gubernatorial primary in Illinois is a tossup between Gov. Pat Quinn and Comptroller Dan Hynes as controversy over an inmate early-release program and an imploding state budget has cut into Quinn's once-sizable advantage, a Chicago Tribune/WGN-TV poll has found. On the Republican side, three candidates also are in a close battle ahead of the Feb. 2 primary. Former state GOP Chairman Andy McKenna, former Illinois Atty. Gen. Jim Ryan and state Sen. Kirk Dillard lead the field, but none had reached 20%, according to the new poll.

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Asian carp may indeed be poised to destroy commercial fishing as we know it in the Great Lakes, but Reggie McLeod likes his smoked or pickled. The Vietnamese community cooks carp in coconut milk with lemongrass and chili peppers. The Polish like to draw out the pungent fishy odor by soaking it in milk and onions. At Joe Tess Place in Omaha, Neb., which has proudly served deep-fried carp sandwiches since the 1930s, it's presented on rye bread with fries and handmade coleslaw.

The National Archives is like a safe-deposit box for America's really important papers -- the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, the $7.2-million canceled check for the purchase of Alaska, the picture of Richard Nixon and Elvis Presley shaking hands in the Oval Office. Copies of that photo -- the president in his charcoal suit, the king of rock 'n' roll in his purple velvet cape -- are requested more than just about any of the archives' treasures, including the Constitution.

After spending the majority of her 48 years trying, and failing, to slim down, Veronica Mahaffey was still 50 pounds overweight -- not morbidly obese by a long shot, but still far from the size she wanted. Worried about her health, she called a San Diego weight-loss surgery clinic last spring and asked for help. She was told no. At 185 pounds and with a body mass index of 28, the Ramona mother of four was not heavy enough to meet medical guidelines or insurance company qualifications for weight-loss surgery.

When he stepped off a plane 16 months ago, David Jassy, a rapper and record producer from Stockholm, planned to make it big in American pop music. On Tuesday, he finally captured the attention of an important audience, but the stage -- a downtown L.A. courtroom -- was one he never wanted. Jassy, 35, took the stand at his murder trial and spoke directly to jurors who will decide whether he spends perhaps the rest of his life in a California prison or returns to Sweden, where he has a successful career, a child and a fashion model girlfriend.

A proposal to legalize and tax marijuana in California was approved by a key committee of the Assembly on Tuesday, but it is not expected to get further consideration by the Legislature until next year. Despite a procedural glitch, backers hailed the committee's action as historic because it represented the first legislative approval of the proposal. "This vote marks the formal beginning of the end of marijuana prohibition in the United States," predicted Stephen Gutwillig, California state director of the Drug Policy Alliance, a pot legalization group.

Ralph McInerny, a longtime professor of philosophy and medieval studies at the University of Notre Dame who also was a popular mystery writer best known for his Father Dowling series of novels, has died. He was 80. McInerny died Jan. 29 at Our Lady of Peace Hospital in Mishawaka, Ind., after a long illness, according to the university. A member of the Notre Dame faculty from 1955 until his retirement in 2009, McInerny gained international renown as a scholar, author and lecturer who specialized in the works of St. Thomas Aquinas, the 13th century theologian and philosopher.

An unexpectedly powerful rainstorm unleashed a torrent of mud that inundated more than 40 houses Saturday, leaving La Cañada Flintridge's northernmost neighborhood awash in boulders, dented cars and broken homes. The force of the mudflow appeared to catch residents and officials off guard, as the forecast initially called for a light to moderate rainstorm. No evacuations had been ordered Thursday or Friday, when the rain began to fall. But before dawn on Saturday, an intense band of rain cells formed over the mountains burned in the massive Station fire.

Susan Coyle threw back her shoulders, lifted her chin and forced a crooked smile. "What I want you to think about is that grumpy patient," a photographer bellowed at the former healthcare worker from the other side of a camera. "Now you're going to give that guy a shot, and think how much fun it's gonna be!" A few seconds and a few snaps later, Coyle had a fresh portrait for her online resume. She then plunged into the fray of the job fair, joining thousands of others in hopes of finding a company to send it to. In the same week the government released statistics showing signs of economic growth, the only signs of growth here were the lines: lines that snaked like a giant scorpion's tail to get into Philadelphia's Wachovia Center; lines to thrust resumes toward potential employers, who piled them by the hundreds into plastic buckets; lines to grab business cards and other company handouts that ran dry within two hours; lines to buy $3 cups of muddy coffee and soggy $5.25 sandwiches.

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The predawn pounding on his front door woke Henrik Hairapetian from a sound sleep. It was a neighbor saying that an elderly woman down the street was trapped in a flooded house. Outside, rain fell in sheets. A basin on a La Cañada Flintridge hillside was overflowing, sending torrents of mud and water onto homes along Bristow Drive and Ocean View Boulevard. Hairapetian, 40, threw on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt and ran to 86-year-old Ann Rouman's house three doors down. "The woman's daughter was outside screaming, 'She's in the back!

Father Metyas Mankarios ministers to garbage men and runs a newspaper for Coptic Christians from an office crammed with brittle archives above vegetable sellers and fishmongers barking out prices along the muddy roads of a Cairo neighborhood. Few have it easy here. From dawn until deep into the night, there is the clatter of making a living, no matter how small. But these days, Mankarios, his face engulfed by a graying beard, worries more about the increasing discrimination and resentment from Muslims who attack monasteries and teach their children that Christians are infidels.

Sinking into irrelevance as rival politicians scrapped to take his place, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko lobbed a grenade into the final days of the campaign: He named a controversial anti-Soviet nationalist assassinated by the KGB half a century ago a "Hero of Ukraine." Here in Ukraine's most avidly Western-leaning, anti-Russian city, news that the rare honor had been bestowed on Stepan Bandera was met with jubilation. Disgust and dismay swept the Russian-speaking provinces, where Bandera is remembered as a Nazi collaborator.

The Defense Department last week identified the following American military personnel killed in Afghanistan and Pakistan: Rusty H. Christian, 24, of Greenville, Tenn.; staff sergeant, Army. Christian died Jan. 28 in Oruzgan province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. Marc P. Decoteau, 19, of Waterville Valley, N.H.; specialist, Army.

Employing a broad-based lobbying effort, the soft drink industry has smothered a plan to tax sugared beverages -- a plan advocates said would have reduced obesity and helped finance healthcare reform. Only months ago, public health advocates thought the tax would be a natural for congressional Democrats looking for revenue to fund expanded health insurance coverage. The soaring costs of treating ailments related to excess weight -- including diabetes and heart disease -- added urgency to the issue.

A prolonged blizzard covered Washington, D.C., and the mid-Atlantic states in a smothering canvas of snow Saturday, grounding planes and triggering widespread power outages as people across the region turned to skis and sleds to traverse icy roads. The storm proved a major disruption, with above-ground subways and buses in the Washington area shutting down and stores closing en masse in the face of a storm destined to go down as one of the major snowfalls in the area's history. As of late afternoon, a total of 32.4 inches was recorded at Dulles International Airport outside of Washington, according to the National Weather Service.