http://www.bnd.com/news/state/index.xml News, sports, and entertainment from Belleville News Democrat en-us Copyright 2009 Belleville News Democrat State/Nation/World 60 Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:37:12 CDT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's PubSys support@Belleville.com http://www.bnd.com/news/state/story/839812.html http://www.bnd.com/news/state/story/839812.html Sat, 11 Jul 2009 05:44 CDT Embattled Sen. Roland Burris may have relieved Illinois Democrats of their biggest political headache and reduced Republican chances of capturing a valuable Senate seat next year by announcing Friday he won't run for a full term. Still, his withdrawal sets the stage for a major clash of political forces in 2010. http://www.bnd.com/news/state/story/839922.html http://www.bnd.com/news/state/story/839922.html Fri, 10 Jul 2009 07:46 CDT Levi Johnston, the former fiance of Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol, on Thursday joined the crowd offering up potential reasons for Palin's decision to step down. http://www.bnd.com/news/state/story/838880.html http://www.bnd.com/news/state/story/838880.html Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:54 CDT Authorities say a prankster persuaded a married couple to smash their Florida hotel window after falsely telling them the room had a gas leak. Police say a person claiming to be a front-desk clerk at an Orlando hotel convinced the couple to break a wall mirror and use a lamp to punch a hole through the wall. The couple also threw a mattress out the window, but a hotel manager came to the room before they could jump. http://www.bnd.com/news/state/story/838871.html http://www.bnd.com/news/state/story/838871.html Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:21 CDT Thousands of Irish Catholics have flocked this week to a County Limerick church to pray at the stump of a recently cut willow that many observers say, has the silhouette of the Virgin Mary. http://www.bnd.com/news/state/story/839064.html http://www.bnd.com/news/state/story/839064.html Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:14 CDT Members and officials of a private swimming pool in a predominantly white Philadelphia suburb reacted to a visiting group of minority children by asking them not to return and pulling other kids out of the water, a day camp director said, and the state is investigating. http://www.bnd.com/news/state/story/838870.html http://www.bnd.com/news/state/story/838870.html Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:14 CDT House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shut the door Thursday to a resolution honoring Michael Jackson because debate on the symbolic measure could raise "contrary views" about the pop star's life. http://www.bnd.com/news/state/story/839347.html http://www.bnd.com/news/state/story/839347.html Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:19 CDT Sen. Roland Burris, whose deep ties to former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich seemed to doom his Senate tenure from the start, will not run for a full Senate term in 2010. The move increases Democrats' chances of holding on to the former Senate seat of President Barack Obama. http://www.bnd.com/news/state/story/839514.html http://www.bnd.com/news/state/story/839514.html Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:34 CDT South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has had a lot of indirect help holding on to office in the two weeks since his mysterious disappearance and revelations of a sultry yearlong affair with an Argentine woman. http://www.bnd.com/news/state/story/839196.html http://www.bnd.com/news/state/story/839196.html Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:18 CDT A U.S. Border Patrol worker has been arrested in Escondido following a hatchet attack that left a couple seriously injured in their home. http://www.bnd.com/news/state/story/837442.html http://www.bnd.com/news/state/story/837442.html Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:47 CDT Three years into a relationship that started with him watching her dance and progressed to money for sex, the Rev. Mark Ostgarden had a proposal for exotic dancer Bunny Byington.