Following a 10-day power outage that brought life to a virtual halt in parts of New York, the Small Business Administration is now offering disaster loans to affected companies. Small businesses located in Queens , Kings, New York, Bronx, and Nassau counties that lost power during the July blackout are …

JERUSALEM – The hospital treating former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Wednesday he was in stable condition two days after being put on antibiotics for double pneumonia. Sharon, 78, has been in a coma since suffering a massive stroke Jan. 4. He has since undergone several extensive brain operations …

By Angus Loten – Despite the soaring number of patents taken out by university science departments in recent years, women scientists are far less likely to secure them than their male colleagues because of a lack of commercial contacts, according to a new study. The report, released Friday by the …

LAS VEGAS – In an effort to curb charity that is having unintended consequences, the City Council has made it illegal to give food to homeless people in city parks. Residents complained that the large numbers of homeless gathering in the parks make it impossible for others to use them, …

WASHINGTON – Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) wants to block an effort for a shareholder vote forcing the world’s largest software maker to explain its support for Internet network neutrality, according to a company letter obtained by Reuters on Tuesday. The Free Enterprise Action Fund, a mutual fund that says it offers …

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA hopes to figure out what caused the latest problem keeping Atlantis earthbound: an electrical short in a 30-year-old motor. If the agency determines by Thursday night that the cause of the short is not serious, NASA can try to launch the shuttle Friday morning. On …

HARTFORD, Conn. – Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, a vocal defender of Sen. Joe Lieberman earlier this year, is urging Connecticut voters to rally behind his rival, Ned Lamont. The Illinois senator and potential 2008 presidential candidate sent an e-mail message Thursday praising Lamont. “Ned Lamont has waged an impressive grass-roots …

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – John R. Pepper II, co-founder of the first nationwide radio station with programming targeting a black audience, has died. He was 91. Pepper died Monday at St. Francis Hospital after an extended illness, according to Forest Hill Midtown Funeral Home, where services were held Friday. Still one …

BERKELEY, Calif. – Three of the people accused of involvement in a tree-sitting protest against a sports training center at the University of California, Berkeley are facing jail time. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Marshall Whitley sentenced Kingman Lim, Zachary RunningWolf Brown and Michael Schuck to five days in prison …

HARWICH, Mass. – Harwich police have a musical mystery on their hands: Who left a piano in the middle of the woods? And why? The Baldwin piano discovered in the Bells Neck woods appears to be in perfect working condition and had a matching bench as if it had recently …