Cooler and drier air settling over Wisconsin will make for a very pleasant Thursday, but storms could mar outdoor activities on Friday.

Defense lawyers for the man charged in the 2002 kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart will ask a judge to move a November trial out of Utah to another state.

The U.S. economic recovery will remain slow deep into next year, held back by shoppers reluctant to spend and employers hesitant to hire, according to an Associated Press survey of leading economists.

FORT ATKINSON — Mitzi Joseph isn’t surprised about her daughter’s achievements, desires and energy.

Geely Holding Group has received final Chinese government approval to acquire Volvo Cars from Ford Motor Co., the Commerce Ministry said Thursday.

It was a night in early November during the infancy of the Cold War when the anti-communist dissidents were hustled through a garden and across a gully to a vehicle on a dark, deserted road in Budapest. They hid in four large crates for their perilous journey.

President Barack Obama is defending his administration’s education policies, responding to criticism that so far they have not substantially helped minority students.

The headline may have struck left-leaning readers as satire worthy of The Onion: “WMC leader laments polarized politics.” You know, kind of like “Rush Limbaugh decries caustic talk radio” or “Glenn Beck yearns for cable news objectivity.”

Dear Editor: When most taxpayers read or heard the news that President Obama’s pay czar Kenneth Feinberg stopped short of demanding a refund of $1.6 billion paid to top executives of bailed-out banks, there has to have been a collective sense of horror and disbelief. This helps explain why the downward spiraling poll numbers and confidence in Obama’s administration continue to occur.

It is, of course, unfortunate that Wisconsin has lost out for a second time in its bid to secure more than $200 million in federal education grant money under the “Race to the Top” program.