"The federal government might have enough money in its emergency coffers to help tornado-ravaged Oklahoma without Congress having to pass another contentious disaster response bill, the Senate's top Democrat said yesterday."

"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters he wasn't immediately considering legislation to help finance cleanup and recovery from the massive tornado that hit Oklahoma City and its suburbs earlier this week, killing at least 24 people.

"Right now, we don't need the money," the Nevada Democrat said.

"The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has some fresh news from World War II: Thirteen Merchant Marine ships sunk by the German navy in the Battle of the Atlantic threaten to release oil from their watery graves."

"HASKELL COUNTY, Kan. — Forty-nine years ago, Ashley Yost’s grandfather sank a well deep into a half-mile square of rich Kansas farmland. He struck an artery of water so prodigious that he could pump 1,600 gallons to the surface every minute."

"LONDON — More than a decade ago, British parents refused to give measles shots to at least a million children because of now discredited research that linked the vaccine to autism. Now, health officials are scrambling to catch up and stop a growing epidemic of the contagious disease."