CHICAGO (Reuters) – Like an increasing number of well-heeled Americans, the Hodgsons decided it was time to buy a new home, even if most of the U.S. housing market remains in the dumps.

After years in an apartment building, “we were just tired of sharing space with other people,” says Cari Hodgson, 32. “It was time to have space of our own.”

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Like an increasing number of well-heeled Americans, the Hodgsons decided it was time to buy a new home, even if most of the U.S. housing market remains in the dumps.

After years in an apartment building, “we were just tired of sharing space with other people,” says Cari Hodgson, 32. “It was time to have space of our own.”

MADISON, Wisconsin (Reuters) – Conservative Sarah Palin returned to the U.S. political arena on Saturday after several months absence with a feisty speech attacking both the establishment Republican Party and Democratic President Barack Obama and proclaiming “the 2012 elections begin here.”

In a move apparently aimed at keeping her name in the running for the Republican nomination in next year’s presidential election, Palin addressed several thousand people in Wisconsin, a state bitterly divided by a political fight over union rights.

CHICAGO, April 6 (Reuters) – The disaster in Japan darkened
the mood at a nuclear conference here on Wednesday, but
officials said the Fukushima crisis will not change the outlook
for global expansion and blamed the media for stoking fear.

“The accident (at Fukushima) has rocked our world in ways
that Chernobyl never did and will for many years,” said Richard
Myers, vice president for policy development at industry group
the Nuclear Energy Institute, speaking at the 2011 World
Nuclear Fuel Cycle conference.

CHICAGO, April 6 (Reuters) – The disaster in Japan darkened
the mood at a nuclear conference here on Wednesday but
officials said the Fukushima crisis will not change the outlook
for the U.S. industry and blamed the media for stoking fear.

“The accident (at Fukushima) has rocked our world in ways
that Chernobyl never did and will for many years,” said Richard
Myers, vice president for policy development at industry group
the Nuclear Energy Institute, speaking at the 2011 World
Nuclear Fuel Cycle conference.

CHICAGO/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Just last week the “Oracle of Omaha” was greeted in India as if he spoke on behalf of a god like the oracles of old.

Attendees at an event in a plush hotel in New Delhi raced for front row seats to hear Warren Buffett talk. At a conference in Bangalore on March 23, a crowd including investors gathered to heap praise upon him.

TSUCHIURA, Japan/DETROIT/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Just over a week after the massive earthquake hit the sprawling Texas Instruments (TXN.N: Quote, Profile, Research) chip plant here, a gardener is reworking the Japanese garden in an inner courtyard of the office tower attached to the plant.

The garden is a symbol of tranquillity and the gardener runs his rake in swooping patterns in the fine gravel that resemble ripples in a pond.

TSUCHIURA, Japan/DETROIT/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Just over a week after the massive earthquake hit the sprawling Texas Instruments chip plant here, a gardener is reworking the Japanese garden in an inner courtyard of the office tower attached to the plant.

The garden is a symbol of tranquility and the gardener runs his rake in swooping patterns in the fine gravel that resemble ripples in a pond.

TSUCHIURA, Japan/DETROIT/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Just over a week after the massive earthquake hit the sprawling Texas Instruments chip plant here, a gardener is reworking the Japanese garden in an inner courtyard of the office tower attached to the plant.

The garden is a symbol of tranquillity and the gardener runs his rake in swooping patterns in the fine gravel that resemble ripples in a pond.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Haley Barbour, a conservative Republican weighing a 2012 White House run, condemned President Barack Obama on Monday for failed leadership and big-spending policies that he said were stifling economic recovery.

On a visit to Obama’s hometown of Chicago, the two-term Mississippi governor and former Republican Party chairman said out-of-control spending and exploding deficits under Obama had smothered U.S. job and economic growth.