Mary Kornbluth starts work at 7:30 every morning, but her day is a little different from the average elementary-school teacher.

Instead of staying with a single class all day, she divides her time between five or six groups of three to 10 students. The kids, of varying grade levels, come to her to learn reading, math or writing skills.

The common denominator: Each child has special needs, and Kornbluth tailors her work for each individual. » read more

Levi Johnston, the boyfriend of Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol, has quit his North Slope oil field job over questions about his eligibility to work in an electrical apprenticeship program, Johnston's father said Monday.

Johnston, 18, began working this fall in the Milne Point oil field with ASRC Energy Services Inc., a major Slope contractor.

In a Sunday newspaper column, Anchorage radio talk show host Dan Fagan questioned how Johnston could take part in ASRC's apprenticeship program without a high school diploma. » read more

WASHINGTON — U.S. health care spending in 2007 grew at its lowest rate in nine years, due mainly to a slowdown in prescription drug spending and lower administrative costs for the Medicare program, according to a new government report released Monday.

While the report doesn't reflect most of the economic downturn that began in December 2007, its authors say that health spending historically has been insulated from the effects of a sour economy. However, experts say this could change given the uncertain economic climate and the increased shifting of payment responsibilities to consumers.

Public and private outlays for health care reached $2.2 trillion, or $7,421 per person in 2007, up 6.1 percent from 2006, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reported. » read more

CARACAS — Venezuela's state oil company is suspending a much-promoted program that provided free heating oil to hundreds of thousands of poor people throughout the U.S., the company announced Monday.

The program has been a public relations bonanza for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a socialist who frequently attacks capitalism and the U.S. Chavez repeatedly has tweaked the noses of U.S. policy makers by saying the program shows that he's a good friend of America's poor.

Venezuela is halting the program at least temporarily because the sharp drop in oil prices is forcing the country to reduce government spending, the firm said in a statement from Citizens Energy Corp., a Boston-based nonprofit that's managed the program in the U.S. » read more

PALMER, Alaska — The mother of Sarah Palin's future son-in-law pleaded not guilty to the drug charges against her today.

A Palmer grand jury on Friday indicted Sherry Johnston on six felony counts of misconduct involving a controlled substance relating to possession and sale of the prescription painkiller OcyContin.

She admitted selling OxyContin pills to someone working with investigators, according to state troopers. They arrested her Dec. 18 at her Wasilla home, then released her on bail. » read more