Thursday, July 24 NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks advanced for the second straight session Wednesday as another decline in oil prices and several upbeat profit reports eased some of Wall Street's concerns about the economy. Investors expect that a sustained pullback in oil prices would give a crucial boost to the economy.   Full Story

Thursday, July 24 Senator Barack Obama's ongoing trip to Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel and now Europe has thus far proven uneventful, which is probably an outcome he could well live with. With the stakes for his presidential campaign high, the candidate has seemed comfortable, unflappable, and on at least one occasion, lucky.   Full Story

Thursday, July 24 ALBANY, N.Y. — A Pownal, Vt., man was sentenced in the U.S. District Court in Albany on Wednesday to more than 21 years imprisonment on two charges of possessing child pornography. Edward K. Carnes of Blueberry Hill Road in Pownal pleaded guilty to the charges in March of this year.   Full Story

Thursday, July 24 BENNINGTON — Bennington officials say they are not yet prepared to follow the lead of Barre City and pass an ordinance banning convicted sex offenders from certain parts of town, but they are open to a discussion. The Barre City Council approved an ordinance Tuesday — the first municipality in the state to do so — banning people convicted of most sex crimes   Full Story

Thursday, July 24 NEW YORK — Mike Mussina entered this season almost an afterthought in the Yankees' rotation, the old man on a staff of budding stars. What a difference four months makes. Mussina walked off the Yankee Stadium mound Wednesday to rousing "Mooose!" calls from the sold-out crowd, having thrown eight economical innings in New York's 5-1 win over the Minnesota Twins for   Full Story

Tuesday, July 22 WESTON — On Monday, July 28, at 7:30 p.m. The Weston Playhouse Theatre Company presents the first public reading of "The Oath," by Gavin Broady, a powerful new one-man play based on the dramatic account of Chechen surgeon Khassan Baiev, whose quest to uphold the Hippocratic Oath during a long and brutal war endangered his life and led to a challenging moral conflict that   Full Story