An $838 billion economic stimulus bill backed by the White House narrowly advanced in the Senate on Monday over strong Republican opposition, and Democratic leaders vowed to deliver the emergency legislation for President Barack Obama’s signature within a few days.
The vote was 61-36, one more than the 60 needed to move the measure toward Senate [...]

Back when he was a high school student, in April 1981, Robert Ess says he was absolutely transfixed by NASA’s very first flight of its new space shuttle. “I was obsessed with it,” he says.
The aging shuttle fleet is scheduled to be mothballed next year, after construction of the international space station is complete.
Now Ess [...]