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The words from President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner on Friday over taxes and the fiscal cliff could be properly viewed as the two men staking out opening positions in coming negotiations. They also could be seen as addressing the two very different constituencies the men must answer to.

David C. Hughart, former president of a Massey Energy subsidiary, is pleading guilty. The charges relate to a corporate culture that investigators say contributed to the nation's worst mine disaster in 40 years. Twenty nine miners died at one of Massey's West Virginia mines in a 2010 explosion.

It's been 40 years since NASA launched Apollo 17, its final human mission to the moon. The commander of that mission says he'd love to give up his claim to fame as "the last man on the moon" but concedes that it probably won't happen in his lifetime. And future trips might be run by companies in the private sector.

Over the past decade, employee background checks have become a billion-dollar business. Some lawmakers think companies that want to know not just about criminal backgrounds but social media passwords have gone too far.

California's budget crisis is creating a new class of private philanthropists who are stepping up to keep state parks open to the public. Henry Coe State Park, the state's second-largest, was recently saved by a large donation from a Silicon Valley engineer. Will California ever return to fully funding its state parks?

The federal debt is at record levels and growing. States are "grappling with unprecedented fiscal crises," a new report says. And Europe's debt mess threatens the world economy. Some scholars think, like Plato, that democracy is the problem.

Ranchers endured a tough time during the seven-year Texas drought in the 1950s. But last year was the hottest, driest period in the record books. As the state braces for another arid summer, it is getting more serious about finding new sources of water.

The difficulty and expense associated with nation-building in Iraq and Afghanistan has made the notion of nation-building unpopular with Democrats and Republicans alike. But throughout U.S. history, the idea has always staged a comeback.

In a speech from Fort Myers, Fla., President Obama said Friday was "a day for prayer and reflection." At least 12 people were killed after a gunman walked into a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., and opened fire.

If the economy continues May's unsteady sort of progress, Obama and other administration officials will keep pointing out rays of economic hope and reminding voters of how bad situation was when they took office. Meanwhile, Romney, aided by congressional Republicans, will continue to paint the president and his economic policies as a failure.