Indian tribes complain of crumbling schools

Around the country, Indian tribes are frustrated by what they say are inadequate federal funding and long delays in replacing aging buildings at the 184 schools supported by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. The federal government not only takes a long time to replace schools, but also fails to maintain them, said Jacqueline Johnson, executive director of the National Congress of American Indians. The Bush administration has said the situation has improved in recent years. In 2001, 35 percent of BIA schools were in good or fair condition, with the rest in poor condition. But spending planned through next year will leave 65 percent in good or fair shape, the administratoin said.

House votes to postpone meat labels in stores

WASHINGTON -- The House voted Wednesday to block the government from requiring labels that would tell shoppers from what country their meat comes. Congress already had postponed the labeling from its original date of 2004 to September 2006. The House action would stop the Agriculture Department from spending money on the new requirement. The postponement was part of a $100 billion spending bill for food and farm programs in the budget year that begins Oct. 1. The House passed the bill by 408-18 vote Wednesday.

Brigham Young's will sold at auction

SALT LAKE CITY -- The last will of Mormon leader Brigham Young was sold at auction Wednesday in Philadelphia for $80,500, an artifact consultant said. The will was bought by a private collector who asked the auction house for anonymity, said Bob Lucas, the consultant who verified the document's authenticity. He did not know if the purchaser is a member of the Mormon church and said he thought the person's interest in the will was "mostly historical."

Morning-after pill dispute raised over nursing job

URBANA, Ill. -- A former nurse sued Eastern Illinois University on Wednesday claiming she was denied a promotion because she said she wouldn't dispense morning-after pills. Andrea Nead told the school nursing director that she could not dispense the pills because she believes interfering with a fertilized egg's implantation is a form of abortion, which is against her religious beliefs, according to her suit. Nead is suing the university's board of trustees and its nursing director, seeking damages for lost income and benefits and punitive damages against the director.

Thunderstorms, floods pound upper Midwest

WANAMINGO, Minn. -- Powerful thunderstorms slammed the upper Midwest and caused heavy flooding, leaving one man missing in Minnesota, destroying a small-town city hall in South Dakota and forcing several people out of their homes. Wind gusted to 92 mph during the night in north-central South Dakota, destroying the one-story city hall in Onaka, flattening a farm cooperative building in Faulkton and damaging other buildings.

-- From wire reports