AUSTIN, Texas — When Jan Bozarth landed her "Fairy Godmother Academy" book deal with Random House, she was told that the publisher had received 60 proposals like hers that incorporated multimedia or online components to expand on the printed word.Read more

• Link | http://www.fairygodmotheracademy.com

HOUSTON — Texas is among the first states to toughen its standards for colleges of education and other teacher-training programs amid criticism that too many are "cash cows" that produce weak instructors.Read more

WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee says he plans to begin a congressional investigation of the shootings at Fort Hood.Read more

WASHINGTON — The Army's chief of staff says the Army is taking a hard look at itself to make certain that something like the Fort Hood rampage doesn't happen again.Read more

WASHINGTON — The family of the alleged Fort Hood shooter held his mother's funeral at the same Virginia mosque that two Sept. 11 hijackers attended in 2001, at a time when a radical imam preached there.Read more

DALLAS — A gray fedora worn by Jack Ruby when he shot Lee Harvey Oswald sold for $53,775 at an auction of items linked to assassination of President John F. Kennedy.Read more

• Link | http://www.dallasnews.com

NEW ORLEANS — Hurricane Ida, the first Atlantic hurricane to target the United States this year, plodded Sunday toward the Gulf Coast with 105 mph winds, bringing the threat of flooding and storm surges.Read more

WASHINGTON — The House has passed a resolution honoring the victims of the attack at Fort Hood, Texas.Read more

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Virginia Tech administrators have been advising Pentagon officials on how to respond to the mass shootings at Fort Hood.Read more

TEMPLE, Texas — Authorities say one of the officers who has been hailed as a hero in the Fort Hood massacre has had a second surgery and is grateful for all the good wishes.Read more