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This is probably not the best week to air any reservations about the American passion for independence. After all, we don't have fireworks for Dependence Day. We don't hold parades to celebrate Interdependence Day. We get no holiday for Connections.

Days from his first Moscow summit, President Obama declared Thursday that former Russian President Vladimir Putin “still has a lot of sway” in his nation and needs an in-person reminder the Cold War is over.

Deborah Rowe, the ex-wife of Michael Jackson and the mother of two of his children, has not reached a final decision on whether to seek custody of the children, a lawyer said Thursday.

A story in Thursday's Local & State section understated the percentage of laid-off Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools employees who did not work in schools. About 5.6 percent of the 1,176 people on a new layoff list had been assigned to offices and departments outside schools.

Iran on Thursday announced more arrests in the post-election turmoil, detaining seven alleged provocateurs of violence who it says were linked to Iranian exiles. The move underlines authorities' drive to portray protests as the work of outsiders rather than a reflection of widespread popular dismay.

Never before have so many politicians seemed so fixated on their “stimulus packages.”

In late June, about 150 citizens gathered at the new Fillmore Theatre to hear a presentation by the Arts & Science Council touting a jointly commissioned Creative Vitality Index. Two out-of-town officials from the Western Arts Foundation and a researcher from UNC Charlotte's Urban Institute gave a presentation benchmarking the region's creative vitality against the nation.

Reduce the state budget; fire all Easley family members still on the state payroll.

As the last women and children moved out of their temporary shelter at Hall House this week, some advocates were celebrating what they said was a successful effort to provide free winter housing to the homeless.

The moniker “Maximum Bob” tells you a lot about Judge Robert Potter, who died Thursday at age 86. Over a courtroom tenure of nearly two decades he earned the name for his tough sentences and stern lectures from the bench.