Ken Stanford

As Americans debate whether they are better off now than they were four years ago, there is another question with a somewhat easier answer: Are you safer now than you were when President Barack Obama took office?

President Barack Obama is asking Americans to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks by remembering how far the nation has come since terrorists struck 11 years ago.

Hurricane Isaac's remnants dumped heavy rain on some key Midwest farming states, dramatically lessening the drought there while corn-producing heavyweights Iowa and Nebraska missed out on that moisture and saw their conditions worsen badly, according to a drought report released Thursday.

U.S. employers added 96,000 jobs last month, a weak figure that could slow any momentum President Barack Obama hoped to gain from his speech to the Democratic National Convention.