Ken Stanford

The U.S. stock market turned sharply lower in afternoon trading Tuesday on concerns that tensions between Russia and Ukraine were heating up again. Energy stocks were among the biggest decliners, with companies such as Halliburton, Transocean and Devon Energy down more than 3 percent.

Nineteen community and professional leaders graduated the Leadership Jackson program recently.

U.S. services firms grew at the fastest rate in more than eight years in July, the latest sign of an economy picking up speed in the second half of the year. In addition, a separate report issued Tuesday shows U.S. factory orders are up.

President Barack Obama's health care law has become a tale of two Americas.

A man dressed in an Afghan army uniform opened fire Tuesday on NATO troops at a military base, killing a U.S. two-star general and wounding some 15 people, among them a German brigadier general and a number of Americans troops, authorities said.