WASHINGTON (AP) - More than 1 million Americans wind up back in the hospital only weeks after they left for reasons that could have been prevented - a revolving door that for years has seemed impossible to slow.

My dad baked his own birthday cake! Now that might not seem like big news to you, but that seems pretty amazing in our family. You see, my dad was a farmer. His role was all the heavy labor, the outside work, the fields and the cows. My mom, on the other hand, had the huge job of keeping the household running, everything in order and spotless, clean clothes for all and most importantly keeping everyone feed, three times per day, plus snacks!

Senseless, irrational violence aimed at children, this time at a Jewish Community Center in Los Angles, makes the headlines once again. This latest tragedy occurs just as the start of school approaches.

CHICAGO (AP) - Patients who have asthma, diabetes or high blood pressure and receive primary care from nurse practitioners fare just as well as those treated by doctors, researchers suggested today.

Associated Press CHICAGO - Blaming ''foolishness and distractions,'' researchers reported today that the risk of a teen-age driver dying increases with each additional passenger - particularly with young passengers.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - Miss America is getting skinnier and skinnier, according to researchers who conclude that many winners are undernourished.

I am a carpooling mother of two, I tell people, and I work for a newspaper between trips.

DULUTH (AP) - Health advocate Pat McKone says a ban on smoking in Duluth's restaurants is long overdue. Restaurant owner Dwayne Terwey says it would be a disaster.

CHICAGO - Doctors have their own terms for it - covert advocacy, manipulating reimbursement rules, gaming. But to insurance companies, misrepresenting patient information is plain, old fraud.

CHICAGO (AP) - A genetic mutation that makes women more likely to develop ovarian cancer may also make the body more responsive to chemotherapy, according to a study in today's Journal of the American Medical Association.