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.

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.

WASHINGTON - Most children 14 and under killed in alcohol-related crashes are passengers in automobiles driven by inebriated drivers, according to a study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

CHICAGO - A blood-thinning drug derived from the venom of the Malayan pit viper can reverse symptoms in stroke victims, researchers reported today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

NEW YORK - Beth Israel Medical Center, a large New York teaching hospital, this month opened a funky looking facility - complete with pastel-colored walls and a waiting room with fluffy couches and a redwood bench - where physicians work along side chiropractors and practitioners who specialize in homeopathy and clinical imagery.

WASHINGTON - So many Americans crossed into obesity last year - ending a decade that saw an unprecedented 60 percent increase in the number of overweight Americans - that worried federal health officials now are calling for a vigorous attack on the fat epidemic.