What about Benghazi?
The Joplin Globe
Joplin, Mo.

The American public daily is learning more about the alleged sexual escapades on the part of Gen. David Petraeus, who has resigned as director of the CIA.

The inquiry that led to his resignation began last summer, but the White House didn’t learn about it until the day after the election. Petraeus resigned last week after acknowledging he’d had an affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell.

Challenges in China
New Castle News
New Castle, Pa.

Officially, China’s Communist Party congress is about setting the stage for the country’s future.

The congress, held every five years, involves a gathering of 2,200 party delegates who select the next generation of leadership.
But realistically, much of the congress is little more than show, a rallying of loyal troops. The power brokers in China’s Communist Party make all the decisions behind the scenes.

Political movement hard to spot
The New Castle News
New Castle, Pa.

When the dust settled after Tuesday’s election, Washington looked pretty much the same.

While there were some minor shifts in Congress, the House remains in Republican control, and the Democrats are in charge in the Senate — but with a GOP minority big enough to maintain a filibuster.

And, of course, President Barack Obama was returned to office by the nation’s voters. In short, things in Washington are as they have been for the past two years.

Regulate compound pharmacies with care
The Free Press
Mankato, Minn.

So far, 24 people who have died of fungal meningitis after they were injected with tainted steroids made at a compounding pharmacy in Massachusetts. Another 328 people in 18 states have fallen ill.

What those patients didn’t know is that the pharmacy that made the steroids and others like it have been largely exempted from Food and Drug Administration oversight.

America’s oil boom
New Castle News
New Castle, Pa.

A stunning report from The Associated Press offered the prediction that the United States soon may surpass Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest oil producer.

This news comes after years of concerns about dwindling petroleum resources, not only in this country, but in other parts of the world as well. As a result, increased dependency on oil from the Middle East and other potentially unstable areas has become the norm.