Joining state lawmakers and hundreds of residents, three members of the Louisville Metro Council are criticizing the pending merger between U of L Hospital, Jewish Hospital and a division of Catholic Health Initiatives. Council members Tina Ward-Pugh, D-9, Vicki Aubrey Welch, D-13, and Marianne Butler, D-15, signed a petition that will appear as a half-page advertisement in the Courier-Journal this weekend, which protests the hospital merger and says it will “stop vital medical procedures” for residents in the area.

A experimental device that delivers electrical pulses to the forehead can help control epileptic seizures, say scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The device works by stimulating the trigeminal nerve, which runs just beneath the skin covering the eyebrows. Electrical signals follow that nerve to areas in the brain where seizures often begin, researchers say.

Sweltering heat continued Friday, moving from the Ohio Valley to the East Coast and straining regional power grids.

As temperatures head into near record-breaking territory, demand for power is also getting close to capacity, but authorities in New England say they don't expect to top the record usage set in the summer of 2006. And they're confident they can continue to meet demand.

It's as sure as spring turning to summer. Every time temperatures soar past 90 degrees, fans and conditioners fly off store shelves.

The oldest Christian music festival in the nation may not come back for a 43rd year. The Ichthus Festival draws tens of thousands of people to a large field in Wilmore, Kentucky, but the event is struggling financially. CEO Mark Vermillion says Ichthus can no longer rely on just ticket sales.

The heat wave poses a considerable risk to central Kentuckians who can find no shelter.   Kenneth Newton at Lexington’s Hope Homeless Center is seeing as many men today as he sees in the dead of winter. “Well, right now we are dealing with our winter time numbers.  If there was a major blizzard outside, that’s the type of numbers we are dealing with tonight,” said Newton.

Lately you'd think President Obama was threatening to push Granny off the cliff.

That's pretty much been the reaction of liberal Democrats to even the hint that the president might consider reductions in spending for Medicare as part of a deal to raise the nation's debt ceiling.

As expected, the Senate rejected House Republican's so called "Cut, Cap and Balance" plan. As we reported when the House approved it, earlier this week, the bill sought to introduce a balance budget amendment to the constitution.

The final steep mountain stage of the Tour de France brought a flurry of attacks, as Alberto Contador, Andy Schleck, Cadel Evans and a handful of other riders struggled to win time over each other on the iconic Alpe d'Huez.

At the end of the day, Schleck took over the Tour lead, a testament to his refusal to let first Contador, and then Evans, ride away from him.

With two stages remaining, the top 10 riders are:

1. Andy Schleck, Luxembourg, Leopard-Trek, 82 hour, 48:43
2. Frank Schleck, Luxembourg, Leopard-Trek, plus 53 seconds

At 13, Joss Stone already sounded like a veteran soul singer. Now 24, Stone actually is a veteran of the music business — and for the first time, she's taken control of her sound.

It may be an unassuming piece of fabric, but it has woven itself prominently into American life.

If you've seen a photo of a newborn baby recently, you've probably laid eyes on it.

We're talking about a white flannel blanket with pink and blue stripes that is used in hospital delivery rooms across the country. It's one of the first things to touch the skin of countless babies every year.