It's Wednesday. Here's what's happening today from The Associated Press:
SPORTS
ATLANTA - Julio Lugo scored from third base on a contested play at the plate, giving the Atlanta Braves a 4-3 win in 19 innings over the Pittsburgh Pirates early Wednesday morning.
The game, which ended at 1:50 a.m., was the longest in Turner Field history and matched the longest in the major leagues this season. At 6 hours, 39 minutes, it was the longest by time for both teams.
Lugo took on Scott Proctor's grounder to third baseman Pedro Alvarez, whose throw to catcher Michael McKenry easily beat Lugo to the plate.
Lugo tried to avoid McKenry's tag with a pop-up slide. Replays indicated McKenry made the tag, but home plate umpire Jerry Meals called Lugo safe. Pirates manager Clint Hurdle argued the call vigorously, following Meals off the field as the Braves celebrated.
STATE
MARIETTA - Cobb County commissioners have approved a 15.7 percent increase in millage rates for property taxes, less than the 17 percent that had been proposed.
Commission Chairman Tim Lee supported the lower increase, which means a $105 tax increase for a home valued between $190,000 and $210,000. The commission approved the increase Tuesday night after listening to dozens of residents at their meeting.
Lee pushed for the increase after the county's tax digest fell 5.5 percent from last year. Cobb faced a $33 million budget deficit for the next fiscal year.
Clayton County commissioners also approved a property tax increase Tuesday night. The 34 percent increase represents 5 mills and is expected to offset a $22 million budget deficit. Property values in the county have fallen sharply in recent years.
DEBT
WASHINGTON - Neither the House nor the Senate has a clear path forward for must-pass legislation to allow the government to continue to borrow to pay its bills, putting lawmakers and financial markets alike on edge less than a week before the deadline for heading off the nation's first-ever default.
House Speaker John Boehner was forced late Tuesday to postpone a floor vote on his plan, which originally had been scheduled for Wednesday, after nonpartisan congressional scorekeepers said the proposal would cut spending less than advertised. He promised to rewrite the measure, but the move means the House can't vote on it until Thursday at the earliest.
Boehner, R-Ohio, needs to do more than pump up the legislation. He needs to shore up his standing with tea party-backed conservatives demanding deeper spending cuts to accompany an almost $1 trillion increase in the government's borrowing cap. Many conservatives already had promised to oppose it.
"We need more drastic cuts," said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah. "I can't support it in its current form."
"I'm searching for a path toward yes but having a difficult time finding it," said Rep Bill Huizenga, R-Mich.
ECONOMY
WASHINGTON - Wealthy countries all over the world are dealing with debts and strained budgets as they mop up after the Great Recession and brace for the budget-busting retirement of the baby boomer generation.
But the United States is in a bigger fix than almost anyone else.
The U.S. federal debt was equal to 95 percent of the overall economy in the first three months of 2011, the fifth-highest on the Associated Press Global Economy Tracker, an analysis of economic and financial data from 30 of the biggest economies.
Every year that the U.S. government spends more than it collects in taxes, it records an annual budget deficit. The $14.3 trillion debt is the sum of all annual deficits and surpluses.
As U.S. policymakers argue over raising the federal borrowing limit and slashing debts, America is hobbled in ways the others are not. Tax collections are low by historical and international standards. Health care costs are astronomical - and still rising. The political system is gridlocked.
SCANDALS
WASHINGTON - There's been risqué tickling. Raunchy twittering. Emailed photos. Stolen sex tapes. And more.
Seems like sex scandals snagging Washington politicians are piling up faster than the federal debt.
Now, in the latest episode of Washington's own unseemly take on "Sex and the City," Rep. David Wu of Oregon is resigning in response to allegations by an 18-year-old woman that she had an "unwanted sexual encounter" with the congressman, who is separated from his wife. Wu denied the charges.
Last month, it was Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., stepping down after admitting he'd sent lewd photos of himself through Twitter, and lied about it.
There have been two other scandal-related resignations from Congress this year, both of them Republicans - a rare recent example of bipartisanship in this city.
WORLD
SEOUL, South Korea - A blast of heavy rain sent landslides barreling through South Korea's capital and a northern town Wednesday, killing 19 people, including 10 college students doing volunteer work.
The students were killed in an early morning landslide in Chuncheon, about 68 miles (110 kilometers) northeast of the capital, Seoul, said Byun In-soo of the town's fire station. They were staying in a resort cabin when the mud and debris engulfed them. Also killed in Chuncheon were a married couple and a convenience store owner.
About 500 officials and residents worked to rescue people trapped in the mud and wreckage. Twenty-four people were injured and several buildings destroyed, officials said.
In southern Seoul, six people were killed when a wave of mud crashed through residential areas at the foot of a mountain, said Lee Sun-myeong, a city official. The dead were not yet identified. Officials earlier said that one child was missing, but fire official Kim Kyu-tae later said it wasn't clear who the missing person was.
South Korea has been pummeled with strong rain this week.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The Taliban say they sent the suicide bomber who killed the mayor of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Mayor Ghulam Haider Hamidi had ordered the destruction of homes that city officials claimed had been illegally constructed.
Ahmadi says the Taliban killed the mayor to avenge the deaths of two children who they allege were killed during the demolition work.
Hamidi was the third major powerbroker from the south to be slain this month.
On July 12, President Karzai's powerful half brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, was gunned down in his home in Kandahar by a close associate. Five days later, gunmen killed Jan Mohammad Khan, an adviser to the president on tribal issues.
HEALTH
LONDON - As the surgeons cut into her neck, Marianne Marquis was thinking of the beach.
As she heard the doctors' voices, she was imagining her toes in the sand, the water lapping.
Marquis had been hypnotized before surgery to have her thyroid removed. She's among a growing number of surgical patients at the Belgian hospital, Cliniques Universitaires St. Luc in Brussels, who choose hypnosis and a local anesthetic to avoid the groggy knockout effect of general anesthesia.
These patients are sedated but aware, and doctors say their recovery time is faster and their need for painkillers reduced. This method is feasible for only certain types of operations.
In her case, Marquis, 53, imagined herself in a field near a beach - which her anesthetist began describing by whispering into her ear about 10 minutes before surgery. She remembers hearing the doctors talk to her, but said it was as if they were far away.
FOOD
GREELEY, Colo. - A voluntary recall of thousands of pounds of ready-to-eat chicken has been expanded over concerns that the meat could be contaminated with bacteria that can cause food poisoning.
Colorado-based Pilgrim's Pride on Tuesday announced the recall now includes about 7,000 pounds of Pilgrim's Pride Brand Fully Cooked Chicken Breast Nuggets that were shipped to dozens of Dollar General stores in the following states: West Virginia, Tennessee, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Georgia, Florida and Alabama.
The recall began last week over fears that more than five tons of ready-to-eat chicken was potentially tainted by Listeria monocytogenes. The Center for Disease Control classifies listeriosis as a serious infection that primarily affects older adults, pregnant women, newborns, and adults with weakened immune systems.
The newly recalled product was sold in 2-pound bags and carries the best-by date of June 2, 2012, and UPC number 77013 16224. It was produced in the Pilgrim's plant in Mt. Pleasant, Texas. Pilgrim officials say the company is working closely with Dollar General to locate all of the recalled product.
Consumers may contact Pilgrim's at (800) 321-1470.
