Automatic federal budget cuts that kicked in March 1 have had little initial impact in many parts of the government. For a few programs, however, the effect has been real and painful, as the government begins cutting $85 billion from its spending through the end of September.

Many of the earliest signs of the cuts are being seen on the local level, in state programs like education that rely in part on federal dollars.

Ruben Aguilar, 85, was forcibly deported from the U.S. 80 years ago as part of a largely forgotten Mexican repatriation program run by the American government.

During the Great Depression, hundreds of thousands of people of Mexican descent were forcibly deported to Mexico without due process, including many American citizens. Aguilar, an American citizen, was born in Chicago but was deported with his parents, who were undocumented. At the time, he was 6 years old.

Chaz Ebert, Roger Ebert's wife of more than 20 years, has issued a statement on the passing of her husband. She wrote:

Rutgers assistant men's basketball coach Jimmy Martelli has resigned, amid the fallout of a videotape that showed head coach Mike Rice physically and verbally abusing his players.

According to The Star-Ledger, which broke the story, Martelli resigned yesterday, at the same time Rice was fired.

Fast-food restaurants were a little bit slower Thursday in New York City. Hundreds of workers staged a one-day strike in what organizers are calling the biggest job action ever in that industry. It's a growing segment of the economy, but workers complain that fast-food jobs don't pay enough to survive in New York City.

Addicted, that's what we are: My husband and I are addicted to BBC television shows. We watch BBC series via Netflix streaming, the "instant" option available to Netflix customers.

It's life, but not as we know it. Researchers in the Netherlands have found that a microbe from deep beneath the ocean can breathe a major ingredient in rocket fuel. The discovery suggests that early life may have used many different kinds of chemicals besides oxygen to survive and thrive.

A bill that provides teachers with law enforcement training on how to "take-out" a gunman on campus moves one step closer to becoming law.