On Friday, the Labor Department revealed the latest jobs report and the picture was not pretty. Their broadest measure of unemployment and underemployment has reached its highest level in decades, and if their statistics went back so far, it would most certainly be at its highest level since the Great Depression.

One out of every six workers, or 17.5%, were unemployed or underemployed in October 2009. The previous record high was set in December 1982 at 17.1%. WIthout an end in site to our economic woes, the figures could go even higher in the coming months.

That 17.5% figure includes the officiall unemployed, which are those who have looked for work in the last four weeks. It also includes discouraged workers who have looked in the past year, and millions of part-time workers wanting to be full-time.

The official jobless rate is at 10.2% for October, and remains lower than the early 80's peak at 10.8%. But again, this latest figure continues the upward trend, and isup from 9.8% in September 2009. It is highest in those states which had big housing bubles, such as Arizona and California, and those with large manufacturing sectors, including Ohio, South Carolina, Rhode Island, and Oregon.

A mass shooting at Fort Hood on Thursday has thus far resulted in the deaths of twelve individuals and as many as 31 wounded. Officials confirmed that three shooters were involved. One has been killed and the other two have been apprehended.

A spokesman for the Army at the Pentagon said the shootings began around 1:30pm. The first of the two shootings took place at a personnel and medical processing center called a Soldier Rating and Processing Center, which handles administrative details for soldiers. The second shooting incident took place at a theater on the base, the Howze Theatre.

All three shooters were said to be US military soldiers. The suspects were in military uniform. The shooter-at-large had a high-powered sniper rifle. Officials have not yet confirmed whether those killed and injured were civilians or military personnel.

Following the attack, the base has been locked down. The Fort Hood website has posted an alert reading "Effective immediately Fort Hood is closed". The site also says, "This is not a Drill. It is an Emergency Situation." and indicates that units at the base have been ordered to account for all personnel. The FBI is also sending agents to the scene.

In a big departure from the policies of the George W. Bush era, the Justice Department issued a new policy memo to prosecutors on Monday telling them that pot-smoking patients and their sanctioned suppliers should not be targeted for federal prosecution in states that permit medical marijuana. In the 3-page legal memo, federal prosecutors are told it is not a good use of their time to arrest those who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state law.

The guidelines issued by the Justice Department, however, make it quite clear that federal agents can and will go after those who's marijuana distribution goes beyond what is permitted under state law, and those who use medical marijuana as a cover for other crimes.

Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.

"It will not be a priority to use federal resources to prosecute patients with serious illnesses or their caregivers who are complying with state laws on medical marijuana, but we will not tolerate drug traffickers who hide behind claims of compliance with state law to mask activities that are clearly illegal."

The sheriff's department and child protection services are taking a much closer look at the Heenes family after their six-year-old son said that they had pulled the now-infamous balloon stunt "for a show."

At a press conference Saturday morning, Sheriff Jim Alderen said:

"I would say this not a typical American family. They engeage in behaviors a lot of us don't. Obviously, it's very different family dynamics than most of us experience."

The 6-year-old was interviewed on television, and said that he had stayed in hiding because he thought they were "doing this for a show." This remark has raised quite a bit of interest and gives some creedence to the possibility of the entire thing being a hoax.

Alderen continued:

"We want to reinterview them, clarify that, and put that to rest."

If it turns out that the balloon incident was in fact a hoax, Alderen assures that justice will be sought:

"If this turns out to be a false report, we certainly would seek criminal restitution. But we would have to be convinced, and it would have to be proven in court, not just based on speculation."

"If this is determined to be a hoax, the only thing we really have is making a false report to authorities, which is a misdemeanor."

Health insurance coverage denials know no age limit. Alex Lange, a four month old baby from Colorado, was recently denied insurance after he was deemed to be too fat for his age.

At 25-inches long and 17lbs., Alex is above average. Alex's father Bernie Lange and his wife Kelli say that their insurance went up 40% when he was born. So when they went to shop for better premiums, they were shocked to learn that the size of their baby matter.

An insurance underwriter for Rocky Mountain Health Plans simply wrote, "Your baby is too fat."

Alex born at a healthy 8 1/4 pounds. He boasts quite a healthy appetite, which is why he has been packing on the pounds. For a baby of his age at his weight and height, he ranks in the 99th percentile.

Bernie, a part-time news anchor for KKCO-TV in Grand Junction, CO said:

"We can't put him on the Atkins diet or on a treadmill."

Kelli added: "He's healthy in our eyes. It's like we're being punished."

Dr. Douglas Speedie, director of Rocky Mountain Health Plans, explained:

"We do it because everybody else in the industry does it."

According to officials, an elderly golfer lost part of his arm recently when he leaned over to pick up his ball at a private South Carolina course. The man was said to be retrieving his ball from a pond when the 10-foot alligator bit him at Ocean Creek Golf Couse in Beaufort County.

The gator pulled the man into the pond, and ripped of his arm during the struggle. The man's golf partners were able to free him, sparing him from further harm.

Wildlife workers found and killed the alligator. They also retrieved the arm in the hopes that it might be reattached. He was being treated at Medical University of South Carolina, however officials there would not release any information about him. The man has not been identified.

On Sept. 17, 2009, President Obama presented the Medal of Honor to the parents of Army Staff Sgt. Jared C. Monti for "conspicuous gallantry." Monti, 30, was serving with the 10th Mountain Division when he was killed in a battle at Gowardesh, Afghanistan.

This was the sixth occasion since Sept. 11, 2001, that the nation's highest award has been presented. Some believe, however, the number of recipients is too low. In the National Defense Authorization Act for 2010, the Department of Defense came under fire for setting decoration standards too high. Still, regardless of political pressure and changing definitions in popular media, the department has held fast to its own definition of the word "hero," which has stood the test of time.

The Chinese news agency Xinhua recently reported on the existence of a town in Sweden called Chako Paul City, which supposedly is inhabited only by females and where lesbianism runs rampant. Much to the dismay of Chinese readers, Sweden is denying the existence of the town.

According to Xinhua, the town was founded in 1820 in the northern Swedish woods by a wealthy widow and boasts 25,000 residents, as well as a medieval castle. A pair of blonde female sentries stand guard at the town, and men wishing to enter risk being "beaten half to death" by the police. And according to the Chinese news service Harbin News, many of the residents also turn to homosexuality "because they could not suppress their sexual needs".

The Chinese press also claims that much of the all-female population is employed in the forestry industry, with many sporting a "thick waist belt full of woodworking equipment". Women who decide to leave the town to fulfill their sexual needs with men are only allowed to return to the city if they agree to bathe and undertake other measures that are designed to ensure that their trysts won't negatively affect the mental state of other women in the town.

President Barack Obama says that kids today spend too little time in the classroom, something he would like to change. Obama adds that this puts American children at a disadvantage with other students from around the globe, and supports longer school days and school years.

Obama has two school-age daughters of his own - one in third grade and another in sixth grade. He said that he knows that longer school days and school years are "not wildly popular ideas. Not with Malia and Sasha, not in my family, and probably not in yours. But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom." Obama also proposes opening schools on the weekend so kids have a safe place to go.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan also supports more time in the classroom. He notes that the current school calendar is based "upon the agrarian economy" and that these days, there aren't too many kids "working the fields".

When the first swine flu vaccinations begin being given to the general public in just a few weeks, there will be some people who get them that will have strokes or heart attacks. Some pregnant women may miscarry, and some children may have seizures. However, officials are warning that these events will not necessarily have anything to do with the flu vaccine.

Federal officials are aware of the potential public relations challenges, recalling how sensational reports of death and illness thwarted the large-scale swine flu vaccine drive of 1976. This time, however, they are prepared and have begun making plans to quickly respond to such events to reassure the wary public that the vaccine is not the culprit.

It is important to keep in mind that each year 200,000 Americans will have their first seizure, and there are 1.1 million heart attacks, 795,000 strokes and 876,000 miscarriages. Some of these will inevitably occur within hours or days of receiving a flu shot.

Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg says that the government "is right to expect coincident deaths, since people are dying every day, with or without flu shots." Fineberg is the president of the Institute of Medicine, and co-author of "The Epidemic That Never Was", a book on the history of the 1976 swine flu vaccination drive.