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Hansbrough leads No. 9 Notre Dame

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Ben Hansbrough scored 25 points and Carleton Scott had 12 points and 11 rebounds to lead No. 9 Notre Dame to its fifth straight win, 76-69 victory over Rutgers on Sunday.

The Irish (19-4, 8-3) reclaimed sole possession of second place in the Big East behind No. 4 Pittsburgh and will host No. 15 Louisville on Wednesday.

Scott Martin had 14 points for Notre Dame and Tim Abromaitis added 10.

Jonathan Mitchell scored 24 points for Rutgers (12-11, 3-8) while Dane Miller added 11.

Notre Dame was 27 of 34 from the free throw line and scored only two field goals over the last 8 minutes. Rutgers was 8 of 12 from the line.

Notre Dame pulled away from a 7-7 tie with a 17-6 run that included five straight points and a nice assist by Hansbrough. The Irish stretched the lead to 25-15 before a 3-pointer by the Scarlet Knights' James Beatty started a 7-0 run and got Rutgers within 25-22.

Notre Dame led 37-33 at halftime with Hansbrough scoring 10 points.

The teams battled evenly in the second half before two free throws by Martin started an 8-2 run that made it 51-43 with 12:36 to play. Consecutive 3-pointers by Rutgers made it a two-point game before a layup by Hansbrough sparked an 11-2 run that gave the Irish a 62-51 lead.

Long-Shot GOP Budget Proposal Would Slash Science Funding

The thriftiest of Republican budget proposals for the current yearwould chop $500 billion from the federal budget and make dramatic cuts tofederal agencies with science missions, cutting the National Science Foundation'sbudget by 62 percent, for example.

Tea Party support helped Rep. Rand Paul, R-Ky., win a seat in the Houseof Representatives in November, and his austere proposal spreads the painaround, with $4.5 billion in cuts from NASA and the elimination of theDepartment of Energy.

"According to the Congressional Budget Office, this will be thethird year in a row which the U.S. Government runs a budget deficit near - orgreater-than $1 trillion. These deficits are far greater than what iseconomically sustainable, and far outpaces the political duty to producebudgets that are economically responsible," his proposal reads.

But this plan is far from set in stone, said Patrick Clemmins, directorof R&DBudget and Policy Program at the American Association for the Advancementof Science.

"Rand Paul's is definitely the most dramatic of any of theproposals that are out there now, so the implications are devastating forscience (but) there is no chance these cuts are going to take place at thisdramatic a level," Clemmins said. "While these cuts might be anexample of what a Republican is looking at doing, I don't think they are adirect representation of what the majority of the party is thinking."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would also take a hit,with a budget reduction of 28 percent, in Paul's spending plan.

When asked about specifics of Rand's proposal, CDC spokesperson TomSkinner said, "It's premature for us to comment on budget proposal thataren't actually signed into law."

He added, "I think we at CDC recognize that we live in a time of aneed for fiscal constraint and tight budgets, we feel very strongly about our missionwhen it comes to protectingthe nation's health and we will obviously work with the administration andcongress to do the best we can to protect the nation's health with whatever ourbudget ends up being."

Regarding Paul's proposalto slash the NSF budget, Maria Zacharias, NSF spokeswoman, declined commentsaying, "Our policy is not to discuss proposed spending bills as opposedto enacted legislation." (Spokesperson William Duval of the NationalInstitutes of Health, whose budget would see a cut of 37 percent under Paul'splan, also declined comment saying they also don't comment on pendinglegislation.)

Multiple budget-cutproposals have been put forward - all much less aggressive - but the onewith the most official weight came on Thursday when Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., thechair of the House Budget Committee, called for $74 billion in cuts relative towhat Pres. Obama requested a year ago.

Clemmins noted that the final budget must also pass the Senate, whichis controlled by Democrats.

Congress is still working to tie up the current year's budget, whileObama prepares his proposal for 2012. The White House is expected to releasethat proposal on Feb. 14.

Top10 Greatest Mysteries in ScienceInfographic:Science R&D Spending in Federal Budget10Profound Innovations Ahead

LiveScience senior writer Stephanie Pappas contributed reporting to this article. You can follow LiveScience writer Wynne Parry on Twitter @Wynne_Parry.

Original Story:

Snow falls on Big D 2 days before Super Bowl

DALLAS – Five inches of snow are on the ground in the Dallas suburb hosting the Super Bowl, just two days before the big game.

The National Weather Service said Arlington, home to $1.3 billion Cowboys Stadium, was among the areas of North Texas that had the largest accumulation Friday morning.

[Related: ]

The overnight snowstorm was the latest in a Super Bowl week full of winter weather in a normally temperate climate. An area that usually sees highs in the 50s has had subfreezing temperatures since Tuesday morning.

Although warmer temperatures are on the way, the weather service says snow and ice will still be on the ground Sunday, when Green Bay and Pittsburgh play under the retractable roof at Cowboys Stadium.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

Texas got another blast of winter overnight Friday, with a few inches of snow piling up on icy streets and sidewalks just two days before the Super Bowl.

North Texas hasn't quite cleaned up from Tuesday's ice storm and the latest storm threatened to disrupt travel before Sunday's game between Green Bay and Pittsburgh.

Love Field, home to Southwest Airlines, was closed before dawn Friday and 120 flights were canceled at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

A winter storm warning was in effect for Arlington, where the Steelers and the Packers will play in Cowboys Stadium with the retractable roof closed.

The storm hit as partygoers were out late Thursday and early Friday. Rams running back Steven Jackson tweeted: "All this snow.. This can't be Dallas."

MSU suspends G Ravern Johnson for critical tweets

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Mississippi State's Ravern Johnson has been suspended for Saturday's game against LSU because of "inappropriate tweets" sent following the team's 75-61 loss to Alabama on Wednesday.

The suspension was announced Friday in a statement released by the university. Johnson, a 6-foot-7 senior, is averaging 17.7 points per game.

Johnson was critical of his role in the offense and of fans in Twitter messages after scoring just 10 points in the loss to the Crimson Tide. Johnson's Twitter account was deleted soon after posting the comments on the social networking website.

MSU coach Rick Stansbury banned the team from using Twitter on Thursday.

Mississippi State (11-10, 3-4 Southeastern Conference) has lost four out of its past seven games.

Stocks waver after mixed unemployment report

NEW YORK – Stocks swung between small gains and losses on Friday after a report said the unemployment rate fell last month but that new jobs remain scarce. The government said the unemployment rate in January dropped to 9 percent, the lowest rate since April 2009 and a sharp fall from 9.4 percent in December. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to rise to 9.5 percent, in part because of harsh winter weather that affected much of the country.

At the same time, the government said that 36,000 new jobs were created last month, the fewest in four months. The slow job growth left some analysts doubting that the economic recovery is gathering momentum.

"We are seeing some improvements but the disappointing jobs creation shows that the job market is not back to where we need it to be," said Ryan Detrick, senior strategist at Schaeffer's Investment Research. The lack of new jobs will likely lead the Federal Reserve to continue its efforts to boost the economy, he said.

Jim O'Sullivan, chief economist at MF Global, said some investors took a skeptical view of the report. "The information value of this report is limited because it was obviously affected by the weather," he said.

The unemployment rate fell even as the economy added few jobs because some people who are out of work gave up looking for a new job, O' Sullivan said. The Labor Department only includes those actively looking for work when calculating the main unemployment rate.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 8 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 12,070 in afternoon trading. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 1 point, or less than 0.1 percent, to 1,307. The Nasdaq composite index gained 12 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,765.

"There is nothing in the employment report to hold on to and say that this is giving us direction," said Dan Cook, the chief executive of IG Markets.

Five of the 10 company groups that make up the S&P index fell. Utilities companies had the largest move, losing 0.7 percent.

Bond traders, however, took the employment report as evidence of a stronger job market and drove Treasury prices down and yields up. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note jumped to 3.65 percent, the highest yield since last May. The yield was trading at 3.55 percent late Thursday.

Before the market opened, health insurer Aetna Inc. said it will raise its dividend payment to shareholders, after its fourth-quarter profit climbed 30 percent. Aetna's stock price jumped 9 percent.

Tyson Foods Inc. rose 6 percent, after profits increased 86 percent last quarter, in part because of rising prices for beef and pork.

Clorox Co. rose 2 percent after it said its quarterly profit was higher than analysts had anticipated.