Barack Obama

MILWAUKEE — Mitt Romney is turning away from his primary opponents and toward Democratic President Barack Obama after sweeping three more Republican contests.

HILL AIR FORCE BASE — The highest-ranking commander on base is likely about to be promoted and given a new home.

President Barack Obama has nominated Maj. Gen. Andrew E. Busch, commander of Hill Air Force Base’s Ogden Air Logistics Center, to be vice commander at Air Force Materiel Command. If the U.S. Senate approves the nomination, Busch will be on his way to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.

“It’s an honor to be nominated for this position,” Busch said. “My nomination is still pending Senate confirmation, and the exact timing of my departure is unknown. In the meantime, I continue to be amazed by the professionalism of the men and women in the Air Logistics Center. I’ve enjoyed my three years at Hill and the relationships I’ve developed. I look forward to my continued service in the Air Force.”

Like all teachers on the college level, Adrienne Gillespie is both dismayed by and thrilled with her students. Thrilled because some are wonders: Bright. Aggressive. Able to leap tall concepts with a single mental bound. They know why they need an education. They mean to get one.

These are the students whose papers get graded last. Why? Every professor needs a treat.

She’s dismayed because some students are ticket punchers, people who “just say, ‘Give me my degree. I just need a degree. Why do you want me to take these other classes?’ ”

I am sad to see Maine’s Olympia Snowe leaving the U.S. Senate.

Utah is not Maine, so normally I wouldn’t comment on Snowe, but I can’t get over the nagging thought that Snowe, a well-known moderate, is leaving because Utah’s voters elected Sen. Mike Lee two years ago.

Patents have existed throughout the history of the United States because of their value. In Colonial America, inventions were safeguarded by the governing bodies of the colonies.

After independence but before the adoption of the Constitution, the protection of inventions was handled by the states.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says he deserves re-election, despite the nation’s economic troubles.

WASHINGTON — Fuzzy math, Illinois State University’s president called it. “Political theater of the worst sort,” said the University of Washington’s head.