The first county-by-county survey of obesity reflects past studies that show the rate of obesity is highest in the Southeast and Appalachia.

Deep-frying. Wood-smoking. Sous vide (the French vacuum-packing technique). The mind-numbing number of suggestions for mining flavor from the typically unforgiving Thanksgiving bird have proliferated in recent years.

Dianne Martinez spent two weeks last month fretting over abnormal mammogram results.

Women being treated for heart disease may be less depressed if their rehabilitation is gender-exclusive, says a University of South Florida researcher.

What would you be willing to do to lose weight?

Artisans are helping to prolong the existence of a tulip poplar tree that once stood beside Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello.

Ten years ago, online shopping was finally taking shape after a few years of experimentation. A few companies had ventured online to see if there was a new frontier to reach consumers, and a little company called Amazon.com was in its fifth year of selling books and diversifying into a broader range of products.

Sarah Palin wouldn’t reveal her political plans for 2012 in an interview with Barbara Walters, but when asked whether she’d play a major role replied that “if people will have me, I will.“

With more people on social networking sites, phishing attacks – in which people are tricked into providing personal information online - are on the rise.

NATHALIE - Four years ago, Richmond engineer Robert Moss was standing in a thicket of pine trees, tangled vines and poison oak deep in rural Halifax County — face to face with a decision that would change his life.

ST. PETERSBURG - On the streets of Fallujah, Al Miller was the closest thing his fellow Marines had to a family physician.

Joyce Johnson doesn’t lose her balance anymore when loading the dishwasher. The Danville woman was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at age 29. Doctors said she’d be confined to a wheelchair at age 45. Now, at 67 years old, she’s still mobile and active.

Every day millions of people nationwide hit fast food restaurants in pursuit of quick meals that fuel them through their high-octane day.

While challengers and pundits argue, speculate and portend about Rep. Tom Perriello’s political future, Perriello, D-5th District, took a lighthearted break from the conjectures Thursday morning for fairytale princesses, mischievous warthogs and 100 hungry ants.

CLEARWATER — Few physical tests are tougher than a half-Ironman — 70.3 consecutive miles of swimming, cycling and running.

Aerosmith’s guitarist Joe Perry says the future of the band is still uncertain.

One adorable little girl has a happy new life with a Danville couple who waited years to become parents.

Michael Jackson’s private family funeral was fit for a king and had a price tag to match: roughly $1 million, according to court documents released Tuesday.

More than 2,000 DVDs explaining the causes, conflicts and consequences of the Civil War have been mailed to all public schools in Virginia.

With swine flu still running rampant across the country, students and adults who used to drag themselves to school or work while sick are suddenly being told they need to stay home. That push to prevent others from being infected, though, can have unintended consequences as a Hawaiian woman found out Monday at Tampa International Airport.

Kenny Chesney has made the very hard work of dominating country music look easy.

Think being a teenager is difficult? Try being a teen or tween with Type 1 diabetes.

Vibrant foliage isn’t enough to cheer gardeners this time of year as they watch their labors of love shrivel and suffer a crunchy brown death.

Each Thanksgiving season, a few unlucky Americans manage to burn down their houses trying to deep fry a turkey.

Big Bird is leaving Sesame Street! That’s what he decides on the “Sesame Street” season opener. A rapping real-estate agent pitches him on migrating to a new habitat (“habitat,“ the episode’s “Word on the Street”). After sizing up a beach and a swamp for his new habitat, Big Bird chooses a rain forest.

He liked his Mountain Dew cold and his pencils sharpened. And he loved Loretta Lynn.

Today is Thursday, which means this must be Black Friday. Yes, every day is now Black Friday in the world of retail shopping.

A robot powered by a ground-based laser beam climbed a long cable dangling from a helicopter on Wednesday to qualify for prize money in a $2 million competition to test the potential reality of the science fiction concept of space elevators.

As the leaves change once again, so returns the Bright Leaf Brew Fest. The beer sampling festival that brought hundreds to downtown Danville last year is back for a second round Nov. 14.

Clara Fountain makes recording family history look easy. During her presentation at the Wednesday Club last week, Fountain, a retired Averett University librarian and archivist, shared what she has learned about organizing and preserving information about ancestors.