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The head of the U.N. refugee agency says aid workers are not at all prepared for the possibility of chemical warfare in Syria. That's just one of the concerns aid workers have in what they call the worst humanitarian disaster in recent decades. Eight thousand Syrians are fleeing every day and the world has focused much more on planning for the day after Bashar al-Assad is toppled rather than on dealing with the humanitarian catastrophes of today.

How hard can it be to measure the health of a population? Oregon is finding out it's difficult to decide even what to track. But the state received almost $2 billion in federal funds to improve the health of its residents and to cut costs. The state faces substantial fines if it can't prove it has done the job.

Lawyers for the alleged Boston mob boss say the federal judge presiding over his murder trial is not impartial. The judge was a prosecutor when Bulger — then an FBI informant --had a corrupt relationship with other prosecutors.

When the swirling, howling winds of the 1930s Dust Bowl gobbled up farmland from Texas to the Dakotas, the federal government planted 100 million trees to act like a giant windbreak. It worked. But now, after years of drought, those old trees are dying.

The Asia trip is generating the kind of video and headlines that could prove useful if the vice president decides to run for president in 2016.

Military leaders are among those warning Congress of the consequences of the automatic spending cuts set to kick in at the beginning of March. But many on Capitol Hill seem resigned to the cuts taking place.

The Australian Broadcasting Corp. reports that the man identified as Ben Zygier "was arrested by his own spymasters after they believed he told Australia's domestic intelligence agency about every aspect of his work with the Israelis." Zygier apparently committed suicide in 2010 after 10 months in prison.

An obscure tax provision crafted for drug dealers is giving state-licensed medical marijuana dispensaries a headache. Federal income tax rates for dispensaries in Colorado can soar to 70 percent because businesses can't claim certain deductions. It's a policy the industry is trying to change.

Texas and federal investigators looking into the dual killings of two Dallas prosecutors are questioning the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas. The violent "white power" gang originated in the Texas prison system and carries on a number of illegal enterprises. Robert Siegel talks with Kevin Krause, who covers crime for the Dallas Morning News.

Chefs and school cafeteria directors say burgers that blend mushrooms and meat are a hit. Mushroom-meat burgers are, on average, 24 percent lower in fat and 27 percent cheaper than regular, all-beef burgers, according to the Mushroom Council.