BUFFALO, N.Y. -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, former first lady Betty Ford and horse racing's most successful female jockey, Julie Krone, are among this year's inductees into the National Women's Hall of Fame, the hall announced Wednesday.
Nine women will be enshrined at an Oct. 12 ceremony in Seneca Falls, the western New York village where the first known women's rights convention was held.
Pelosi is being recognized for 25 years in politics and as the nation's first female House speaker and first woman to lead a major U.S. political party. She called the recognition an honor and privilege.
The inductees also include: midwife and author Ina May Gaskin; feminist Kate Millett; Mother Mary Joseph Rogers, who founded Maryknoll Sisters; education activist Bernice Resnick Sandler; research economist Anna Jacobson Schwartz and 19th century educator Emma Hart Willard.
Ford, who died in 2011, is remembered for her candor in sharing her struggles with cancer and addiction. In 1982, she co-founded the Betty Ford Center to treat substance abuse.
Born in 1963, Krone recorded more than 3,700 wins, including the 1993 Belmont Stakes, to become the leading female thoroughbred jockey of all time. She retired in 2004.
Tax glitch will delay refunds: A tax-preparation glitch affecting about 660,000 tax returns will delay refunds by as long as six weeks, with customers of the nation's largest tax preparer among those affected. The Internal Revenue Service said in a statement that a problem with a "limited number of software company products" affected some taxpayers filing a form used to claim educational credits between Feb. 14 and Feb. 22. The agency didn't name any companies in the statement, which it released Tuesday, but Kansas City-based H&R Block has been informing customers about problems. H&R Block spokesman Gene King said Wednesday that the company isn't saying how many of its customers were affected by the problems with Form 8863.
Ammo limit nears final passage: Fiercely debated ammunition limits cleared Colorado's Democratic Legislature on Wednesday and were on their way to the governor, who has said he'll sign the measure into law. The 15-round magazine limit would make Colorado the first state outside the East Coast to ratchet back gun rights after last year's mass shootings. Colorado's gun-control debates have been closely watched because of the state's gun-loving frontier heritage and painful history of mass shootings, most recently last summer's movie theater shooting that killed 12.
Mom dies in jump; baby okay: Cynthia Wachenheim, clutching her baby son in her arms, plunged eight stories out of an apartment window to her death in an apparent suicide on Wednesday, but the baby survived, New York Cuty Police said. Wachenheim was found on the street with her son, 10-month-old Keston, near her arms. A police officer who responded took the baby to a hospital, where he was listed in critical but stable condition. Police discovered a seven-page suicide note under a bed in the apartment Wachenheim shared with her husband.
Couple brings kids along for heist: Police in Utah say they've arrested a husband and wife bank robbery team that took their two children along for the illegal excursion. An arrest report from Tooele police says the man and woman, both 27, were caught Monday soon after a Wells Fargo branch was robbed. A 5-year-old and a 2-year-old were in the back seat. According to the Salt Lake Tribune (http://bit.ly/YpanMI ), the couple told police they robbed the bank because they faced eviction and growing medical bills.
Deficit jumps in February: The U.S. federal budget deficit jumped in February from January, though it is still running well below last year's pace. Higher taxes and an improving economy are expected to hold the deficit below $1 trillion for the first time since President Barack Obama took office. The Treasury Department said Wednesday that the deficit grew in February by $203.5 billion. That followed a small surplus of $2.9 billion in January. And February's gap was $28 billon smaller than the same month a year ago. Through the first five months of the budget year that began on Oct. 1, the deficit is $494 billion. That's nearly $87 billion lower than the budget gap for the same period a year ago. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the deficit will total $845 billion for the entire year. That would be down from $1.1 trillion in the 2012 budget year and the lowest since 2008.
Lawmakers question progress: The Veterans Affairs Department is hoping the installation of a new computer system will eliminate the growing backlog of disability claims, but when officials showed the new program off to congressional staff last week, it didn't work. That example as well as the ever-growing number of backlogged claims led lawmakers to question the VA Wednesday about whether it can realistically meet its 2015 target of ending the backlog entirely. Lawmakers on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee said they were tired of hearing about the longstanding problem.
FDA approves imaging drug: The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new imaging drug to help doctors locate lymph nodes in patients with breast cancer and skin cancer. The drug Lymphoseek from Navidea Biopharmaceuticals Inc. is a radioactive imaging agent that is intended to help determine if breast cancer or melanoma has spread to a patient's lymph nodes. By surgically removing lymph nodes that drain from a tumor, doctors can sometimes detect if a cancer has spread from its original site.
Businesses boost restocking: U.S. companies increased their restocking in January from December, an encouraging signal that they expect consumers will spend more this year and help the economy grow faster. The Commerce Department said Wednesday that business stockpiles grew 1 percent in January. That's up from 0.3 percent growth in December and the biggest gain since May 2011.
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