NATIONAL BRIEFS

FLORIDA: Ex-shuttle workers struggle

More than 7,400 people lost their jobs a year ago after NASA ended the three-decade-long space shuttle program, and thousands of engineers and other workers around the Kennedy Space Center are struggling to find jobs. Some went to South Carolina to build airplanes; others moved as far as Afghanistan as government contractors. Some found lower-paying jobs beneath their technical skills that allowed them to stay. While workers in Houston, New Orleans and Huntsville, Ala., lost jobs, those areas had bigger economies to absorb the workers. The Kennedy Space Center's workforce of 8,500 is its smallest in more in than 35 years. In the middle of the last decade, there were 15,000 workers.

LOUISIANA: Jindal's date with Romney

Bobby Jindal's rough national debut seems long forgotten. The youthful governor routinely is praised in GOP circles, cast as a policy wonk with strong conservative credentials who appeals to the Christian right and can claim accomplishments such as leading the state through a series of disasters, including the Gulf Coast oil spill. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney and Jindal, 41, planned to be together Monday at a fundraiser, an appearance certain to increase vice presidential speculation.

NATIONWIDE: Singles try 'weed dating'

For one night a year, a neighborhood farm in northwest Boise, Idaho, turns into a respite for singles tired of the same old dating scene. A poster board at the entrance of Earthly Delights Farm advertised "Weed Dating," with a heart-stamped arrow guiding visitors to a sign-in table. It is among a handful of farms across the country offering an unconventional form of speed dating. With weed dating, singles working together in the fields. Joe Peraino, 27, met his previous girlfriend at the Boise farm last year. "It's a pretty fun story," said Peraino. A lot of people are like, 'So, were you on a pot farm?' " Farms in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Ohio have advertised similar weed dating events.