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• The steady drumbeat of one military ethics scandal after another has caused many to conclude that the misbehavior reflects more than routine lapses.
• ___

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- Fears of an economic slowdown are heightening anticipation of what Friday's U.S. jobs report for January might reveal.
• Stock markets have sunk after signs of weaker growth in the United States, Europe and China. Turmoil in developing countries has further spooked investors. The upheaval has renewed doubts about the Federal Reserve's next steps.
• Evidence of healthy U.S. job growth would help soothe those jitters. It would suggest that the world's biggest economy is still expanding solidly enough to support global growth.
• "The best antidote right now for all these problems is a robust U.S. economy," said Carl Riccadonna, an economist at Deutsche Bank. "The whole world is watching, even more so than usual."
• Yet anyone looking to Friday's report for a clear picture of the U.S. economy's health might be disappointed. Unseasonably cold winter weather could distort January's hiring figures. Revised estimates of job growth last year and the size of the U.S. population might further skew the data.
• ___

• PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Dave Dixon and his wife are bunking with friends after losing power in a snow-and-ice storm that caused more than a million U.S. outages -- the vast majority of them in a single state, Pennsylvania.
• The storm has long since cleared out, but its effects are expected to linger for days as utility crews work feverishly to restore power to hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania residents left in the dark and cold. One official likened the damage to what you'd expect to see from a hurricane.
• "People are going to have to have some patience at this point," Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett said Wednesday, warning that an overnight refreeze could cause more problems on the roads Thursday.
• Corbett late Wednesday issued a disaster emergency proclamation, freeing up

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