(NECN: Washington) - More than 300 suspects have been arrested in a series of drug raids across the country that law enforcement officials say is the largest single strike at a Mexican drug cartel operating in the United States.

The arrests are aimed at the U.S. operations of the La Familia cartel.

Over the past two days, more than 3,000 federal agents and police officers carried out arrests in more than a dozen states, as part of a long-running anti-drug operation that has netted nearly 1,200 arrests over almost four years.

(NECN: Sudbury, Mass.) - A Massachusetts man was put behind bars on Wednesday, accused in a homegrown terrorist plot.

Federal prosecutors said Tarek Mehanna, 27, of Sudbury, Massachusetts plotted to kill American and government officials, but that the plot never got off the ground.

Tarek's father, Ahmed Mehanna is a professor at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy. When reached at his home on Thursday morning, he said that he had faith his son would be found innocent.

"We believe in the American system and we believe things will clear up by the Justice system," Mehanna said.

(NECN: Washington) - First Lady Michelle Obama hosted a "healthy kids fair" with local public school students and their families on the South Lawn today.

Mrs. Obama encouraged kids to get more physical activity and eat better.

Chefs demonstrated how to make healthy-but-yummy snacks.

(NECN: Boston, Mass.) - 27-year-old Tarek Mehanna of Sudbury, Massachusetts, has been charged with conspiring with others on terror attacks against shoppers in U.S. malls and against U.S. military in Iraq.

The arrest came in conjunction with a search of his home.

Mehanna allegedly had two co-conspirators.

Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Loucks says Mehanna sought training in terrorist training camps and working with others from 2001 to May of 2008 on the conspiracy to "kill, kidnap, main or injure" people in foreign countries and to kill prominent U.S. politicians.

(NECN: Washington) - President Barack Obama met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki at the White House today.

Obama renewed his vow to have all U.S. combat troops out of Iraq by next August, while nudging al-Maliki to see that his parliament quickly passes a critical election law essential to a nationwide vote in January.

Without an election law, the vote could be delayed, snarling American plans to begin significantly scaling back U.S. troop presence after the national referendum.

"We didn't just talk about military and security issues," the

(NECN/ESPN) - University of Connecticut football coach Randy Edsall talks about how the team is coping with loss of Jasper Howard.

"There will be a moment of silence before the game," said Edsall. Both teams will embrace with a handshake before the game.

"Now, it's time to go practice...channel our energy into beating West Virginia," said Edsall.

Edsall said some players are coping a lot worse than others.

"I told the kids to go out and practice hard and practice the way that Jas would want us to practice," said Edsall.

(NECN: Silver Spring, MD) - President Barack Obama made an unannounced visit to a Maryland school today, to congratulate the students and teachers on their hard work.

Obama stopped by Viers Mill Elementary School, where he met with third and fourth-grade students during their lunch period.

The school receives federal poverty aid and has been celebrated for closing the achievement gap between minority children and other students.

The president made his way through the cafeteria, shaking hands with students and asking them what they were reading.

(NECN: Boston, Mass.) - In a speech to the Chief Executives Club of Boston on October 16, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer predicted that the tech sector would see unprecedented changes over the next decade - delivering on many of the promises for flexibility, immediacy, and interactivity seen for the industry a decade ago.

Watch an extended clip of his speech to the Chief Executives Club of Boston, presented by NECN in cooperation with the Carroll School of Management at Boston College and sponsored by the law firm of McCarter and English.

(NECN: Boston, Mass.) - Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft Corporation, this afternoon delivered the keynote speech at a luncheon meeting of Boston College's Chief Executives' Club of Boston.

What happens from here? Can the technology business continue to help drive and propel productivity and innovation?

"I look out the next 5 to 10 years and frankly, I see more opportunity for more IT innovation to have a more profound impact on society, even more in the last 5 to 10 years," said Ballmer.

"Our industry has a long way to go," said Ballmer. "Technology has so much to do."

(NECN: Ft. Collins, CO) - Sheriff Jim Alderden of the Larimer County Police Department held a news briefing this afternoon on the Colorado hot-air balloon incident.

Alderden says police conducted three searches of the Heene home, but did not originally find six-year-old Falcon Heene. He was hiding in the rafters in a garage that was part covered with no ladders. Officials simply did not search there, because they did not believe a young child could find his way into a space such as that.

Alderden also reported today that Falcon was not found in a box, as originally reported.