In-Kyung Kim wins Longs Drugs Challenge

By SARA D. DAVIS (AP)

The NCAA football season is in high gear and AP College Football Writer Ralph Russo will blog with the latest news, observations and opinions all the way through to the BCS.

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SUNDAY, Oct. 12:

Clausen coming of age

Jimmy Clausen arrived at Notre Dame with much fanfare, and we\'re starting to see that he\'s not just another Clausen.

His brothers had been good, though not great, quarterbacks in the SEC, but Jimmy was supposed to be really special. The top recruit in his class. A guy who could change a program.

While taking a beating last season as a...

By Matt Slocum (AP)

Texas rode its resounding Red River Rivalry upset right to No. 1.

The Longhorns leapfrogged No. 2 Alabama on Sunday and sit atop The Associated Press Top 25 in the regular season for the first time in 24 years after beating Oklahoma 45-35.

Texas\' jump to No. 1 is the largest since Miami went from No. 6 to No. 1 on Aug. 29, 1988, after beating preseason top-ranked Florida State 31-0 to start the season.

Texas received 39 first-place votes and 1,599 points from the media panel. Alabama received the other 36 first-place votes and 1,582 points.

\"Being ranked No. 1...

By Matt Slocum (AP)

Texas rode its resounding Red River Rivalry upset right to No. 1. The Longhorns leapfrogged No. 2 Alabama on Sunday and sit atop The Associated Press Top 25 in the regular season for the first time in 24 years after beating Oklahoma 45-35.

Texas\' jump to No. 1 is the largest since Miami went from No. 6 to No. 1 on Aug. 29, 1988, after beating preseason top-ranked Florida State 31-0 to start the season.

Texas received 39 first-place votes and 1,599 points from the media panel. Alabama received the other 36 first-place votes and 1,582 points.

\"Being ranked No. 1 shows...

By Bill Ingalls (AP)

An American computer game designer reached space Sunday, fulfilling a long-deferred childhood dream that began with the flight of his astronaut father.

The Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft carrying Richard Garriott and two crewmates _ and the digitized DNA sequences of some of the world\'s most famous minds _ hurtled into a clear blue sky from the Baikonur facility on the Kazakh steppe.

Garriott, a 47-year-old multimillionaire from Austin, Texas, is the sixth paying space traveler and the first American to follow a parent into orbit.

The Soyuz is due to dock Tuesday with the...

By Mike Wintroath (AP)

When Bill and Hillary Clinton take the stage Sunday at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, it will be the launch of an active campaign for their former nemesis Barack Obama in the home stretch of the 2008 presidential race.

The nation\'s best known and most powerful Democrats for nearly two decades, the former first couple is getting used to a new role: cheerleaders for Obama, who vanquished Hillary Clinton last spring in a Democratic primary contest for the ages.

Whatever recriminations the Clintons may still harbor from that long battle seem to have been nudged aside as they...

By Dmitry Lovetsky (AP)

A Soyuz spacecraft with two Americans and a Russian on board lifted off from Kazakhstan on Sunday for the international space station.

The Soyuz TMA-13 capsule carrying American computer game millionaire Richard Garriott soared into a clear sky atop a Russian rocket as the latest paying space traveler\'s family watched from a viewing platform. Also aboard were U.S. astronaut Michael Fincke and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov.

The rocket lifted off on schedule at 1:01 p.m. (3:01 a.m. EDT), sending an orange flare behind it as it streaked upward. The craft entered orbit about...

By L.G. Patterson (AP)

Oklahoma State stopped a Missouri offense that had been scoring at will all season, intercepting Chase Daniel three times in the second half and upsetting the third-ranked Tigers 28-23 victory on Saturday night.

Zac Robinson and Damian Davis hooked up on a pair of long scores in the second half, and Patrick Lavine\'s interception at the Oklahoma State 31 with 1:41 to go was the clincher. Missouri (5-1, 1-1 Big 12) had appeared poised to challenge for No. 1 with a strong effort after top-ranked Oklahoma lost to Texas and No. 2 Alabama had the weekend off.

Instead, it was the...

By Jeff Roberson (AP)

Oklahoma State stopped a Missouri offense that had been scoring at will all season, intercepting Chase Daniel three times in the second half and upsetting the third-ranked Tigers 28-23 victory on Saturday night.

Zac Robinson and Damian Davis hooked up on a pair of long scores in the second half, and Patrick Lavine\'s interception at the Oklahoma State 31 with 1:41 to go was the clincher. Missouri (5-1, 1-1 Big 12) had appeared poised to challenge for No. 1 with a strong effort after top-ranked Oklahoma lost to Texas and No. 2 Alabama had the weekend off.

Instead, it was the...

By Mike Wintroath (AP)

When Bill and Hillary Clinton take the stage Sunday at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, it will be the launch of an active campaign for their former nemesis Barack Obama in the home stretch of the 2008 presidential race.

The nation\'s best known and most powerful Democrats for nearly two decades, the former first couple is getting used to a new role: cheerleaders for Obama, who vanquished Hillary Clinton last spring in a Democratic primary contest for the ages.

Whatever recriminations the Clintons may still harbor from that long battle seem to have been nudged aside as they...

By Mike Wintroath (AP)

When Bill and Hillary Clinton take the stage Sunday at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, it will be the launch of an active campaign for their former nemesis Barack Obama in the home stretch of the 2008 presidential race.

The nation\'s best known and most powerful Democrats for nearly two decades, the former first couple is getting used to a new role: cheerleaders for Obama, who vanquished Hillary Clinton last spring in a Democratic primary contest for the ages.

Whatever recriminations the Clintons may still harbor from that long battle seem to have been nudged aside as they...

By Mike Wintroath (AP)

When Bill and Hillary Clinton take the stage Sunday at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, it will be the launch of an active campaign for their former nemesis Barack Obama in the home stretch of the 2008 presidential race.

Once the nation\'s best known and most powerful Democrats, the former first couple is getting used to a new role: cheerleaders for Obama, who vanquished Hillary Clinton last spring in a Democratic primary contest for the ages.

Whatever recriminations the Clintons may still harbor from that long battle seem to have been nudged aside as they campaign in...

By Gerald Herbert (AP)

Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat and veteran of the civil rights movement, says the negative tone of the Republican presidential campaign reminds him of the hateful atmosphere that segregationist Gov. George Wallace fostered in Alabama in the 1960s.

Republican candidate John McCain on Saturday called Lewis\' remarks \"shocking and beyond the pale.\"

The Obama campaign said the Illinois senator doesn\'t believe McCain or his policy criticism is at all comparable to Wallace and his segregationist policies.

In a statement issued Saturday, Lewis said McCain and running...

By Gerald Herbert (AP)

Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat and veteran of the civil rights movement, says the negative tone of the Republican presidential campaign reminds him of the hateful atmosphere that segregationist Gov. George Wallace fostered in Alabama in the 1960s.

Republican candidate John McCain on Saturday called Lewis\' remarks \"shocking and beyond the pale.\"

The Obama campaign said the Illinois senator doesn\'t believe McCain or his policy criticism is at all comparable to Wallace and his segregationist policies.

In a statement issued Saturday, Lewis said McCain and running...

By David Zalubowski (AP)

For General Motors Corp. to acquire Chrysler LLC and all of its warts, GM would have to get desperately needed cash. Lots of it, according to industry analysts.

With both automakers struggling to survive amid slumping sales, a slowing global economy and an unprecedented credit crunch, it\'s unclear whether Chrysler\'s majority owner, Cerberus Capital Management LP, would be willing to pay up, or whether the federal government might even get involved to save one or both struggling automakers.

\"There\'s got to be more in it for GM than just Chrysler,\" said Erich Merkle, an...

By Bill Haber (AP)

Pick up a Mississippi gopher frog and it covers its eyes with its forefeet, like someone afraid to see what\'s coming next. And for at least a decade, it\'s had a good reason not to look.

This year, for a change, nature gave a bit of a break to one of the nation\'s most endangered species.

The frogs breed only in ponds so shallow they dry up in summer. Hot, dry springs have stranded tadpoles every year since 1998, when 161 froglets hopped out of Glen\'s Pond in coastal Harrison County, Miss.

The pond held water longer this year. And 181 tadpoles survived a deadly...

By Bill Ingalls (AP)

The ongoing global economic turmoil and increasingly strained ties between Moscow and Washington will not stand in the way of further space exploration, Russia\'s space agency chief said Saturday.

Roscosmos director Anatoly Perminov spoke on the eve of the launch of the international space station\'s next crew aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Soyuz rockets will be the only way for astronauts and cosmonauts to get to the space station after the U.S. space shuttle fleet is retired in 2010 _ a fact that has greatly worried...

By Danny Johnston (AP)

The NCAA football season is in high gear and AP College Football Writer Ralph Russo will blog with the latest news, observations and opinions all the way through to the BCS.

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FRIDAY, Oct. 9:

What could have been

It seems like ages ago but really it wasn\'t. A mere two jobs for Bobby Petrino.

It was back in 2003, Auburn was deep into a disappointing season, when school officials secretly interviewed Petrino to replace coach Tommy Tuberville. The clandestine escapade made some of Auburn\'s leaders and Petrino, a former offensive coordinator under...

By Dave Martin (AP)

Lt. Col. John Mulzac stood on the asphalt at Moton Field Friday _ the same grounds where he trained decades ago to become one of the country\'s first black military pilots _ and wept.

Mulzac and hundreds of his fellow Tuskegee Airmen and their representatives reunited where their World War II service eventually led to desegregation in the U.S. armed forces. The field was named a National Historical Site.

An interpretive center was also opened in a hangar at the site. In a surprise announcement, Gov. Bob Riley unveiled a huge green and white sign designating part of I-85 as...

By (AP)

NASA has decided to press ahead with plans to launch a big new rover to Mars next year.

Friday\'s decision comes after concerns were raised about the budget and technical progress for the Mars Science Laboratory.

The head of the Mars exploration program at NASA headquarters says the space agency will look at the mission\'s progress again in January.

The Mars Science Lab is a souped-up rover designed to roam the Martian plains and study rocks to determine whether the environment could support microbial life.

By STEVE FENN (AP)

Eileen Herlie, a stage and TV actress who appeared on \"All My Children\" for more than three decades as the motherly Myrtle Fargate, has died at 90.

Herlie died Wednesday of pneumonia, said Julie Hanan Carruthers, the ABC soap opera\'s executive producer.

The actress joined the long-running show in 1976 to play Myrtle, who became the surrogate mother to many of the soap\'s major characters, including Erica Kane, portrayed by Susan Lucci.

\"I\'m sure Eileen is lighting up the sky\'s in heaven with her flaming red hair and lovely Scottish accent,\" Lucci said. \"The...

By Terry Renna (AP)

When Regan Smith passed Tony Stewart on the last lap at Talladega Superspeedway, he was certain he\'d just earned his first Sprint Cup Series victory.

When NASCAR ruled the pass illegal, Smith figured he was for sure a career-best second. Still unhappy with his runner-up finish, he went to argue his case in the NASCAR office following Sunday\'s finish.

So imagine his surprise, while waiting for top NASCAR officials, Smith saw himself dropped to an 18th-place finish.

\"I thought I was going to plead my case about if I was first or second,\" Smith said Thursday at Lowe\'s...

By Gerry Broome (AP)

A newspaper report Thursday said tens of thousands of eligible voters have been removed from rolls or blocked from registering in at least six swing states, but election officials quickly lined up to defend their registration procedures and said they had done nothing wrong.

The New York Times based its findings on reviews of state records and Social Security data, and said it had identified apparent problems in Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Nevada and North Carolina.

The Times said voters appear to have been purged by mistake and not because of any intentional violations...

By JASON DECROW (AP)

Former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, who always has been afraid of flying, says he\'s glad to be alive after suffering severe burns in a fiery plane crash last month.

\"I hate planes,\" Barker said in an interview with Us Weekly magazine. \"My biggest fear ever is to be involved in a plane crash, so when that happened ... well, I\'m just thankful to be alive! I\'m just grateful to be here at all.\"

The 32-year-old musician and celebrity disc jockey DJ AM were the only survivors of the crash just before midnight Sept. 19 at the main airport in Columbia, S.C. Two pilots and...