Debate is an opportunity for both McCain and Obama

By Gerald Herbert (AP)

Tuesday night\'s presidential debate offers Republican John McCain one of his last best chances to stop Democrat Barack Obama\'s recent surge in the race and turn it in his favor.

The debate\'s town hall format is McCain\'s favorite style of campaigning. He asked Obama to appear with him in a series of town hall debates this past summer, but Obama wouldn\'t take him up on the challenge.

That leaves Tuesday night\'s debate four weeks before Election Day as the only joint town hall that the two are scheduled to hold. The event at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., is being...

By Mel Evans (AP)

New Jersey is powering up an ambitious plan to become a world leader in the use of wind-generated energy.

Gov. Jon Corzine wants the Garden State to triple the amount of wind power it plans to use by 2020 to 3,000 megawatts. That would be 13 percent of New Jersey\'s total energy, enough to power between 800,000 to just under 1 million homes.

\"We want to create this generation\'s race to the moon, but this time, a race to the sea, to harness this potential wind source off of our coasts, and bring economic development, environmental benefits, and new, green jobs to the Garden...

By Chris Taylor (AP)

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson turned to a familiar source when he picked a director for the government\'s $700 billion bailout program: his former Wall Street firm, Goldman Sachs.

Neel Kashkari, a former Goldman executive who has worked with Paulson at the department since July 2006, was chosen Monday as the interim head of the government\'s unprecedented effort to unclog the credit markets.

Kashkari, who was a vice president in Goldman\'s San Francisco office before joining the department, is one of four former executives from the firm now working feverishly to resolve...

By Chris Taylor (AP)

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson turned to a familiar source when he picked a director for the government\'s $700 billion bailout program: his former Wall Street firm, Goldman Sachs.

Neel Kashkari, a former Goldman executive who has worked with Paulson at the department since July 2006, was chosen Monday as the interim head of the government\'s unprecedented effort to unclog the credit markets.

Kashkari, who was a vice president in Goldman\'s San Francisco office before joining the department, is one of four former executives from the firm now working feverishly to resolve...

By Lawrence Jackson (AP)

Rep. Barney Frank said Monday that Republican criticism of Democrats over the nation\'s housing crisis is a veiled attack on the poor that\'s racially motivated.

The Massachusetts Democrat, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said the GOP is appealing to its base by blaming the country\'s mortgage foreclosure problem on efforts to expand affordable housing through the Community Reinvestment Act.

He said that blame is misplaced, because those loans are issued by regulated institutions, while far more foreclosures were triggered by high-cost loans made by...

By Gerald Herbert (AP)

Running short on time, John McCain has the most riding on the second presidential debate, though Barack Obama will be out of his scripted comfort zone in the town hall-style confrontation. It could be ugly if Monday\'s tussling is any indication.

Tuesday night\'s debate comes exactly four weeks before Election Day with a lot going on both inside and outside the campaign: Polling shows Obama approaching the 270 Electoral College votes needed for victory, Wall Street is tumbling even further and both candidates are escalating character attacks.

Their target audience in the...

By Gerald Herbert (AP)

Running short on time, John McCain has the most riding on the second presidential debate, though Barack Obama will be out of his scripted comfort zone in the town hall-style confrontation. It could be ugly if Monday\'s tussling is any indication.

Tuesday night\'s debate comes exactly four weeks before Election Day with a lot going on both inside and outside the campaign: Polling shows Obama approaching the 270 Electoral College votes needed for victory, Wall Street is tumbling even further and both candidates are escalating character attacks.

Their target audience in the...

By Mike Groll (AP)

The number of Americans whose electricity or gas has been shut off for nonpayment of their bills is up sharply in many parts of the country as people struggle to cope with higher prices and a shaky economy.

Shut-offs have been running 17 percent higher than last year among customers of New York state\'s major utilities, and 22 percent higher in economically hard-hit Michigan. They are up in all or part of dozens of other states, including Pennsylvania, Florida and California, according to an Associated Press check of regulators and energy companies.

Despite stepped-up efforts...

By Mark Lennihan (AP)

Facing a lawsuit over deceptive mortgage practices, Bank of America Corp. is agreeing to pay more than $8 billion to modify hundreds of thousands of loans to keep people from losing their homes.

Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America said Monday it will modify troubled mortgages with up to $8.4 billion in interest rate and principal reductions for nearly 400,000 customers of Countrywide Financial Corp., the troubled mortgage lender it acquired last summer.

The announcement arrived after the Illinois attorney general\'s office said Sunday that the bank was modifying loans for...

By Toby Talbot (AP)

A former slave whose memoir is among the only ones known to describe abduction from Africa is about to get a historical marker in the small Vermont town where he ended up settling.

Descendants of Jeffrey Brace _ who fought in the Revolutionary War and eventually earned his freedom _ will gather Saturday for the erection of the memorial on a town green.

\"The importance of Brace\'s story is not just that he\'s a remarkable individual but it\'s part of Vermont\'s history and American history that had disappeared,\" said Kari Winter, who edited the memoir \"The Blind African...

By Seth Perlman (AP)

Barack Obama likes to give himself star billing for his role in enacting ethics reforms in Illinois a decade ago, but he didn\'t act alone.

\"When I was in Illinois, I passed the toughest ethics reform in 25 years there, despite the opposition of Democrats and Republicans,\" the Democratic presidential candidate told a New Hampshire audience last month.

In fact, Obama was part of an ensemble that negotiated the legislation and built support for it. And the ethics bill passed by lopsided margins of 52-4 in the Senate and 102-3 in the House, although its riskier moments came...

By J. Scott Applehwite (AP)

The Supreme Court opens its new term Monday with arguments over limits on lawsuits against tobacco companies.

The court will consider whether federal regulation of cigarettes prevents smokers from suing tobacco companies under state law for allegedly deceptive advertising of \"light\" cigarettes.

The case grew out of a lawsuit by three Maine residents against Altria Group Inc. and its Philip Morris USA Inc. subsidiary under the state\'s law against unfair marketing practices.

The company says a federal law on cigarette labeling and advertising rules out such lawsuits...

By J. Scott Applehwite (AP)

The Supreme Court opens its new term Monday with arguments over limits on lawsuits against tobacco companies.

The court will consider whether federal regulation of cigarettes prevents smokers from suing tobacco companies under state law for allegedly deceptive advertising of \"light\" cigarettes.

The case grew out of a lawsuit by three Maine residents against Altria Group Inc. and its Philip Morris USA Inc. subsidiary under the state\'s law against unfair marketing practices.

The company says a federal law on cigarette labeling and advertising rules out such lawsuits...

By Vincent Yu (AP)

An American woman lost an appeal Monday of her conviction in a Hong Kong court for the beating death of her husband in a sensational case widely known as the \"milkshake murder\" trial.

Dressed in black, Nancy Kissel nodded her head and appeared to be holding back tears when a judge announced the decision in the Court of Appeal. Kissel, who suffered a knee injury in prison, limped out of the courtroom aided by two policewomen.

The 44-year-old housewife from Minnesota was convicted in 2005 of giving her husband a milkshake laced with sedatives in 2003 and then fatally bashing...

By Alex Brandon (AP)

Barack Obama\'s allies warn that John McCain\'s attacks on the Democrat\'s character will lead to the political equivalent of mutual assured destruction: fire your big weapon at your own peril.

Several Obama surrogates said his supporters may start reminding voters of McCain\'s ties to Charles Keating, a convicted savings and loan owner whose actions two decades ago triggered a Senate ethics investigation that involved McCain as one of the \"Keating Five.\"

The warnings of massive retaliation came as McCain\'s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, took on the role of...

By Joe Giblin (AP)

Ann Burke saw signs of trouble with her daughter\'s boyfriend.

He\'d incessantly call her at night, keep her from her family, and, ultimately, physically abuse her during a tumultuous relationship that ended with her death three years ago.

Burke\'s 23-year-old daughter, Lindsay, may not have understood the dynamics of an abusive relationship, but her death is helping to ensure that other young people do.

Beginning with this school year, a new law called the Lindsay Ann Burke Act requires all public middle and high schools in Rhode Island to teach students about dating...

By Jim R. Bounds (AP)

Shawn Draughn rushed for a career-high 109 yards and a touchdown, defensive lineman Marvin Austin returned an interception 23 yards for another score and North Carolina routed No. 24 Connecticut 38-12 on Saturday night.

Bruce Carter blocked three punts, Matt Merletti fell on one of them for a touchdown and Draughn\'s 39-yard touchdown run started the game-breaking sequence that gave the Tar Heels their first win over a ranked team in three years.

Ryan Houston had a 1-yard score and Cameron Sexton threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Hakeem Nicks for North Carolina (4-1), which...

By John Bazemore (AP)

Todd Bodine figured on the last lap he\'d simply push Kyle Busch to the finish line, one Toyota driver helping another. That little nudge, though, was enough to turn Busch sideways and leave Bodine celebrating again at Talladega.

Bodine took the lead on the final turn off the last lap and nipped Ron Hornaday Jr. and Busch on Saturday in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.

\"I knocked him sideways and went on to pass,\" Bodine said. \"I didn\'t mean to do it. Good thing he\'s a good driver and saved it.\"

Bodine raced to his second victory...

By (AP)

The father of a measurement known as the \"Smoot\" returned Saturday to be honored at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the school where he and his fraternity brothers invented it 50 years ago.

Oliver Smoot was the shortest pledge in the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity in 1958 when its members decided to lay him on the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge. After discovering Smoot measured 5 feet 7, they marked the bridge in those increments, with an eventually exhausted Smoot getting up and down for each new measurement.

They soon determined the bridge was 364.4 Smoots...

By Gerald Herbert (AP)

One month before Election Day, Barack Obama sits atop battleground polls in a shrinking playing field, the economic crisis is breaking his way and the Democrat has made progress toward winning the White House.

The onus is on Republican John McCain to turn the race around under exceptionally challenging circumstances _ and his options are limited.

McCain\'s advisers say the Arizona senator will ramp up his attacks in the coming days with a tougher, more focused message describing \"who Obama is,\" including questioning his character, \"liberal\" record and \"too risky\"...

By Gerald Herbert (AP)

One month before Election Day, Barack Obama sits atop battleground polls in a shrinking playing field, the economic crisis is breaking his way and the Democrat has made progress toward winning the White House.

The onus is on Republican John McCain to turn the race around under exceptionally challenging circumstances _ and his options are limited.

McCain\'s advisers say the Arizona senator will ramp up his attacks in the coming days with a tougher, more focused message describing \"who Obama is,\" including questioning his character, \"liberal\" record and \"too risky\"...

By J. Scott Applehwite (AP)

The Supreme Court is doing its best to stay out of the spotlight in the final days of the presidential campaign and while the other two branches of government struggle to deal with turmoil in the financial markets.

The justices open their new term Monday with no cases on abortion, race or other social issues that might split the court and the nation.

The most entertaining case of the term _ involving celebrities\' use of profanity on live television _ will be argued on Election Day, Nov. 4., when attention arguably will be focused elsewhere.

\"It\'s a little light on...

By Carolyn Kaster (AP)

Sue Nace thought election volunteers were joking when they told her she would have to remove her T-shirt to vote in the presidential primary last spring.

But it was no laughing matter to the poll workers-turned-fashion police, who said Nace\'s Obama shirt was inappropriate electioneering _ and made her cover the writing before casting a ballot.

Now, a political fight over what voters can wear to the polls is headed to court in Pennsylvania _ with the Republican Party favoring a dress code and Democrats opposed.

To the GOP, the lack of rules could open the door to all...