AP - As a young man, David Paterson never looked for dropped change because he didn't want people to see a blind man crawling on the floor for nickels and dimes. He didn't use a white cane, either: it would make him a target in his New York City neighborhood.

AP - Along Utah's Nine Mile Canyon lies what some call the longest art gallery in the world — thousands of prehistoric rock carvings and paintings of bighorn sheep and other wildlife, hunters wielding spears, and warriors engaged in hand-to-hand combat. But now, a dramatic increase in natural gas drilling is proposed on the plateau above the canyon, and preservationists fear trucks will kick up dust that will cover over the images.

AP - A train operator apparently made two key errors in quick succession to cause a derailment that left passengers perched more than 20 feet above the ground and sent several to hospitals, the Chicago Transit Authority said Wednesday.

AP - The first of four paintings auctioned by Virginia's Randolph College to raise money has sold for more than $7.2 million.

AP - A Dallas suburb's ban on apartment rentals to illegal immigrants, an ordinance passed by city leaders and later endorsed in a vote by its residents, is unconstitutional, a federal judge found Wednesday.

AP - The federal government has plenty of reasons to move hundreds of families out of trailers they have occupied since Hurricane Katrina: the start of a new hurricane season, concerns about toxic fumes and the need for residents to find permanent homes.

AP - Same-sex marriages legally performed elsewhere will be recognized in New York in response to a state court ruling this year, Gov. David Paterson's spokeswoman said Wednesday.

AP - Tia Thomas flipped through her note cards and said: "OK, I'm going to stump you."

AP - Scientists began releasing the robotic arm on NASA's new Mars spacecraft on Wednesday, one day late because of a radio problem.

AP - A woman who defied medical odds and spent nearly 60 years in an iron lung after being diagnosed with polio as a child died Wednesday after a power failure shut down the machine that kept her breathing, her family said.

AP - Melissa Green's mother spoke Spanish, but she never learned — her father forbid it. Today, that's a frequent problem in this city where the English-speaking population is outnumbered.

AP - Two commuter trains collided and derailed during the evening rush hour outside Boston on Wednesday, trapping and killing the operator of one train and injuring several passengers, authorities said.

AP - Gay rights advocates had reason to celebrate on both coasts Thursday, with New York set to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere and California preparing to begin issuing marriage licenses to gay couples on June 17.