AP - The 59-year-old Chicago native picked to operate Monday on Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's cancerous brain tumor is a respected leader in the giant field of neuro-oncology who performs the vast majority of such surgeries at Duke University Medical Center.

AP - Tourists applauded firefighters Monday as Universal Studios reopened, while investigators examined the ruins of some of the most famous sets in Hollywood to find the cause of the spectacular weekend blaze.

AP - Space shuttle Discovery performed a slow back flip and then docked at the international space station on Monday, delivering a mammoth lab and two new occupants: a NASA astronaut and Buzz Lightyear.

AP - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy underwent what his doctors called successful surgery Monday to treat his cancerous brain tumor, and told his wife shortly after that he felt "like a million bucks," a family spokeswoman said.

AP - Crews examined the wreckage at a Manhattan building Sunday that was damaged in a deadly crane collapse, as displaced residents waited to see when they could get inside.

AP - The young woman and her baby girl were snuggled together in bed, the infant nestled in her mother's arms, tucked under a thick comforter in the master bedroom of their home outside Boston.

AP - On leave from the violence he had survived in the war in Iraq, a young Marine was so wary of crime on the streets of his own home town that he carried only $8 to avoid becoming a robbery target.

AP - One of Hollywood's largest movie studios starred in a disastrous sequel as a fire ripped through a lot at Universal Studios, destroying a set from "Back to the Future," a King Kong exhibit and a streetscape seen frequently in movies and TV shows.

AP - Shuttle Discovery closed in on the international space station early Monday with a super-size delivery: a scientific lab that's as big as a school bus and a toilet pump.

AP - Each April, weather wizard William Gray emerges from his burrow near the Rocky Mountains to offer his forecast for the six-month hurricane season that starts June 1. And the news media are there, breathlessly awaiting his every word.

AP - Carol Race thinks it's important for her 13-year-old son to be in church for Mass on Sundays.

AP - On leave from the violence he had survived in the war in Iraq, a young Marine was so wary of crime on the streets of his own home town that he carried only $8 to avoid becoming a robbery target.

AP - Space shuttle Discovery's seven-member crew completed an inspection of the spacecraft's wings Sunday afternoon, looking for any signs of damage after launching a day earlier.