AP - Milder-than-expected weather on Saturday gave fire crews hope that they could rein in a series of Northern California wildfires that have destroyed dozens of homes and forced thousands of residents to evacuate.

AP - When Kathy Wiebold moved into her ranch-style house a couple years ago, people assured her it wasn't in the flood plain and had never flooded. So she didn't purchase the extra insurance.

AP - Both violent and property crimes declined in 2007 from the previous year, the FBI reported Monday. But one expert warned the figures could mask rising murder rates among young black men.

AP - Susan Atkins, the former Charles Manson follower who confessed to killing pregnant actress Sharon Tate during a murderous rampage in 1969, has a terminal illness and has asked for compassionate release from prison in her final days, authorities said Thursday.

AP - After wedding-day celebrations subside, gay and lesbian couples from other states who marry starting this week in California face sobering challenges.

AP - Her voice never faltered as she described an attack so demonic that at one point, she begged to die.

AP - The speech I was holding should only have been a backup. I knew the words by heart because I'd lived them.

AP - High wind on Saturday continued to stoke fires across Northern California that had destroyed dozens of homes and forced thousands of residents to flee.

AP - Space shuttle Discovery and its crew of seven returned to Earth on Saturday and capped a successful expansion job at the international space station, more spacious and robust thanks to a new billion-dollar science lab.

AP - Days after it rose out of its banks on its way to record flooding in Cedar Rapids, the Cedar River has forced at least 24,000 people from their homes, emergency officials said Saturday.

AP - Floods that have inundated the Midwest could reduce world corn supplies and drive food prices higher at a time when Americans are already stretching their grocery budgets and people in poor countries have rioted over rising food costs.