AP - Wearing everything from T-shirts to tuxedos and lavish gowns, hundreds of same-sex couples rushed to county clerks' offices throughout California to obtain marriage licenses and exchange vows as last-minute legal challenges to gay marriage failed.

AP - The crowd at Tim Russert's funeral Wednesday would have made a great panel on his Sunday morning news show.

AP - With gasoline topping $4 a gallon, President Bush urged Congress on Wednesday to lift its long-standing ban on offshore oil and gas drilling, saying the United States needs to increase its energy production. Democrats quickly rejected the idea.

AP - Floodwaters breached two levees in western Illinois on Wednesday, and the federal government warned that 20 to 30 more levees may overflow along the Mississippi River.

AP - Public health threats rise to the surface during a flood like the one in the Midwest with animal waste runoff from farms and overflowing city sewer lines. But people are usually smart enough to avoid what can make them sick, experts say.

AP - A military judge dismissed charges Tuesday against a Marine officer accused of failing to investigate the killings of 24 Iraqis.

AP - For two decades Diego Murillo was among Colombia's most feared and untouchable drug lords, accused of hundreds of murders as an enforcer for the cocaine cartels and leader of a right-wing paramilitary group.