AP - A historic conservation deal for Florida to acquire some 300 square miles of land for Everglades restoration moved forward Monday when water managers approved a negotiation process for the potential $1.75 billion purchase.

AP - A 150-pound sea turtle raised by humans returned to freedom on Monday after nine years of captivity, swimming away after the veterinarians who cared for her helped steer her toward the ocean.

AP - A helicopter ferrying a patient with a medical emergency from the Grand Canyon collided into another chopper carrying a patient near a northern Arizona hospital, leaving six people dead and critically injuring a nurse.

AP - Two of Northern California's more than 1,400 wildfires choked parts of the Sierra Nevada foothills, darkening a 100-mile stretch between Sacramento and Reno with clouds of black smoke.

AP - A nearly 700-page study released Sunday by the Army found that "in the euphoria of early 2003," U.S.-based commanders prematurely believed their goals in Iraq had been reached and did not send enough troops to handle the occupation.

AP - Making cannoli is serious business in New York. It's a dessert so tempting that even a hit man in the "Godfather" couldn't leave a box behind.

AP - To help poor Afghani villagers make money on potatoes instead of opium poppies, Idaho farmer Pat Rowe used a little old technology: root cellars.

AP - Once the Mississippi River starts to recede this week from another great flood, the tiny river towns that dot its banks in Missouri and Illinois will once again face the question: return and rebuild, or relocate?

AP - Admit it. That chunky carry-on bag of yours would never fit into the sample box displayed outside the airport gate.

AP - Ron Alexander has long been intrigued with the true story of a young idealist who met his death in Alaska's unyielding wilderness in 1992.