AP - Whatever they might think about Sen. Ted Stevens' honesty or lack thereof, many folks in Alaska aren't ready to see their Uncle Ted go.

AP - Doctors were unable to reattach an 11-year-old Louisiana boy's arm that was retrieved from the belly of the alligator, a family friend said Thursday.

AP - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is laying off as many as 22,000 state employees. New York's governor is raising the possibility of selling — or more accurately, leasing — the Brooklyn Bridge. Nevada is burning through its rainy-day fund like a gambler on a losing streak. And Maryland is pinning its hopes on slot machines.

AP - Barack Obama is once again betting that his eloquence can persuade price-weary consumers — read that as voters — to take the long view and not jump at a short-term fix when it comes to soaring energy prices.

AP - Fire crews were shoring up defenses around a Montana ski hill on Thursday, taking advantage of a lull in winds that had pushed a large wildfire to within a half-mile of the resort's summit.

AP - The homeless woman was nauseated, dizzy, drenched with sweat, dehydrated and sobbing with fear. She had heat exhaustion and was on the verge of heat stroke. But she had come to the right place, a church turned into a refuge from the overpowering heat.

AP - A judge denied bond Thursday for a part-time evangelist charged with murder in the death of his wife, a mother of eight whose body was kept in a freezer for at least three years.

AP - Four social workers were among nine people charged Thursday in the death of a disabled 14-year-old girl who authorities say wasted away from neglect before dying at 42 pounds.

AP - Joy Spring and Carla Barbano spent the day before their wedding the way many brides do: relaxing and primping at a spa. But unlike most, their wedding day had to wait until Gov. Deval Patrick signed a bill Thursday that repealed a 1913 law that had blocked gay couples from outside Massachusetts from marrying here.

AP - Both environmentalists who have been fighting a proposed coal-fired power plant on the Navajo Nation and supporters of the project expected it: an air permit for the plant.