AP - Around his neighborhood, Metrolink engineer Robert Sanchez was considered a recluse with four miniature greyhounds and a poorly kept yard. But among young train fans, he was something of a celebrity.

AP - Many years from now, a small group of Hurricane Ike survivors will probably still be telling the story of how, on the night the storm flattened their island, they took sanctuary in a church — with a lion.

AP - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made an extraordinary pledge Tuesday to veto the state budget because he said the long-overdue spending plan lawmakers approved hours earlier lacked long-term fiscal reforms and would burden taxpayers.

AP - A key witness in the O.J. Simpson robbery trial was confronted with contradictions in his testimony Tuesday, including his claim that he didn't try to profit from the casino hotel room confrontation that led to charges against the former football star.

AP - The rain-swollen Rio Grande began sloshing over a levee near this border town Tuesday, and officials cleared everyone from low-lying areas as they awaited a deluge they said was inevitable.

AP - Elizabeth Edwards said Tuesday she is discouraged that health care is falling on the nation's list of priorities and critiqued the plans of both leading presidential candidates.

AP - Life after Ike has come to mean misery by degree for many along the Texas coast.

AP - The upheaval in the American financial system sent shock waves through the stock market Monday, producing the worst day on Wall Street in seven years as investors digested the failure of one of its most venerable banks and wondered which domino would be next to fall.

AP - A witness who fell ill during the first day of testimony in the O.J. Simpson armed robbery trial returned to the stand Tuesday morning and was cross-examined about four words important to the case: "put the gun down."

AP - Earlier this month, workers dabbed their eyes with tissue as sheets of paper rolled out of two massive milling machines for the last time.

AP - Crucial Arctic sea ice this summer shrank to its second lowest level on record, continuing an alarming trend, scientists said Tuesday.