AP - Many of America's inner cities continue to hemorrhage jobs despite years of federal programs designed to improve their economies.

AP - Breakfast at Brennan's, a tradition since 1946, is postponed until next year. Dinner at Antoine's, a French Quarter delight for 165 years, won't be served until January or later. Same story at Galatoire's, the century-old Bourbon Street landmark. In this city where two favorite pastimes are eating and talking about eating, Hurricane Katrina caused a massive case of indigestion for the world-renowned restaurant industry.

AP - Blizzard conditions wreaked havoc in the Midwest and tornadoes ripped through Arkansas and Kansas as a burst of treacherous weather damaged homes, turned roads into ice rinks and sent cars spinning off highways.

AP - The nation's retailers had a modest start to the holiday shopping season as consumers jammed stores on Black Friday in higher numbers than a year ago, but seemed to lose interest once the early-bird specials were over.

AP - Forgive Charles Walsh if he's a little slow to join in the rounds of speed dating going on around him. Not only has the 55-year-old divorced father never tried speed dating — he hasn't been out at night except for work events in about a decade.

AP - It began with an embarrassing blunder. A memo describing behind-the-scenes efforts to win the gay vote for George Ryan in his 1998 race for Illinois governor was supposed to have been for internal campaign use only.

AP - The nation's retailers had a modest start to the holiday shopping season as consumers jammed stores on Black Friday in higher numbers than a year ago, but seemed to lose interest once the early-bird specials were over.

AP - A Greyhound bus drifted off a freeway, rolled and then slid at least 100 yards on its side before hitting a tree Sunday, killing a pregnant woman and another passenger, authorities said.

The Christian Science Monitor - Landing in jail threatened to end Joseph's promising career. But he befriended the warden, won release from Pharaoh, and emerged, as the Bible tells it, to save Egypt from starvation.

AP - Forgive Charles Walsh if he's a little slow to join in the rounds of speed dating going on around him. Not only has the 55-year-old divorced father never tried speed dating — he hasn't been out at night except for work events in about a decade.

AP - Greeted by welcome signs hung over the door and in the hallways, students began returning Monday to the first regular public school to reopen since Hurricane Katrina hit three months ago.

AP - Dozens of war protesters packed up their tents and left their campsite near President Bush's ranch after a weeklong demonstration, but they promised to return at Easter if U.S. troops are still in Iraq.

AP - A barge filled with more than 1 million gallons of hot liquid asphalt ran aground Monday morning, leaking its load into the James River, officials said.

AP - A former auto mechanic should be executed because he killed Carlie Brucia in order to cover up evidence that he had kidnapped and raped the 11-year-old girl, a prosecutor said Monday.

AP - In a radical change from the way everyday people do CPR, new recommendations urge many more chest compressions.

AP - A barge filled with more than 1 million gallons of hot liquid asphalt ran aground Monday morning, leaking its load into the James River, officials said.

AP - A Greyhound bus drifted off a freeway, rolled and then slid at least 100 yards on its side before hitting a tree Sunday, killing a pregnant woman and another passenger, authorities said.

AP - Nicole Guinchard left home with a fine arts degree nearly two years ago to find work in Alaska. Now she's back, hoping to land a job waiting tables at a top restaurant and support family members who lost their homes.

AP - After two years of trying, Ronald Coleman was at last delivering his children Monday to one of New Orleans' best public schools — thanks in large part to a catastrophe.

AP - Miami police announced Monday they will stage random shows of force at hotels, banks and other public places to keep terrorists guessing and remind people to be vigilant.

AP - Congress hasn't given the same attention and aid to states slammed by hurricanes Katrina and Rita as it did to New York after the 2001 terror attacks because the storms didn't spark as much patriotism, Louisiana's economic development chief said Monday.

AP - A former student accused of going on a seven-hour shooting rampage at Case Western Reserve University planned the attack for more than a year, a prosecutor told jurors Monday.

AP - Now that the Thanksgiving weekend is over, how much will shoppers see in the way of markdowns — and how soon? Monday started the quiet time for the holiday season at the nation's traditional retailers, and it was also the official start to the holiday period for online merchants.

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - New Orleans on Monday opened its first public school since Hurricane Katrina swept through the city, in the hope that the one-time magnet school could be a catalyst to rebuild the ruined city.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. aviation officials said on Monday they had made little progress negotiating a new labor contract with air traffic controllers and suggested bringing in federal mediators to speed up the talks.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday allowed a California man to be sentenced to spend a day outside a San Francisco post office wearing a signboard stating, 'I stole mail. This is my punishment.'

AP - High winds on Monday hampered crews who for a second day battled wildfires that destroyed homes, forced hundreds to evacuate and injured firefighters in parts of Oklahoma and Texas.

AP - An explosion at a power substation Monday sent fireballs into the sky and knocked out electricity to about 35,000 customers.

AP - A former auto mechanic should be executed because he killed Carlie Brucia in order to cover up evidence that he had kidnapped and raped the 11-year-old girl, a prosecutor said Monday.

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Local prosecutors began presenting evidence against six former trustees of the San Diego city pension fund on Monday for voting to allow the city to underfund the retirement system -- a decision that left the fund with a deficit of more than $1 billion.

TORONTO (Reuters) - Reborn after a year lost to a labor dispute, the 'new' NHL has proved itself a fast-flowing, high-scoring spectacle that, after the quarter-season mark, has reconnected hockey to its artful roots.

AP - Lawyers for Hurricane Katrina victims asked a federal court Monday to keep alive a program that lodges those displaced by the storm in hotels at government expense.