AP - R.E.M. front man Michael Stipe says he still feels a strong bond with a community of artists and musicians in the college town he calls home.

AP - Nearly a year after the city of Hazleton began a high-profile campaign to rid itself of illegal immigrants, opponents of the crackdown are getting their day in court.

GRAND CANYON, Arizona (Reuters) - Maryellen Fleming-Hoffman manages a gift store on the plunging rim of the Grand Canyon, where visitors come to marvel at one of the world's greatest attractions.

AP - Nearly a year after the city of Hazleton began a high-profile campaign to rid itself of illegal immigrants, opponents of the crackdown are getting their day in court.

AP - In a marine area nearly the size of California, stretching northwest from the main Hawaiian islands, a handful of anglers still ply the waters, hooking seabass and snappers during trips that last days or weeks.

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Stockholm police arrested rap star Snoop Dogg and a woman in her early 20s early on Monday for suspected narcotics use, a police official said.

AP - Two fathers who lost 10 relatives in a deadly house fire searched for strength in their Muslim faith as they prepared for the funerals Monday of their loved ones.

AP - Fire swept through an apartment complex early Monday, injuring at least 12 people, including several who jumped from balconies in the three-story building to escape the flames.

AP - DePauw University announced Monday it has severed ties with the Delta Zeta sorority, where a mass eviction of members left people questioning whether looks and appearance were valued more than academics and other contributions.

AP - A commuter bus rear-ended another at a bus stop in the Washington, D.C., suburbs Monday morning, injuring dozens of passengers, authorities said.

AP - One person was killed and three people were seriously injured in a tour helicopter crash Sunday on Kauai, the second fatal helicopter accident on the island in four days, authorities say.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Renae Gorney sees the human side of the slumping U.S. housing market, the people whose homes are part of the $1 trillion worth of unconventional mortgages that are about to get more expensive.

LONDON, March 12 (Reuters Life!) - Ultimate fighting has shed its no-holds-barred image and reinvented itself as exciting and safe to become one of the fastest growing spectator sports in the United States.

AP - Mourners prayed outside a mosque Monday as friends and strangers gathered for the funerals of nine children and a woman who died in a fire that raced through their home in the Bronx.

AP - Hazelton's city leaders went to court to defend their controversial crackdown on illegal immigrants Monday as the first federal trial to explore whether local governments may act on their own to curb illegal immigration got under way.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An Arizona ski resort's plan to use treated sewage to make snow on a mountain sacred to several Native American tribes violates religious freedom laws, a U.S federal appeals court ruled on Monday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New Jersey jury found on Monday that Merck & Co. Inc.'s withdrawn arthritis drug Vioxx was responsible for a plaintiff's heart attack and it awarded $20 million in compensatory damages.

AP - Former President George H.W. Bush was treated at a California hospital for dehydration and released Monday morning after collapsing during a Sunday afternoon golf game in Palm Springs.

AP - A woman suspected of starting a series of fires near Wrigley Field that killed four people was charged Monday with murder, authorities said.

AP - New Mexico is on the verge of becoming the latest state to require sixth-grade girls to be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted virus that can cause cervical cancer, a spokesman for the governor said Monday.

AP - Fire swept through an apartment complex early Monday, killing a man and injuring at least 12 people, including some who jumped from balconies in the three-story building to escape the flames.

AP - An Air Force Reserve pilot safely ejected from his F-16 fighter jet Monday before it crashed into the waters off the Florida Keys, officials said.

DALLAS (Reuters) - A major U.S. association of evangelical Christians has condemned torture by the U.S. military and reaffirmed its commitment to environmental activism, positions that highlight broader splits in a movement associated with conservative causes.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential hopeful Rudolph Giuliani, fighting to gain conservative support in the 2008 race, won the backing of a Southern senator on Monday despite their disagreements on hot-button social issues.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An Arizona ski resort's plan to use treated sewage to make snow on a mountain sacred to several Native American tribes violates religious freedom laws, a U.S appeals court ruled on Monday.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Black children may be far more susceptible to the ill effects of second-hand tobacco smoke than their white counterparts, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

AP - Hundreds of mourners prayed over small, simple caskets at a tear-filled funeral Monday for the nine children and a woman killed when a fire raced through their extended family's home in the Bronx.

AP - A wildfire burning among houses in the hills southeast of Los Angeles was ignited by flames from a stolen car that was intentionally set ablaze during strong Santa Ana winds, a fire official said Monday.

AP - Ross Hirschfeld says folks have been talking behind his back ever since the local paper reported that he has been getting millions of dollars in farm subsidies from Washington.

AP - Prosecutors did not abuse their subpoena power in charging a former soldier with raping an Iraqi girl and killing her family, according to a court decision announced Monday.

AP - In just about any other place, the sight of a man and woman pushing a stroller would be welcomed as a sign of stability and safety. In San Francisco's heavily gay Castro District, some people can't help but think: There goes the neighborhood.

AP - The Happiest Place on Earth doesn't want any new neighbors.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Almost one-third of U.S. soldiers seeking government health care after returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are diagnosed with a mental problem, researchers said on Monday in a study calling for more emphasis on the mental wounds of war.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - All U.S. households with televisions that use analog technology will be eligible for $40 discount coupons to buy digital converter boxes, the Commerce Department said on Monday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Four out of 10 U.S. workers often or always live from paycheck to paycheck, according to a survey released on Monday.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Regis Philbin, the longtime U.S. daytime television personality and former host of the hit game show 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire,' said on Monday he will undergo open-heart surgery later this week.

SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) - New Mexico outlawed cockfighting on Monday in a victory for animal welfare groups, leaving Louisiana as the last state in the country where the controversial practice is legal.

AP - A former strip club owner who named names and gave graphic accounts of bribing Nevada and California politicians in a corruption probe known as 'Operation G-Sting' was sentenced Monday to 2 1/2 years in federal prison.

AP - Gov. Bill Richardson signed a measure Monday that outlaws cockfighting in New Mexico, leaving Louisiana as the only state where the centuries-old bloodsport remains legal.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City has never hired a female bridge painter even though qualified women have applied for the job, the U.S. Attorney's office said in a discrimination lawsuit filed in federal court on Monday.

(Corrects date ban goes into effect to June 15 from July 1 in paragraph 7 after New Mexico’s senate office revised date)

AP - A woman accused of snatching a newborn from a hospital in the middle of the night and hiding her 100 miles away in New Mexico was being taken to Texas on Monday to face a kidnapping charge.

AP - The head of Massachusetts' social services on Monday called for the release of 20 factory workers arrested in an immigration raid, saying many have children with no one else to care for them.

AP - A gas line exploded Monday, sending flames hundreds of feet in the air as some workers were laying a pipeline. Several nearby vehicles were burned but no one was hurt.

AP - The only U.S. military officer charged in the abuse of Abu Ghraib prisoners tried to convince a military judge Monday to toss out statements he made denying that he saw prisoners mistreated.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An Arizona ski resort's plan to use treated sewage to make snow on a mountain sacred to several Native American tribes violates religious freedom laws, a U.S appeals court ruled on Monday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An animal rights group has threatened to damage homes and property of Wachovia Corp. workers after saying it spray-painted the home and car of a bank employee in Portland, Oregon.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Regis Philbin, the longtime U.S. daytime television personality and former host of the hit game show 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire,' said on Monday he will undergo open-heart surgery later this week.

AP - The federal government is urging an appeals court to dismiss a lawsuit challenging President Bush's domestic eavesdropping program, warning that disclosure of such activities could compromise national security.

AP - The former owner of an escort business said she has reached a deal to share her records of up to 15,000 client phone numbers with a media organization.

AP - Fashion designer Marc Jacobs has entered rehab.

AP - Former President George H.W. Bush was in good spirits as he gave a speech Monday night, a day after being overcome by the sweltering desert heat and staying overnight at a Southern California hospital.

AP - Betty Hutton, the actress and singer who brought a brassy vitality to Hollywood musicals such as 'Annie Get Your Gun,' has died in Palm Springs, Calif., at age 86.

AP - Requiring photos as proof of identity to vote is an unconstitutional burden that resurrects memories of Jim Crow-era laws designed to keep blacks from the polls, former Gov. Roy Barnes told the state's highest court Monday.

AP - Wisconsin's worst sex offenders would have to drive around with bright green license plates under a bill a Republican lawmaker introduced Monday.