AP - Barack Obama's former pastor complained Thursday that the media used him as a 'weapon of mass destruction' in an attempt to derail Obama's campaign for the presidency.

AP - At Southeast Community College, Jose J. Soto may have to change his title: vice president of affirmative action.

AP - Facing alarming budget deficits, the city has come up with some unusual ways to save money and cut costs: Steeper fees for red-carpet events. Higher parking meter rates. Cheaper reflective traffic signs instead of lighted versions.

AP - As snowfall neared 4 feet in the Black Hills and winds gusting higher than 50 mph continued to howl, state officials had a simple message for anyone thinking of trying to drive in western South Dakota's blizzard: Don't.

AP - Authorities say major North Dakota roads closed by a blizzard that tore through the region are reopening, but freezing rain has left thousands without power to the east.

AP - Billy Graham's work as a pastor to presidents is coming to an end, but he is praying for Barack Obama as the nation's next leader begins his work, Graham's son said Friday on the ailing evangelist's 90th birthday.

AP - Colorado voters have rejected a ban on affirmative action at public colleges and universities.

AP - A judge on Friday spared a man from prison time for his role in the dehydration death of a toddler who was deprived of food and liquids for at least a week.

AP - A man who launched a deadly courthouse shooting spree during his rape trial, killing a judge and three others, was convicted of murder by a jury Friday more than three years after he turned the city's seat of justice into a crime scene.

AP - When 10-year-old Austin Smith heard Barack Obama had been elected president, he had one question: Does this mean I won't get a new gun for Christmas?

AP - Barack Obama's 10-year-old daughter Malia is looking forward to decorating her new room, and already there's talk of sleepovers at the White House.

AP - A car driven by a 16-year-old girl and carrying two younger children plunged into a rain-swollen river Friday morning, and authorities said that the teen managed to escape but that there was not much hope for the other two.

AP - The U.S. government has asked an appellate court to reconsider its decision ordering the release of 21 pictures of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan.

AP - Gays serving openly in the military. Voting rights for more ex-convicts. Paid sick days and family leave for most American workers.

AP - A new report says the FBI tracked the late Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author David Halberstam over more than two decades.

AP - Crews fought mud and water Friday as they tried to restore power after a fierce storm spread a wintry mix across the Dakotas, while authorities worked to remove snow-stranded vehicles that littered an interstate highway hours after their occupants were rescued.

AP - O.J. Simpson was denied a new trial Friday by the Nevada judge who presided over his conviction in the gunpoint robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel room.

AP - It's 11 a.m. Saturday, and whiskey is flowing at the big houses on fraternity row at the University of Alabama. Guys in ties and baseball caps are laughing and dancing with sorority girls in bright dresses as a band blares away just around the corner.

AP - A teenager on drugs and driving a sport utility vehicle slammed into two runners out for an evening jog, killing one of them — a beloved schoolteacher — and seriously injuring her friend, police said Friday.

AP - The government has asked a federal appeals court to reconsider its order to release 21 pictures of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan, saying it could jeopardize the safety of U.S. troops.

AP - Paloma has grown to a dangerous major hurricane with 115 mph top winds as it lashes the Cayman Islands.

AP - Utah's growing tourism industry and the star-studded Sundance Film Festival are being targeted for a boycott by bloggers, gay rights activists and others seeking to punish the Mormon church for its aggressive promotion of California's ban on gay marriage.

AP - The Army has agreed to investigate a disproportionate cluster of suicides among recruiters in an East Texas battalion, as well as allegations by other soldiers and family members that they were pressured to cover up serious problems in the battalion, Army Secretary Pete Geren said.

AP - Energized by a comeback win, conservative activists want to apply the same formula they used to outlaw same-sex marriage in California to prevent other states from recognizing gay unions and President-elect Barack Obama from expanding the rights of gays and lesbians.

AP - Ohio's governor placed on leave Friday an agency director who was questioned over why state computers were used to find personal information on a man who became known as 'Joe the Plumber' during the presidential campaign.

AP - An Associated Press analysis of votes in the tight, still-to-be decided race for a U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota shows that most ballots lacking a recorded choice in the election were cast in counties won by Democrat Barack Obama.