National Guard troops stand ready, batteries and water bottles are selling briskly, and one small-town mayor has spent a sleepless night worrying. The New Orleans area is skittishly watching as a storm marches across the Caribbean on the eve of Hurricane Katrina's third anniversary.

A Georgia county's school district has become the third in 40 years to lose its accreditation.

Oil firms evacuate offshore workers. New Orleans prepares for the worst from Gustav.

Workers were being moved off oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday and New Orleans was planning for a possible evacuation as Tropical Storm Gustav poured more rain onto Hispaniola island, where 23 people have already died.

U.S. seeks early release for lobbyist Abramoff

The reliance on contractors, which surged after Sept. 11, has been a source of controversy. Some worry that temporary employees could be less trustworthy.

Private contractors account for more than one-quarter of the core workforce at U.S. intelligence agencies, according to newly released government figures that underscore how much of the nation's spying work has been outsourced since the Sept. 11 attacks.

Found in a steep ravine by a rescuer, she is hospitalized with fractures but is expected to fully recover.

Amber Pennell was trapped for five days in her mangled pickup, hidden under vines in a steep ravine just 150 feet from a four-lane highway in western North Carolina.

Milestones for blacks in the U.S. Forty-five years to the day after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois will formally accept his party's nomination for president. Here are some key landmarks in African American political history:

House Democrats schedule a hearing that would put former White House counsel Harriet Miers under oath. The Justice Department prepares a last-ditch court appeal.

Congress and the Bush administration headed for a preelection showdown Wednesday over the issue of executive privilege, with House Democrats scheduling a hearing that would put a key former administration figure under oath and the Justice Department mapping a last-ditch court appeal.

The Harvard study may ultimately shift treatment options away from stem cells for a variety of diseases.

Injecting a cocktail of proteins directly into the bodies of diabetic mice, researchers have converted normal pancreas cells into insulin-producing cells -- a genetic transformation that could pave the way for treating intractable diseases and injuries using a patient's own supply of healthy tissue.

Police say rap music mogul Marion "Suge" Knight is in a Las Vegas jail on drug and assault charges after he was accused of beating his girlfriend while brandishing a knife.

The Republican leads his younger challenger by just 145 votes in a primary election; Sen. Ted Stevens looks to have a clear edge on his rivals.

SEATTLE -- A widening corruption scandal threw a new shadow over Alaska's powerful Republican political establishment Tuesday, with veteran congressman Don Young fighting to hold on to the seat he has held for 35 years.

Sen. Ted Stevens easily wins the GOP primary and will face Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich in November. Rep. Don Young is in a neck-and-neck battle with Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell.

A widening corruption scandal threw a new shadow over Alaska's powerful Republican political establishment Tuesday, with veteran congressman Don Young fighting to hold onto the seat he has held for 35 years.

Other Southern California counties also show slight declines. The effects of the sharp economic downturn and rising unemployment since last year are unclear.

Poverty across Southern California declined significantly during the first seven years of the decade, a period marked by a booming economy, gentrifying neighborhoods and soaring housing prices, according to census data released Tuesday.

Electronic glitch snarls air traffic

A federal judge who ruled last month that top White House advisors must comply with congressional subpoenas refused to put that ruling on hold Tuesday while the Bush administration appeals.

Jennifer M. Granholm denies Kwame Kilpatrick's appeal to delay or cancel the proceeding. He faces allegations of official misconduct.

Michigan Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm announced Tuesday that she will hold a hearing to decide whether Kwame M. Kilpatrick should be forced from office, denying the beleaguered Detroit mayor's appeal to have the hearing delayed or canceled.

The Census Bureau says the 2007 decrease is mostly due to expanded government coverage for children.

Thanks mostly to expanded government health coverage for children, the number of people without health insurance fell in 2007 for the first time since President Bush took office, the U.S. Census Bureau said Tuesday.

Lead, mercury and arsenic were found in the traditionally Indian herbal mixtures at levels that would surpass California safety guidelines, says a researcher who is calling for FDA curbs.

Ayurvedic medicines -- herbal mixtures dating back thousands of years in India and increasingly popular in the West -- are frequently contaminated with lead, mercury or arsenic, according to a study published today.

The Federal Aviation Administration said a communication failure today at a Georgia facility that processes flight plans for the eastern half of the U.S. was causing flight delays around the country.

Satellite images show that cattle tend to point north and south when grazing and resting.

Birds do it, bees do it, and so, apparently, do . . . cows?