Ayinde O. Chase - AHN Staff Writer Sacramento, CA (AHN) - The California State Senate yesterday approved Senate Bill 288, which would re-allocate $20 million from the Indian Gaming Special Distribution Fund (SDF) to be used for grants to local government agencies. Since the inception of the...

AP - London's benchmark stock index broke through the 6,000 barrier Friday for the first time in five years, spurred on by strong commodity prices and a burst of merger and acquisition activity.

BusinessWeek Online - Editor's Note: BusinessWeek Online published a viewpoint by U.S. Representative Rick Boucher (D, Va.) (see BW Online, 3/7/06, "Beware of a Two-Lane Internet") that argued in favor of rules that, in the author's opinion, would foster fair access to the Internet. An alternate view follows.

Reuters - Bonds of General Motors Corp. and its finance arm fell on Friday after the automaker said its 2005 loss was $2 billion deeper than previously reported.

AP - N.Y. Islanders at Florida (7:30 p.m. EST). Defensive Player of the Week Rick DiPietro leads the surging Islanders against Offensive Player of the Week Olli Jokinen and the Panthers.

Reuters - The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, on Wednesday compared the threat from Iran's nuclear programs to the September 11 terror attacks on the United States.

AP - President Bush is engaging in St. Patrick's Day festivities with Irish leaders while using the occasion to take stock of the stalled peace process in Northern Ireland and look for ways to move it along.

AP - President Bush is imploring China to shed "old ways of thinking and acting," including its lack of candor about details of its military buildup.

AP - Maybe the Big East was overrated. It would be hard to argue that after the opening day of the NCAA tournament.

Reuters - Neil Young kicked off the annual South by Southwest music industry gathering Thursday, offering Yoda-like pronouncements about his creative process and the virtues of musical risk-taking.

AP - Sabres forward Jochen Hecht bruised his right knee in Buffalo's 3-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday and did not play in the third period.

AP - Fearing another dam break like the one that killed as many as seven people earlier this week on Kauai, state officials invoked emergency authority Thursday to enter private property and inspect earthen dams across the state.

AP - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is calling for the appointment of a U.S. special envoy to Sudan, where a three-year rebellion in the Darfur region has left an estimated 180,000 people dead and displaced 2 million more.

AP - Kari Lehtonen continued his strong goaltending with 28 saves, and the Atlanta Thrashers improved their playoff chances with a 4-2 win over the New York Islanders on Thursday night.

AP - Over the bitter objections of some black leaders, the U.S. Justice Department approved a plan Thursday for New Orleans' first elections since Hurricane Katrina.

Julie Farby - AHN Staff Writer Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Despite lawmakers' concerns about the war and the recovery effort, President Bush is slated to get $92 billion more for Iraq and Gulf Coast hurricane relief under a bill rushing toward overwhelming House approval. According to the bill,...

AP - President Bush has chosen Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne to be Interior secretary, Republican officials said Thursday.

AP - Over the bitter objections of some black leaders, the U.S. Justice Department approved a plan Thursday for New Orleans' first elections since Hurricane Katrina.

AP - Jessica Simpson loves President Bush. She's just not a big fan of Republican fundraisers.

AP - Jessica Simpson loves President Bush. She's just not a big fan of Republican fundraisers. The Hollywood starlet and tabloid cover girl was in Congress on Thursday to lobby for Operation Smile, a nonprofit organization that provides reconstructive surgery to children with facial deformities. Everyone was asking, however, why she turned down an invitation to attend a Republican fundraiser with Washington's top star, the president.