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Just noticed a real live college football game in progress on espn. Austin Peay vs Central Arkansas. Another sign that some semblance of normalcy is returning hopefully.

The families of two well-known Utah climbers who went missing on an icy mountain peak in Pakistan called off the search for them Saturday. Jonathan Thesenga, a representative for one of the climber's sponsors, said the families of Kyle Dempster and Scott Adamson made the "extremely difficult decision" based on how much time had passed and the continuously storm weather. Search team members as well as expert observers agreed the chances of finding any sign of the two were extremely slim, said Thesenga, global sports marketing manager for Utah-based Black Diamond Equipment, which was sponsoring Dempster. According to Thesenga, the...

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Kenyan military remained in a tense standoff with Islamic extremists Sunday, as the toll rose to 59 dead, including children, and 175 wounded in the attack at an upscale mall, a Kenyan minister said. Multiple barrages of gunfire erupted Sunday morning from inside the building where hostages are being held by militants. The radicals attacked the mall Saturday and remained inside throughout the night. Kenya's Red Cross said in a statement citing police that 49 people had been reported missing. Officials did not make an explicit link but that number could form the basis of...

If you operate a commercial bus service and put your passengers safety at risk, we will shut you down. It's a simple message and most companies get it.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Olympic silver medalist Jeret "Speedy" Peterson was found dead in a remote canyon in Utah in what police are calling a suicide. One of the world's most risk-taking and innovative freestyle skiers, the creator of the one-of-a-kind "Hurricane" called 911 before shooting himself, police said. The 29-year-old had been cited for drunken driving Friday in Hailey, Idaho and had pleaded not guilty. Officers found Peterson late Monday night between Salt Lake City and Park City in Lambs Canyon. Police said a suicide note was found near Peterson's car; they declined to reveal what it said....

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Tiger Woods pulled out of the U.S. Open on Tuesday because of lingering issues with his left leg, leaving him uncertain how soon he can resume his pursuit of Jack Nicklaus' record for major titles. It will be the first time Woods has missed the U.S. Open since 1994, when he had just graduated high school. "I am extremely disappointed that I won't be playing in the U.S. Open, but it's time for me to listen to my doctors and focus on the future," Woods said on his website. "I was hopeful that I could play,...

Jon Austin's wife, Amy, had a blunt assessment for her husband as the Minneapolis couple watched Rep. Anthony Weiner's stunning confessions on television this week. "You'd be dead," she told him. Regardless of his professional future, it's Weiner's predicament at home that seems to be launching countless discussions among couples like the Austins. And this time, it's not a question of actual physical cheating — a la Eliot Spitzer and his prostitution scandal — but the murkier backdrop of Internet relationships: sexting, tweeting lewd photos, emailing.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Employers should think twice before trying to restrict workers from talking about their jobs on Facebook or other social media. That's the message the government sent on Monday as it settled a closely watched lawsuit against a Connecticut ambulance company that fired an employee after she went on Facebook to criticize her boss. The National Labor Relations Board sued the company last year, arguing the worker's negative comments were protected speech under federal labor laws. The company claimed it fired the emergency medical technician because of complaints about her work. Under the settlement with the labor board,...

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The woman who authorities say killed her teenage daughter and son because she was fed up with them talking back and being mouthy did not appear in court Saturday because she was being treated at a hospital for an unknown condition. Authorities say Julie Powers Schenecker was taken to Tampa General Hospital shortly after midnight Saturday to be treated for a medical condition that existed before she was taken to jail. Hillsborough Sheriff's deputies — who oversee jail inmates — said they could not reveal Schenecker's medical condition, citing health care privacy laws. A jail spokesman...

HEFLIN, Ala. (AP) — His wife riding beside him with their two children in safety seats in the back, John Fisher drove home toward South Carolina along a stretch of Interstate 20 covered with ruts, bumps and crumbling concrete. Just ahead of the family, Crystal Marie Dick was heading to the other side of the Georgia line to give a friend a ride. The pothole in front of her 1995 Toyota Camry had been fixed at least once already, and now the repair was breaking down, too. A pocket of jagged, brittle bits of concrete covered nearly half of the...

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — He's killed more people than the Son of Sam, but there are no made-for-TV movies about Alfred Gaynor. The one-time handyman did not even pick up a macabre nickname as he attacked and strangled at least eight women in his hometown of Springfield in the 1990s, becoming one of his state's most prolific serial killers. The scale of his killing spree only recently became clear when Gaynor, imprisoned on four murder convictions, confessed this fall to four other unsolved slayings in which he'd been a longtime suspect. Charges are possible in two more deaths for which...

San Francisco (AP) Nearly 15 years after sentencing, an inmate is getting an unexpected chance at freedom - and the judge a shot at redemption. Students at San Francisco's novel Three Strikes Project, which has successfully overturned 14 life prison terms handed down for non-violent crimes under California's unforgiving sentencing law, are joined by an unusual coalition in their latest bid.

DETROIT (AP) — A 67-year-old man police believe was homeless died after being punched and knocked to the ground during a scuffle with a 20-year-old Burger King employee in Detroit, and authorities ruled the death a homicide Friday. An autopsy determined Paul Cannon died from blunt force trauma to the head, said Dennis Niemiec, a spokesman for the Wayne County medical examiner's office. An earlier report suggested the punch may have caused Cannon to choke on his dentures, but Niemiec said the dentures played no role in the death. The county prosecutor's office received a warrant request, and it was...

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — An acclaimed outdoorsman who wrote movingly about testing himself against nature is presumed dead after a crocodile snatched him from his kayak while he led an American expedition from the source of the White Nile into the heart of Congo. Two Americans being guided by 35-year-old South African Hendrik Coetzee on the grueling trip could only watch in horror. They paddled unharmed to safety after the Tuesday morning attack on the Lukuga River in Congo. The International Rescue Committee, which runs development projects in the Central African nation, helped evacuate the Americans to a nearby town, Ciaran...

Washington (AP) Michigan Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick lost her bid for an 8th term yesterday, becoming the 8th incumbent lawmaker to be fired by a frustrated electorate.

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Researchers have embarked on an ambitious study to track the health of thousands of high school graduates over a half century in a Montana town where a toxic mine has killed hundreds of people and made it the deadliest Superfund site in the nation. People who attended Libby High between 1950 and 1999 and then moved away are being asked to submit to tests to help determine the extent of contamination caused by asbestos mining and processing in the northwestern Montana town. Researchers will track down many of the 13,000-plus graduates with the help of the...

SEATTLE (AP) — An avalanche on Mount Rainier sent a mass of snow cascading down a slope early Saturday, burying at least four people, a national park spokeswoman said, and at least one climber remained missing more than 12 hours later. A search was under way on Mount Rainier, some 60 miles east of Seattle, for the missing climber and a skier reported in the area who may also have been missing, said Mount Rainier National Park spokeswoman Patti Wold. At about 4:45 a.m. Saturday, several climbing teams were overtaken by the slab avalanche that occurred at 12,500-foot level when...

Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. announced on Monday the permanent closure of its linerboard plant in Frenchtown, effective Dec.31. The news came as a shock to the plant's 417 workers, all of whom will lose their jobs.

NEW YORK (AP) -- YRC Worldwide said Friday it lost money in the third quarter, but the financially fragile trucking company is still working with lenders to stay out of bankruptcy. Despite a weak economy and competitors nipping at its heels, YRC CEO Bill Zollars said in a conference call with analysts that he's confident the company will be able to rightsize itself next year. But he expects the economy to remain weak through the first half of 2010. "I don't think there's anything that would make us think we can't be back there at some point," Zollars said. "The...

CHICAGO - Capmark Financial Group, one of the largest U.S. commercial real estate lenders, has filed for bankruptcy protection amid mounting bad debt, becoming the latest casualty in the still turbulent U.S. real estate market. Capmark has been hurt by rising losses on mortgage loans, and has had to foreclose on properties such as the Equitable Building in Atlanta because borrowers were not able to make loan payments. In its bankruptcy filing Sunday in Delaware bankruptcy court, the company listed total debt of $21 billion and assets of $20.1 billion. It seeks to reorganize under court protection, reducing its debt...