They claim the legislative panel behind the probe was partisan and misconstrued Alaska's ethics law in concluding that the governor had abused her authority.

Lawyers for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin assailed a legislative report released Friday -- which found she had abused her authority in an effort to remove her former brother-in-law as a state trooper -- saying the report misconstrued the state ethics law in an attempt to "smear" the Republican vice presidential nominee.

A corrosive liquid overflowed from a tank at a chemical plant in western Pennsylvania on Saturday, evaporating into a toxic cloud that snaked along the ground and forced about 2,500 people to flee. At least three residents were believed to suffer respiratory problems.

Neither will confirm talks. Sources familiar with the conversations say no deal is imminent but suggest GM would take control of Chrysler, providing possibilities of significant cost savings.

General Motors Corp. and Chrysler are discussing possible alliances or a merger, after GM had previously discussed a working alliance with Ford Motor Co., according to two people familiar with the companies.

Surveys indicate the financial crisis has drowned out other concerns, pulling even longtime Republican voters away from John McCain.

For months, Mark Wagner stuck by John McCain, even as the economy stalled and other Americans came to blame Republican leadership. Then, about three weeks ago, the deepening economic downturn pushed him to reconsider.

Convinced that key evidence was being withheld from the defense, Lt. Col. Darrel J. Vandeveld went from being a 'true believer to someone who felt truly deceived' by the tribunals.

Darrel J. Vandeveld was in despair. The hard-nosed lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, a self-described conformist praised by his superiors for his bravery in Iraq, had lost faith in the Guantanamo Bay war crimes tribunals in which he was a prosecutor.

The 'first gentleman' also read official correspondence and went to closed Cabinet meetings, records and an investigation indicate.

Barely two weeks after Sarah Palin had been sworn in as Alaska's governor, in December 2006, then-Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan's executive secretary got a confusing phone call from Palin's office: The first gentleman would like to schedule a meeting with her boss.

He hopes to offset McCain's strength in other parts of Pennsylvania, a battleground state.

Barack Obama barnstormed the City of Brotherly Love on Saturday, telling tens of thousands of supporters that their votes and their volunteering would play a crucial role in deciding the presidency.

He blasts Obama's spending proposals; she goes after the Democrat's stance on abortion.

After a week of increasingly nasty rallies in which John McCain and Sarah Palin hammered Democratic rival Barack Obama over his "association" with a 1960s-era radical, the Republican candidates changed tactics Saturday during campaign swings through two presidential battleground states. Palin launched a new front in the culture wars here, attacking Obama on abortion, while in Iowa, McCain concentrated on a critique of Obama's spending proposals.

Behind in polls there, the GOP nominee tells supporters at a Davenport rally that he'll fight harder. Palin's appeal to evangelicals may help. But some political experts are dubious.

With little more than three weeks before election day, John McCain made the surprising decision to campaign Saturday in Iowa -- a state he largely spurned in the 2000 and 2008 presidential caucuses and where he is trailing his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, by more than 10 percentage points.

Colorado tries a new way of ensuring safe passage across a notorious highway that bisects an animal migration route.

On a quiet sage- and pine-dotted stretch of highway in southwest Colorado, deer and elk wander into the paths of oncoming cars so often that they account for 70% of the crashes that occur there.

Political commentators are starting to look beyond the bitter partisanship of the moment to ponder how the nation might be governed when the shouting match is over.

Extremists on the right make threats about the dangerous "other" who might take the White House. Hotheads on the left rant that they won't be happy just beating the Republicans; they want to destroy conservatism itself.

While everyone's attention was focused on Tuesday night's debate, the well-organized ground game of the well-financed Barack Obama campaign kept on grinding away at its voter registration drives.

The morning appearance in the Rose Garden kicks off a weekend of high-stakes meetings between world finance ministers and central banks.

President Bush and the finance ministers of seven of the world's most powerful economies stood shoulder to shoulder in the White House Rose Garden this morning and pledged to work together to resolve the crisis that has paralyzed global markets.

Colorado tries a new way of ensuring safe passage across a notorious highway that bisects an animal migration route.

On a quiet sage- and pine-dotted stretch of highway in southwest Colorado, deer and elk wander into the paths of oncoming cars so often that they account for 70% of the crashes that occur there.

Alaska investigators say it was OK to fire a state commissioner, but her efforts against a trooper went too far.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin violated ethics laws and abused her power as governor in pressing to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper, an independent legislative investigation concluded Friday.

O.J. Simpson's lawyers cited judicial errors and insufficient evidence Friday in seeking a new trial for the former football star, who was convicted of kidnapping and robbing two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a Las Vegas casino hotel room.

The Pentagon says it met its goals for 2008, and expects the bad economy to increase enlistment further.

The economic downturn could make it easier to attract new recruits to the military, Defense officials said Friday as they announced that the Pentagon had met its 2008 recruiting goals.

The high court says allowing same-sex couples only civil unions is not full equality.

The Connecticut Supreme Court on Friday gave gay and lesbian couples the right to marry , ruling that civil unions relegate them to a "separate" and "inferior status" that falls short of full equality.