BESLAN, Russia (AP) A shaken President Vladimir Putin made a rare and candid admission of Russian weakness Saturday in the face of an “all-out war” by terrorists after more than 340 people — nearly half of them children — were killed in a hostage-taking at a southern school. Putin went on national television to tell…

(AP) Some movies are comedies, some are dramas. When “Paparazzi” comes out on video, which should be happening right … about … now, you can find it filed under the “No, duh” category. The photographers of the film’s title slink and slither through Los Angeles, stalking their celebrity prey with single-minded sleaziness. The stars they…

NEW YORK (AP) As he prepared for heart bypass surgery early next week, Bill Clinton was in good spirits, dressed in street clothes and walking around his hospital room Saturday morning, people close to the Clinton family said. The former president said he was “a little scared, but not much” of the surgery, but was…

FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) Potent but slow-moving Hurricane Frances snapped power lines and whipped the Atlantic coast with winds over 90 mph Saturday, knocking out electricity for about 2 million people and forcing Floridians to endure another day of waiting and worrying. The wind uprooted trees and peeled off roofs; coastal waters resembled a churning…

MURFREESBORO (AP) Two Indiana men were arrested after allegedly tossing bales of marijuana from their SUV as they fled from pursuing police. Seven bales of Mexican marijuana, wrapped several times with scented dryer sheets and shrink wrap, were recovered along state Route 840 southeast of Nashville. The bales weighed just under 138 pounds, officials said.…

NASHVILLE (AP) Tennessee first lady Andrea Conte regularly walks more than 10 miles from her home on Sundays to cheer on the NFL’s Tennessee Titans. She’s completed 13 marathons as a walker, along with countless other shorter races. And in the early days after her husband, Gov. Phil Bredesen, took office, Conte was known for…

Joan Ryan On a Friday morning at 8, patients were already lined up at St. Anthony’s Free Clinic in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district when the three doctors showed up. There is always a line. A cabdriver with liver disease. A first-grader with asthma. A waitress with abdominal pains. None with health insurance. During the lunch…

Amy Satterwhite If you have been hiding under a rock, you may have missed the news that county officials have decided to give the local Humane Society a sizable $80,000, up from around $23,000 last year, to help run the animal shelter. Compare the numbers allotted to various non-profits for the county’s next fiscal year:…