ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — If state inspectors who regulate Florida’s thrill rides want to look into why a 4-year-old boy died this week after going on “Mission: Space” at Walt Disney World, they are going to need permission from the theme park. That is because Disney World and the state’s other big theme parks are…

NEW YORK (AP) — Dr. Joyce Brothers drops to the floor and thrusts her hips to do it. Jill Clayburgh flails her arms and screams obscenities in the middle of it. And Kristen Johnston takes off her tennis shoes and does it barefoot. Get your mind out of the gutter. These stars and dozens of…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The first caucuses of the 2008 presidential campaign are more than two years in the distance, but Iowa’s interest in ethanol knows no season. That may help explain why Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., nearly alone among senators from the Northeast, voted recently to fend off an attack on government support for the…

Hummer limousine chauffeur Glenn Davis awaits his clients outside a restaurant Saturday, June 4, 2005, in South Portland, Maine. The limo is 34-feet-long and seats 18 comfortably. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty) SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — In a society where bigger is better, the latest limousine is in a category all its own. The gargantuan…

NEW YORK (AP) — “The back story I’ve made up,” says Daniel Sunjata, who plays womanizing firefighter and single dad Franco Rivera on the FX series “Rescue Me.” “He’s a first-generation Puerto Rican, you know, a Nuyorican. Doesn’t really speak Spanish. Grew up in a predominantly white neighborhood with Irish and Italians, so he’s had…

SEATTLE (AP) — Tough child support laws may dissuade men from becoming unwed fathers, as states with the most stringent laws and strict enforcement have up to 20 percent fewer out-of-wedlock births, a new study shows. Researchers at the University of Washington and Columbia University said Friday that child support laws’ power to reduce single…

In this undated publicity photo released by PBS, Shelby Knox, center, a Christian teenager and proponent of comprehensive sex education, poses with her parents, Danny and Paula Knox in Lubbock, Texas. (AP Photo/PBS, Robert Maass) LOS ANGELES (AP) — “AIDS IS GOD’S CURSE.” A child, no more than 9 years old, holds the banner high…

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) — You rarely see Marines embrace. Yet Lynne Gilstrap, principal at the Mary Fay Pendleton School at this Marine base, has seen it happen when troops return from Iraq and Afghanistan. They have every reason to let their emotions flow after missions that were protracted and sometimes scary. But there’s more…

By DAVID BAUDER / AP Television Writer NEW YORK (AP) — As a business, HBO is more successful than ever. As a TV network, it has lost something off its fastball. Through the end of May, HBO’s average prime-time viewership was down to 900,000 from 1.2 million for the same period in 2004. The weekly…

KNOXVILLE (AP) — Bill Baxter said Friday that his appointment by President Bush as interim chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority will maintain “clear leadership” at the country’s largest public utility and “keep the momentum going.” The White House announced Thursday that the president will designate the Knoxville businessman as “first among equals” on the…