Spencer resident and native Emma Lou Shockley Mealer, 77, died Aug. 25 in Spencer after a brief illness.A retired U.S. Enterprises employee and a member of Shockley Church of Christ, she was the daughter of Joe and Demie Martin Shockley and was preceded in death by her husband, J.W. Mealer in 2003; sister, Janice Swindell;…

Charles J. (C.J.) Prater, 82, of Stuarts Draft, Va., died August 26 at Augusta Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Fishersville. He was born in DeKalb County on July 23, 1923, a son of the late Caleb Jackson Prater and Delma Poss Prater.He was a U.S. Army veteran of World War II. He retired from the…

JERUSALEM (AP) — Hamas militants released a videotape Saturday purportedly showing a bombmaker believed to top Israel’s most-wanted list celebrating the Gaza Strip pullout as a victory for armed resistance. Senior Hamas commander Mohammed Deif, who masterminded the deaths of dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings, also urged the destruction of the Jewish state. It…

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — In her first year as a full-time student, Hannah Barrionuevo wrote a book about a dog searching for its mother and crafted a second one about a talented rabbit. “It’s done,” she said, thumbing through her latest work. “I just have to publish it.” She’s 6. In Hillsborough County, Fla., kindergartners…

CENTRE ISLAND, N. Y. (AP) — It started with two neighbors talking trash, and spread from there into “Bogey” Seaman’s front yard. White toilet seats hang from trees, amid a porcelain garden of junked commodes, urinals and sinks. Nearby sits a discarded refrigerator, tastelessly decorated with a clown’s head, totally incongruous in this extraordinarily affluent…

PITTSBURGH (AP) — When the United States declined to ratify an international treaty that would impose limits on emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases, four twentysomething Pittsburghers decided to take action. They formed Car Free Pittsburgh, which promotes walking, bicycling and public transportation. The group is part of the World Carfree Network, a loose-knit…

CHICAGO (AP) — No matter how far director John Landis travels, he cannot help but run into a couple of soul-singing, sunglass-wearing characters from his past — Jake and Elwood Blues. “I’ve been in Kyoto and Munich and Tel Aviv and Buenos Aires, and you see people dressed as Jake and Elwood,” Landis told The…

LOS ANGELES (AP) — After performing makeovers on virtually every willing man, woman and house in America and beholding the result — attractive ratings — television had only one logical course of action. It had to improve the world. Thus was born an international flood of programs aimed at taking an average-looking planet and giving…

NEW YORK (AP) — Eric McCormack is thinking back to March 1998, when he filmed the pilot for a comedy about unusual best friends: a handsome gay man and a beautiful straight woman cohabiting in Manhattan. He had a good feeling about it. So did his co-star, Debra Messing. “When shooting was finished that night,…

CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) — President Bush on Saturday asked Americans to be patient with the U.S. military mission in Iraq, a request issued as less than half of those polled supported his war policy and thousands of pro-Bush and anti-war demonstrators competed for attention in his tiny hometown. “Iraqis are working together to build a…