NASHVILLE (AP) — Neil Young stood on stage at the Mother Church of Country Music and wondered aloud what Hank Williams might think if he were to walk outside and see the gleaming new sports arena across the street. Such thoughts about change and the passage of time are central to Young’s latest project, a…

By ALLEN G. BREED / Associated Press Writer NEW ORLEANS — A monstrous Hurricane Katrina barreled toward New Orleans on Sunday with 165-mph wind and a threat of a 28-foot storm surge, forcing a mandatory evacuation of the below-sea-level city and prayers for those who remained to face a doomsday scenario. Katrina intensified into a…

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Members of Iraq’s constitution drafting committee signed the draft charter Sunday after making some minor amendments, but two Sunni Arab negotiators said the Sunni team rejected the final charter. Mohammed Abed-Rabbou, one of the four principle negotiators on the 15-member Sunni team, said the Sunni officials refused to accept the draft…

By FRAZIER MOORE / AP Television Writer MARTHA STEWART NEW YORK — Summer’s nearly over, Labor Day is all too close, and the new fall TV shows are just around the corner. In short, this is a good time to confront the season ahead, then boldly make some forecasts for what’s to come. But why…

CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) — Several thousand people descended on President Bush’s adopted hometown Saturday, attending a rally supporting him or arriving for the last leg of an anti-war demonstration near his ranch. The pro-Bush rally by the school football stadium was the culmination of the “You don’t speak for me, Cindy!” tour that started last…

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A lawyer who represented a woman accused of shooting to death a corrections officer in order to help her husband escape from a Tennessee courthouse said Saturday he was unaware she had left writings about the crime in her Ohio jail cell. John Sproat represented Hyatte after her arrest and contested…

NASHVILLE (AP) — State Rep. Tre’ Hargett worked to remove parts of a bill opposed by the drug industry shortly before he was interviewed for his new job as a lobbyist for pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc., according to a review of records by The Commercial Appeal. The House Republican leader announced Aug. 16 that he…

NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee lobbyists plan to do what they do best — lobbying — in an effort to avoid strict regulation and disclosure of their activities. As a special legislative committee met earlier this month to discuss tougher ethics laws, a substantial portion of the audience wore the plastic ID badges of a registered…

SMYRNA (AP) — Members of a church say God is punishing American soldiers for defending a country that harbors gays, and they brought their anti-gay message to the funerals Saturday of two Tennessee soldiers killed in Iraq. The church members were met with scorn from local residents. They chased the church members cars’ down a…

MORRISON (AP) — Air conditioning manufacturer Carrier has closed its Warren County plant, putting the last of about 1,300 employees out of work. The company announced the closing last year and in recent weeks began a staggered layoff schedule. But the notice didn’t make things easier for longtime employees like Charles Gann, who reported to…