RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Marcus Vick considered his first collegiate start an average performance. And that gives Virginia Tech fans plenty to be excited about. Michael Vick’s younger brother threw for one touchdown and made several key second-half runs to lead the eighth-ranked Hokies past North Carolina State 20-16 to avenge the program’s only Atlantic…

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Louisville was satisfied with a seven-point win against Kentucky, despite coming in as big favorites. “I don’t feel like we escaped with one,” quarterback Brian Brohm said. “I feel we earned it.” Michael Bush rushed for 128 yards and two touchdowns and Elvis Dumervil added a school-record six sacks as No.…

KNOXVILLE (AP) — The No. 3 Tennessee Volunteers talked this preseason about the Southeastern Conference championship and even a shot at the national title. Those goals looked laughable at times and nearly became out of reach in Saturday’s opener against UAB before Tennessee escaped with a 17-10 win. Coach Phillip Fulmer said Sunday the game…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Projects designed to keep New Orleans from flooding in a hurricane prepared the city for a probable scenario, not the worst-case scenario. The network that was supposed to protect the below-sea-level city from flooding was built to withstand a Category 3 hurricane, the Army Corps of Engineers said. It was overwhelmed when…

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Windell Curole is wryly understated when he talks about how Hurricane Katrina has brought to light an environmental time bomb that he has talked about for years: the eating away of Louisiana’s coast. Now, Curole and his fellow scientists and environmentalists hope the federal government will use the rebuilding of…

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — When night falls, Charlie Hackett climbs the steps to his boarded-up window, takes down the plywood, grabs his 12-gauge shotgun and waits. He is waiting for looters and troublemakers, for anyone thinking his neighborhood has been abandoned like so many others across the city. Two doors down, John Carolan is doing…

DENVER (AP) — On a rainy Saturday, Miereya Gomez thumbed through a book while her two young sons carried comic books to their father in the children’s section of the city’s Central Public Library. “We come here mostly for the kids, for books and movies — educational and entertainment — in Spanish and English,” Gomez…

(AP) — Imagine a world where chocolate cake holds no temptation, where celery is an indulgence and food cravings float away in a balloon. Now open your eyes to the trancelike world of Americans who are turning to hypnosis to drop extra poundage. In a nation where two-thirds of the population is overweight or obese,…

By FRANK BASS / Associated Press Writer People living in the path of Hurricane Katrina’s worst devastation were twice as likely as most Americans to be poor and without a car — factors that may help explain why so many failed to evacuate as the storm approached. An Associated Press analysis of Census data shows…

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Gorman Roberts’ manslaughter conviction was overturned because of a single word. Roberts, now 20, was convicted of pushing 5-year-old Jordan Payne in February 2002 into a Pompano Beach canal, where he drowned. But his conviction and three-year prison sentence were thrown out in May 2004 when an appeals court ruled…