NEW YORK (AP) — Viewers flocked to old favorites “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and “Desperate Housewives” and tried out new fare “My Name is Earl” and “Everybody Hates Chris” in the first week of television’s new season. The season began like the old one left off: ABC is hot, NBC is not and CBS remains…

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — On Sept. 1, with desperate Hurricane Katrina evacuees crammed into the convention center, Police Chief Eddie Compass reported: “We have individuals who are getting raped; we have individuals who are getting beaten.” Five days later, he told Oprah Winfrey that babies were being raped. On the same show, Mayor Ray Nagin…

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jennifer Tilly’s in the pink. “I’m wearing an outfit that looks just like a cupcake … a pink frothy blouse, low cut … everything a little inappropriately girlie … Pink, pink, lot of pink,” says Tilly, gleefully describing how her character, Crystal, typically will be dressed in an upcoming scene on…

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — OK, so she hasn’t had the greatest track record with TV remakes. But Gabrielle Union says unlike the summertime big-screen flop “The Honeymooners,” her latest project, a small-screen remake of the ’70s cult TV series “Kolchak: The Night Stalker,” is different. “It’s not a remake, it’s a ‘reworking,’” she emphasizes, laughing.…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former FEMA director Michael Brown jumped into what the Bush administration has publicly avoided in Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath: playing the blame game. Brown, under fire from lawmakers Tuesday, pointed fingers at the Louisiana governor. He slapped blame on the New Orleans mayor. He even, if grudgingly, found fault with the Bush White…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Tuesday it will decide how states may use tax incentives to lure companies to build car plants and other projects, a major test of job-creation strategies nationwide. Justices will review an Ohio tax program which had been used thousands of times over the last decade until an appeals…

MARYVILLE (AP) — Tennessee wildlife officials have charged 24 people with setting bait on private property near Foothills Wildlife Management Area in order to attract black bears for hunting. Most of the accused hunters are from Loudon and Blount counties and were caught in a sting set by wildlife officials on Monday, the first day…

MEMPHIS (AP) — A soil-testing device that contains a highly radioactive element was stolen from a storage building over the weekend, and police were seeking the suspect before its contents are disturbed. The device belongs to B&W Engineering Laboratories Inc., according to a news release from Memphis Police. It was stolen sometime between midnight Saturday…

WASHINGTON (AP) — A puzzling outbreak of respiratory disease in dogs has been tracked to a virus that has infected horses for decades — a transfer researchers say is rarely seen. The illness first drew attention sweeping through kennels of racing greyhounds in several states and has also been found in household dogs in some…

WASHINGTON (AP) — People who get their drug benefits through the Veterans Affairs Department paid about $220 less for a yearlong prescription than those who used the government’s Medicare drug card, said a study released Tuesday. Families USA, an advocacy group, said older people using the discount cards paid more than they would have paid…