CROSSVILLE — Beginning September 16, the Cumberland County Playhouse presents Into the Woods, the Tony Award-winning musical from Stephen Sondheim. Into the Woods, sponsored by Fairfield Resorts, brings some of the most famous storybook characters of our time together in one spectacular musical event for ages 9 and up. Into the Woods is one of…

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — It has taken nearly two weeks since Hurricane Katrina smashed into the Gulf Coast and drowned this storied city for President Bush to get his first up-close look at just how ruined New Orleans is. Bush spent Sunday night on a military amphibious assault ship docked in the Mississippi River just…

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Burnt-orange rubble from terra-cotta tiles, wrenched from roofs and scattered about the French Quarter, wait in neat piles for collection along the curb. Bourbon Street is cleaner than it ever is during Mardi Gras. And Donald Jones, a 57-year-old lifelong resident, is no longer armed when walking his street. “The first…

NEW YORK (AP) — As if they were writing letters to a long-lost friend, the brothers and sisters of Sept. 11 victims walked to the microphone, looked to the sky and tearfully told their siblings what had happened in the world since they died. They talked about babies born, children growing up, and how much…

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — To troops, he’s the “Ragin’ Cajun,” an affable but demanding general barking orders to resuscitate a drowning city. To his country, he’s an icon of leadership in a land hungry for a leader after a hurricane exposed the nation’s vulnerability to disasters. With a can-do attitude and a cigar in hand,…

ABOARD JAYHAWK 6028 (AP) — Petty Officer Wayne Weschrek thought he’d long ago put the dangerous stuff behind him. Yet here he was, aboard a Coast Guard helicopter hovering at 50 feet. Weschrek, 28, clipped a metal cable onto his flight jacket, the instructor gave a final tug to his flight suit, and Weschrek slid…

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Damage to Gulf Coast refineries and pipelines by Hurricane Katrina pushed retail gas prices to historic highs in the past two weeks, with self-serve regular averaging more than $3 a gallon for the first time ever, according to a nationwide survey released Sunday. The weighted average price for all three grades…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hurricane Katrina has reopened a national debate on energy policy, generating new congressional support for more stringent automobile fuel economy requirements and a fresh push by the oil industry for drilling in areas now off-limits. Just over a month after President Bush signed into law a massive energy bill, lawmakers are talking…

WASHINGTON (AP) — It has been 11 years since a chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee banged his gavel to open hearings on a president’s nominee to the Supreme Court. On Monday, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., convenes several days of hearings on President Bush’s nomination of John Roberts to become the 109th justice on the…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Population shifts caused by the exodus of hurricane victims from the Gulf Coast could have ripple effects for years to come in Louisiana political races and perhaps beyond. How big depends on how many people stay away, which ones stay away and where they end up putting down roots. The early thinking…