Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ? After a one-year lull, “early decision” college applications seem to have picked up again this fall around the country, worrying some experts who think the trend shows the admissions process is starting too early in students’…

WASHINGTON Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ? Democrats and Republicans called separately Sunday for congressional investigations into President Bush’s decision after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to allow domestic eavesdropping without court approval. “The president has, I think, made up a…

WASHINGTON Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ? Republican congressional leaders agreed to trim deficits by $41.6 billion and sought to unlock the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling Sunday in a frenzied year-end bid to enact the core of a conservative…

By RON FOURNIER / AP Political Writer WASHINGTON Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ? No more rosy scenarios. After watching his credibility and approval ratings crumble over the course of 2005, President Bush completed a rhetorical shift Sunday night by abandoning his…

WASHINGTON Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ? President Bush asserted Sunday night the United States is winning the war in Iraq and issued a plea to Americans divided by doubt: “Do not give in to despair and do not give up on…

LEBANON, Tenn. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ? A teenager who lost a leg in a shark attack last summer is recovering faster than expected and said he hopes to return to the basketball court. Craig Hutto, 17, of Lebanon, was attacked…

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ? Steve Hines spends hours camped out at the Nashville Public Library, poring through century-old reference books and magazines, looking for obscure works by famous authors. He’s motivated by more than just a love of…

HARTSVILLE, Tenn. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ? Investigators described a marijuana-growing operation discovered inside a cave in Trousdale County as something out of a James Bond movie. “It’s pretty amazing what they had under there ? water for irrigation, special lighting,…

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ? An armed robbery suspect who led police on a car chase was arrested after trying to blend in with a Sunday school class eating breakfast in a Knoxville church. Knoxville police say Lewis Thompson,…

NASHVILLE, Tenn. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ? State officials are more than a year behind in their effort to evaluate closed landfills for toxic chemicals. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation had hoped to complete the inspections by December 2004,…