WASHINGTON Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ? More than three-fourths of the people living in Afghanistan say living conditions, security from crime and freedom of expression have improved from the days when they were living under Taliban rule, an ABC News poll…

WASHINGTON Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ? More than 20,000 in Louisiana. Nearly 29,000 in Mississippi. Given all that casino employment, the American Gaming Association is upset that its members would not share in tax breaks the House passed Wednesday to help…

WASHINGTON Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ? Consumer borrowing plunged at a record annual rate of $7.2 billion in October, reflecting a big drop in auto loans. The Federal Reserve reported Wednesday that the decline was the biggest amount ever in dollar…

CHARLESTON, W.Va. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ? Appalachian residents have less access to public water and sewer systems and spend more for it than other Americans, according to an Appalachian Regional Commission report presented to a West Virginia infrastructure council on…

SAN FRANCISCO Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ? Living by a church does wonders for a person’s driving record, but motorists who reside near a restaurant might want to say an extra prayer before hitting the road, according to the findings of…

NASHVILLE, Tenn. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ? State education officials drastically improved academic standards for primary- and secondary-level science courses, a new national report says. The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, which in 2000 gave Tennessee a grade of “F” for its…

MEMPHIS, Tenn. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ? The supervisor of a $36 million road improvement project in Memphis was killed when a crane swinging concrete beams into place at a bridge construction site over the Wolf River slipped and lost its…

GATLINBURG, Tenn. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ? The ambitious All-Taxa Biodiversity Inventory project, which aims to catalog every life form in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, has already found 3,500 species new to the park and more than 500 previously unknown…

DYERSBURG, Tenn. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ? Former state Rep. Ray Davis failed to appear at a court hearing for his own appeal of a lawsuit seeking $10,000 from him and it will cost him. Circuit Judge Lee Moore affirmed the…

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ? Hamilton County educators providing online courses for public school students will use a $2.7 million state grant to develop an expanded curriculum for students in other Tennessee communities, Hamilton schools superintendent Jesse Register said…