NASHVILLE, Tenn. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. — The Tennessee Titans have made an early offer to rework Steve McNair’s contract and are waiting for a counter proposal from the quarterback and his agent, general manager Floyd Reese said Monday. A new…

CLEVELAND Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. — When Tammy Klein began investigating crime scenes eight years ago, it was virtually unheard of for a killer to use bleach to clean up a bloody mess. Today, the use of bleach, which destroys DNA,…

WASHINGTON Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. — People love compact cars as gas prices soar, but there’s a sobering cost: The government says they have the highest fatality rate. Compacts had a fatality rate of 17.76 per 100,000 vehicles in 2004, followed…

WASHINGTON Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. — Americans spent more than they made last year — something they haven’t done since the Great Depression, a time of massive unemployment and soup lines. This time the trigger was good economic news — a…

CAIRO, Egypt Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. — Seventeen days after a U.S. airstrike in eastern Pakistan targeted but missed Osama bin Laden’s second in command, a combative and angry Ayman al-Zawahri showed up in a videotape with a fresh taunt for…

ATLANTA Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. — Loyal Republicans listening to President Bush’s State of the Union speech Tuesday night are apt to embrace his words while staunch Democrats likely will scoff at them. But facts will have little to do with…

WASHINGTON Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. — President Bush, in his State of the Union speech Tuesday, will offer ideas for dealing with domestic problems like high energy prices and health care and international troubles like Iran’s suspected nuclear ambitions. The unspoken…

NASHVILLE (AP) — State Rep. Judd Matheny repeated his claims Monday that derogatory e-mails about him written under a false name are just part of a smear campaign orchestrated by Democratic Lt. Gov. Dave Cooley. Matheny, R-Tullahoma, said Friday that his former political rival Doyle “Butch” Lewis Jr. sent out e-mails on his state computer…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Sunday he still sees the necessity of war in Iraq despite the lack of weapons of mass destruction but probably would have placed more U.S. troops there. President Bush long has maintained that commanders on the ground have determined troop levels. Critics of the administration’s conduct…

NASHVILLE (AP) — Shelby County District Attorney General Bill Gibbons said political motives were not a factor when he urged a state Senate committee to make a recommendation on a disputed Memphis election. Gibbons said he advised the Senate committee investigating irregularities in the Sept. 15 special election to not wait on the results of…