A line of severe storms sweeping across the Southeast damaged homes and businesses in at least four states. One person was killed and three were injured by a tornado in North Carolina.

A rare international alert seeking a man shown in dozens of raw child porn images quickly led to the arrest of a small-time actor, who painted faces at children's parties and performed as "the best Santa Claus anyone has ever seen."

Geologists said a 260-foot-deep sinkhole that grew to the length of three football fields over just two days seemed to be slowing down, but that it could take months before it's clear whether surrounding areas are stable.

A construction company owner who lost two homes in Hurricane Katrina claimed a $97 million Powerball prize, a jackpot won off a ticket he bought at a convenience store where he stopped to buy his wife a gallon of milk.

The Rev. Al Sharpton called a videotaped police beating of three shooting suspects in Philadelphia "worse than Rodney King," prompting the city's police commissioner to chide anyone "fanning flames ... from afar."

Federal Agents arrested Wayne Nelson Corliss, age 59, in Union City, N.J., on charges of producing and distributing child pornography.

Hand-scrawled records taken from a polygamist sect are helping untangle the spider-web network of family relationships at the Yearning For Zion ranch, where some husbands had more than a dozen wives.

Oil prices surpassed a record $126 per barrel on the eve of the U.S. driving season as a weakening dollar drove investors to snap up commodities.

Sheriff's deputies in Ash Fork say a 51-year-old man married a teenage girl and then invited other men to have sex with her while he took photographs.

The CIA must let a judge view a 2002 memo purportedly including waterboarding among interrogation methods to be used on prisoners in U.S. custody so he can decide whether it should be made public, the judge ruled.

The number of newly laid off U.S. workers seeking unemployment benefits dropped much more than expected last week. The Labor Department reported Thursday that applications for unemployment benefits fell to 365,000.

A convicted murderer is suspected of shooting and wounding two men on the Appalachian Trail a few miles from the spot where he killed two hikers in 1981, authorities said.

American Airlines is investigating how a jet bound for Paris lost a panel from its belly shortly after taking off from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport before continuing on across the Atlantic.

Strapped homeowners could refinance into government-backed mortgages and states would get money to deal with foreclosed property under Democrats' housing aid plan. But President Bush has threatened to veto the measures.

Rep. Vito Fossella has admitted fathering a 3-year-old daughter with a woman outside his marriage.

Spc. Kaila Colvin is looking forward to getting married for the usual reasons, and for one more particular to a soldier: not having to live in Fort Campbell's decrepit barracks anymore.

A half-dozen police officers kicked and beat three suspects pulled from a car during a traffic stop as a TV helicopter taped the confrontation, and the city's police commissioner said "it certainly does not look good."

San Diego State University has suspended six fraternities after a sweeping drug investigation that landed dozens of students in jail on suspicion of openly dealing drugs on campus.

A coyote grabbed a 2-year-old girl by the head and tried to drag her from the front yard of her mountain home in the third incident of a coyote threatening a small child in Southern California in five days.

The worst of the U.S.'s credit crisis may have passed, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said, though he acknowledged rising gas prices will blunt the effect of 130 million economic stimulus checks.