State

• Ill. treasurer questions billing to execution fund

National

• Senate to vote on financial rescue plan Wednesday

• Robber convicted of infamous KFC murders in Texas

• New York mayor wants a 3rd term

• Oregon school says 4 confessed to Obama effigy

• Pentagon announces 2009 deployments to Iraq

  • Soldiers headed to Iraq worry about economy

• $28M settlement reached in Big Dig death lawsuit

• Judge will release Simpson jury's questionnaires

• Jury watches video of suspect hit by S.C. trooper

• GAO: FAA cannot auction flight slots

• Health rules issued for nuke dump in Nevada

• East L.A seeks to become a city of its own

• Wal-Mart lowers prices on holiday items

International

• US official says 3 pirates may be dead in shootout

• Suspected US missile strike kills 6 in Pakistan

• EU monitors start patrols in Georgia, eye Russians

• Canada opposition party accuses PM of plagiarism

• Gym officials: China's 2008 gold medalists of age

• Color, glitter enliven Saudi women's black abayas

Election

• Voting for president begins in pivotal Ohio

• Polls: Obama leads in critical trio of states

• McCain, Obama call for greater bank security

• Campaigns differ on how to help with college costs

ODD & Extraordinary

• Here, kitty: Police expect house cat, get cougar

• Man arrested after excessive horn blowing

• Ruff journey: Georgia dog found in Florida

• Group nabbed after fine paid with marked bills

• Man dives in to save dog from shark in Fla. attack

• Human skeleton in Ind. sells at auction for $500

• San Diego-area bank hit by 2 robbers on same day

• Neither snow, nor rain, nor -- aw, the heck with it

• Robber flees police by by floating down river

Science, Technology & The Environment

• Feds propose listing 48 Hawaiian species at once

• Capsule that caught comet dust goes to Smithsonian

• Lawsuit seeks Species Act protection for wolverine

Entertainment, Entertainers, and the Arts

• CBS' Katie Couric is making news -- with her work

• Blind activists plan protest of movie 'Blindness'

• Nobel literature head: US too insular to compete

• Springsteen, Joel team up for Obama

• Michigan publisher's next Bible to be handwritten

Today

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