WASHINGTON (AP) -- Liberals fear that after they helped elect President Barack Obama he'll abandon them when he nominates a Supreme Court justice, choosing a consensus-building moderate rather than a liberal in the mold of retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.

Oumou Wague has been braiding hair in her Chicago shop for more than a decade, carrying on a tradition passed down for generations in her native Senegal. To braiders, her talent for weaving women's hair into elaborate styles isn't just a livelihood, it's an art form. But in the eyes of state regulators, it's also illegal.

CAIRO (AP) -- The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility in a video released Sunday for the attempted car bomb attack in New York City's Times Square

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) -- Flagstaff police launched an investigation after an e-mail threatened members of the City Council over their opposition to the state's new immigration law

NEW YORK (AP) -- Noisy protesters with signs took over three bank building lobbies on Thursday in a prelude to a Wall Street rally by workers and union leaders angry over lost jobs, the taxpayer-funded bailout of financial institutions and questionable lending practices by big banks.

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) -- Workers are stringing out oil-absorbing booms along Alabama's coast to protect against the huge petroleum spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but the Coast Guard says they investigating the possibility that the spill has already reached the sensitive coast areas of Louisiana.

DETROIT (AP) -- Dennis Talbert turns onto Heyden Street toward the safety and security of his modest wood bungalow at the far end of the block. But first he must pass through a wasteland.

PHOENIX (AP) -- The debate over Arizona's new illegal immigrant law promises to move from protest lines and talk shows to the courtroom, where a judge could be asked to decide whether the state can enforce laws that until now had been the federal government's exclusive domain.

WASHINGTON (NNPA) - Federal officials will not file charges against seven guards and a nurse in the Florida boot camp death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson.