Assignments for Mr. Davidson's U.S. History class
AP - Surrounded by an enormous, adoring crowd, Barack Obama promised a clean break from the "broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush" Thursday night as he embarked on the final lap of his audacious bid to become the nation's first black president.
AP - Slashing computer prices helped Dell Inc. boost sales in its fiscal second quarter, but the No. 2 PC maker's bottom line took a hit when efforts to cut costs failed to make up the difference.
AP - The spinning core of Gustav bore down on southern Jamaica on Thursday evening after leaving 67 people dead in Hispaniola. Texas and Louisiana put their national guards on standby, and New Orleans said a mandatory evacuation might be necessary.
AP - Even for the mathematics major from Clemson, it just didn't add up: How could someone who recently struggled so badly she wanted to quit tennis stay on the court with the No. 1 player in the world?
AP - More than 84,000 people have jammed into Invesco Field at Mile High stadium to hear Barack Obama's historic acceptance speech, city officials say.
AP - An oxygen cylinder caused the explosion that blew a car-sized hole in a Qantas jet last month, forcing an emergency landing, air safety officials said Friday.
AP - With Gustav approaching hurricane strength and showing no signs of veering off a track to slam into the Gulf Coast, authorities across the region began laying the groundwork Thursday to get the sick, elderly and poor away from the shoreline.
AP - David Duchovny has entered a rehabilitation facility for sex addiction. In a statement released Thursday by his lawyer, Stanton Stein, the actor said he did so voluntarily, adding: "I ask for respect and privacy for my wife and children as we deal with this situation as a family."
AP - A former Marine accused of killing unarmed Iraqi detainees was acquitted of voluntary manslaughter Thursday in a first-of-its-kind federal trial that ended with some of the jurors shaking hands and hugging the defendant and his sobbing mother.
AP - Thai anti-government protesters occupying the grounds of the prime minister's office forced several hundred policemen off the compound early Friday and promised more action in their bid to oust the leader.
AFP - If Ian Poulter has a lock on a spot with Europe's Ryder Cup team, then somebody better tell Paul Casey.
AP - An oxygen tank exploded and blew a car-sized hole in a Qantas jet last month, air safety officials said Friday, but investigators appear to be no closer to figuring out why.
AP - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accused the United States on Thursday of instigating the fighting in Georgia and said he suspects a connection to the U.S. presidential campaign a contention the White House dismissed as "patently false."
AP - An Argentine court convicted two former generals on Thursday for the murder of a senator during the country's seven-year military dictatorship and sentenced them to life in prison.
AP - Two boatloads of international activists who defied Israel's blockade of Gaza set sail for Cyprus on Thursday, carrying seven Gaza Palestinians who had been confined to the territory.
AP - Afghan officials said Thursday that a deadly U.S.-led special forces raid on a remote western village last week was based on misleading information provided by a rival clan.
AP - A senior official in Nouri al-Maliki's government was in custody Thursday suspected of ties to Iranian-backed Shiite militias and plotting a June bombing that killed 10 people, including four Americans, Iraqi authorities said.
AP - Lawyers for Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick filed a lawsuit Thursday aimed at scuttling a hearing that could lead to his ouster, saying the proceedings would be unfair and presided over by a governor who is biased against him.
AP - A block-long covered walkway next to a construction scaffold collapsed on Thursday, trapping and injuring 16 pedestrians, three critically.
AP - As New Orleans residents warily track another threatening storm, a new report presents the clearest picture yet of deaths from Katrina in Louisiana. Of the nearly 1,000 who died, almost half were 75 or older, according to researchers.
AP - It requires enough concrete to build a sidewalk from New York to Miami and enough pipe to reach the top of the Empire State Building 140 times over. Workers carved out enough dirt from the ground to fill more than 100,000 dump trucks.
AP - Like millions of motorists, Eric Hanson used a GPS unit in his Chevrolet TrailBlazer to find his way around. He probably didn't expect that prosecutors would eventually use it too to help convict him of killing four family members.
AP - Barack Obama cast his presidential nomination as proof that no dreams are too high, savoring a historic moment for himself and the nation Thursday before setting out on a difficult struggle to break another barrier for a black American.
AP - A generation after Ronald Reagan famously mistook Bruce Springsteen's music for uncritical patriotism, Democrats claimed "Born in the USA" on Thursday for the theme it was meant to project to describe a splintered country they say desperately needs new policies and new dreams.
AP - Forgive some of the 84,000 people amassed at Invesco Field Thursday if their thumbs are a bit weary by the time Barack Obama takes the stage for a triumphant acceptance of his presidential nomination.
AP - Republican presidential candidate John McCain decided on a running mate early Thursday, and top prospects waited to hear from the nominee-in-waiting.
Politico - Never mind history-in-the-making. Itâs all about news cycles.
AP - Hollywood hasn't contributed official speakers to Barack Obama's convention this week. But, man, have celebrities flocked to Denver in droves. Oprah's in the house! Was that Matthew Modine just now? Oh, wow, there's Anne Hathaway.
AP - John McCain and Barack Obama share common ground on a surprising selection of issues where the age-old Republican-Democratic divide doesn't cut it anymore.
AP - As New Orleans residents warily track another threatening storm, a new report presents the clearest picture yet of deaths from Katrina in Louisiana. Of the nearly 1,000 who died, almost half were 75 or older, according to researchers.