AP - The fate of $600-$1,200 rebate checks for more than 100 million Americans is in limbo after Senate Republicans blocked a bid by Democrats to add $44 billion in help for the elderly, disabled veterans, the unemployed and businesses to the House-passed economic aid package.
AP - Sen. John McCain padded his commanding delegate lead in the Republican presidential race Wednesday and urged conservative critics to cut him some slack. In a Democratic surprise, Hillary Rodham Clinton disclosed she'd lent $5 million to her cash-short campaign.
AP - One man pulled a couch over his head. Bank employees rushed into the vault. A woman trembled in her bathroom, clinging to her dogs. College students huddled in dormitories.
Kamil Kaplan faced a horrifying decision as flames engulfed his apartment building: Does he drop his 9-month-old nephew four stories to a policeman or hope the baby boy survives the suffocating smoke? He decided to let go of his nephew. "I just had to make a decision," he said.
The death toll from the outbreak of tornadoes in the South rose to 52 today after Tennessee authorities reported four more deaths -- two in Sumner County and two in Macon County. The trail of death stretches across four states. Rescue crews still are searching for people who may be buried under storm wreckage.
McCain cements GOP front-runner status with projected wins coast-to-coastDems evenly split between Clinton and ObamaDisappointing night for Romney; Huckabee surprises pundits