The economic bad news is clearly changing the way Americans spend money.  But many parents say they aren't willing to let that impact the kids.

A popular attraction sat idle this year at the American River Salmon Festival in Rancho Cordova over concern about a meager fall run for the embattled fish.

Firefighters aided by water-dumping aircraft slowed a wildfire Sunday that destroyed two homes and forced the evacuation of about 1,200 people outside Los Angeles.

Authorities were searching for the driver of a vehicle that struck a woman who was changing a tire along Interstate 80 early Saturday morning.

A Sacramento man was arrested and faces murder charges in connection with the killing of a homeless man whose body was found behind a dumpster early Thursday morning.

Organizers working to rebuild a popular Vacaville playground put out the call for more volunteers after missing their initial deadline to reopen the play area Sunday.

AP - Firefighters backed by water-dumping helicopters and planes gained ground Sunday on a wildfire that destroyed two homes and forced the evacuation of about 1,200 people in a rugged area 20 miles north of downtown.

AP - A month later, piles of Sheetrock, appliances, furniture and family mementos dot most streets in this island town. Electronic road signs in southeast Texas flash, "Watch for cows next 20 miles," a reminder that few fences remain to hem in livestock. Blue tarps cover 11,000 roofs for 100 miles from Houston to the Louisiana line.

AP - In the beginning, there was a boy, a girl and an apple.

AP - NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The announcement came in 1800 in the back of a Connecticut newspaper just above a farmer's reward for a stray cow. A man named Noah Webster was proposing the first comprehensive "dictionary of the American language."

AP - She shot herself in the chest Oct. 1 before she could be taken away from the foreclosed house, which was worth less than its mortgage from the day she took out the loan.

AP - In the Tenderloin, corner stores sell more alcohol than food, drug-addled pan handlers shake paper cups at passers-by and churches vie for real estate with strip clubs.

AP - The attorney for a Marine accused of killing a pregnant colleague says his client is fighting extradition to the United States.

AP - A watched clock never moves — unless it's the National Debt Clock.

AP - Chicago's police superintendent is denying a news report that officers in his command are working the streets less aggressively out of fear of being second-guessed by him.

AP - About 2,500 people who fled when a corrosive liquid overflowed from a tank at a chemical plant and evaporated were allowed to return home Sunday after authorities determined that no toxins remained in the air.

AP - David Letterman and Sen. John McCain will get a chance to make up.

AP - Trillions in stock market value — gone. Trillions in retirement savings — gone. A huge chunk of the money you paid for your house, the money you're saving for college, the money your boss needs to make payroll — gone, gone, gone.

AP - National forests and parks — long popular with Mexican marijuana-growing cartels — have become home to some of the most polluted pockets of wilderness in America because of the toxic chemicals needed to eke lucrative harvests from rocky mountainsides, federal officials said.