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 - A wildfire that had burned more than 2,000 acres and forced more than 1,000 people from their homes north of Los Angeles was only smoldering early Monday, but worries were rampant as several hours of severe winds were expected to hit the region later in the day.

AP - A school bus driver and his nephew died when a fire ravaged their apartment, a day after the city's deadliest blaze in nearly two years killed a couple and three children.

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.