SOUTH PASADENA, Calif. – What the @$%.? This community on the edge of Los Angeles has become a cuss-free zone. So if you’re headed to South Pasadena this week, be sure to turn down the volume on that Snoop Dogg CD, and, if the little old lady from Pasadena cuts …

BAGHDAD – A homicide bomber killed five American soldiers on a foot patrol Monday after detonating his explosives vest in a shopping district in central Baghdad, the U.S. military said. It was the deadliest attack on American forces in Iraq since a Jan. 28 roadside bombing and ambush killed five …

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Carrie Underwood will become the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry after she was invited Saturday to join the long-running country music show. Randy Travis extended the invitation as Underwood finished “I Told You So,” a Travis song that Underwood recorded on her latest album. Her …

WASHINGTON – Congress finished some perennial projects this year, like energy, highway and bankruptcy bills, but stumbled over or ignored some of President Bush‘s priorities. “If it were an ordinary year, a traditional year, sort of a simple first year of a president’s second term, you would have to say …

BATON ROUGE, La. – Gov. Kathleen Blanco has postponed the New Orleans mayoral election indefinitely, setting up a legal battle with voters who filed a lawsuit seeking to ensure the election is held as scheduled. Blanco’s executive order cites the recommendation of Secretary of State Al Ater, the state’s top …

WASHINGTON – The Senate has confirmed two nominations to the Federal Communications Commission, ending the Democrats brief 2-1 majority at the agency. By voice vote, the Senate approved late Wednesday the nomination of Republican Deborah Tate, an attorney and state regulator from Tennessee, to fill one empty seat at the …

NEW ORLEANS – Filmmaker Stevenson J. Palfi, whose documentary “Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together” chronicled the lives of three New Orleans jazzmen, shot himself to death, his family said. He had been severely depressed after Hurricane Katrina damaged most of his property and possessions, they said. Palfi, 53, shot …

WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is getting mostly high marks from European leaders after a trip there viewed by some observers as a test of her ability to convince allies that the United States remains committed to the human rights of terrorism detainees. At the White House on …

Going to church is good for your mental health. A new survey of nearly 37,000 men and women shows that people who regularly attend church, synagogue, or other religious services are less likely to suffer from depression and other psychiatric illnesses than those who don’t. “The higher the worship frequency, …

SPOKANE, Wash. – The state of Washington will defer to the FBI in an initial investigation of Mayor James West (search), who has been accused of using his office to seek sexual favors from other men, the attorney general said Thursday. Attorney General Rob McKenna (search) said the state would …