LOUISVILLE, Ky. – College tuition. Two cars. A fully paid off house. Ten million dollars. That’s what the FBI says the estranged wife of an equipment manager tried to extort from Louisville men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino. The alleged demands were made public Friday in a criminal complaint released shortly …

TOMBSTONE, Ariz. – Hundreds of volunteers, some of them armed, are expected to take up positions along the Mexican border Friday and begin patrolling for illegal immigrants — an exercise some fear could attract racist crackpots and lead to vigilante violence. Organizers of the Minuteman Project (search) will watch the …

WASHINGTON – U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (search) on Wednesday demanded Syria fully comply with U.N. Security Council resolution 1559, which calls for Syria to pull out all of its 14,000 military and security forces remaining in Lebanon. “I expect the full withdrawal of all Syrian troops, including the intelligence apparatus …

I’m a little surprised that here we in the fifth day of Terri Schiavo starving to death, and this case is still unresolved in the courts. But that’s where we are, so “DaySide” will stay on top of this story. Based on your e-mails, many of you are puzzled (as …

A trio of Florida wise guys are lucky to have been arrested. That’s because the jokers were allegedly printing funny money on a home laser printer — and then using it to pay drug dealers. Macclenny, Fla., residents Jeremy Randall Johnson, 32, and Kyle David Duncan and Adam Mallett, both …

PHILADELPHIA – Comedian Bill Cosby (search), responding to a woman’s allegations of sexual molestation, said “words and actions can be misinterpreted,” but insists he wouldn’t give in to any attempt to “exploit” him because he is a celebrity. “Looking back on it, I realize that words and actions can be …

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Teens who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are more likely to take chances with other kinds of sex that increase the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, a study of 12,000 adolescents suggests. The report by Yale and Columbia University researchers could help explain their earlier …

ST. LOUIS – Mayor Francis Slay (search) is heavily favored for a second term in his race against two underdog fellow Democrats — one once accused of publicly urinating during a meeting, the other having openly admitted he recently thought about suicide. It’s been six decades since a Democratic mayoral …

WASHINGTON – The more than 400,000 National Guard (search) and Reserve (search) members who have been mobilized since September 2001 for the war on terror will be offered the choice of military health care coverage for as long as eight years after they return to civilian life, officials said Thursday. …

BEIJING – China said Tuesday that its new law authorizing military force against rival Taiwan had been misunderstood by the United States. “They don’t fully understand the significance of this law,” Chinese Foreign Ministry (search) spokesman Liu Jianchao said at a regular briefing. “We reiterate that this law is a …