AP - A top political fundraiser parlayed his success at amassing enormous amounts of campaign money for Gov. Rod Blagojevich into the access and clout to launch a $7 million shakedown scheme in state government, a prosecutor told jurors Monday.

AP - Presumably, she didn't fleece Prince Charles. But a couple of young jet-setters plan to admit in court that other people who crossed their paths unwittingly financed their luxury lifestyle.

AP - Former Republican Rep. Bob Barr launched a Libertarian Party presidential bid Monday, saying voters are hungry for an alternative to the status quo who would dramatically cut the federal government.

AP - The mother of former NFL player Pat Tillman suspects the military's account of how fellow Army Ranger comrades shot and killed her son in Afghanistan is still not the true story, four years later, according to her new book.

AP - Wearing a flag lapel pin, Sen. Barack Obama emphasized his patriotism and support for a strong and humane military Monday, while Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton implored West Virginians to sustain her hopes of somehow denying him the Democratic presidential nomination.

AP - Even by tough, urban-crime standards it was a grisly attack: Up to 15 people chased a man, then kicked and beat him to death on the street. Before police arrived, one attacker urinated on the victim's head.

AP - The reason most residents of Picher won't be able to rebuild their homes following a massive tornado is plainly visible from most parts of town.

AP - John McCain broke with the Bush administration and Republican Party orthodoxy Monday as he not only declared global warming real, but reached out to Democrats and independents with a free-market solution that includes capping carbon-fuel emissions.

AP - Doris Smith went downtown early Monday to see about getting tickets to Barack Obama's rally. Advance seats were sold out, she said, and the only option was to stand in line for up two hours or more and hope for the best.

AP - Federal immigration agents raided a northeastern Iowa meat processing plant Monday, arresting more than 300 people and housing many of them at a converted fairgrounds.

AP - More than a third of the 22 people killed by a tornado that smashed parts of Oklahoma and Missouri over the weekend died in cars, troubling experts who say vehicles are one of the worst places to be during a twister.

AP - Once Hillary Rodham Clinton jumped into the presidential race with an "in it to win it" flourish. Now Democrats speculate endlessly about an exit strategy that she ponders privately, if at all.