WASHINGTON - The Environmental Protection Agency told the Bush administration that by law California should be able to set air-quality standards tougher than federal law, but President Bush rejected the advice and made clear he wanted a single national standard, a former EPA official said Tuesday.

Rainfall totals in much of Alabama so far this year have been higher than they were this time last year, but still have fallen below normal amounts, officials said Tuesday.

WASHINGTON -- The White House said Wednesday that President George W. Bush has dropped his opposition to the housing package. House and Senate leaders have largely hammered out a compromise deal on a mammoth package that would permit the government to bolster Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in an emergency, overhaul supervision of the housing-finance giants and allow the government to insure up to $300 billion in refinanced mortgages.

The hundreds of thousands of fight videos online, running the gamut from fake fights to bullying to gang warfare, have parents, educators, and lawmakers around the world grasping for solutions. They want popular social-networking websites to do more to block or remove such content.

Speculation is swirling that presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain is about to name his choice for vice president - and that choice may well be Mitt Romney.