AP - Amare Stoudemire was in the Phoenix Suns' starting lineup Thursday night against Portland for his first appearance of the season.

AP - Mississippi's first NFL exhibition game in a decade will feature two stars with significant ties to the state.

AP - The floodwaters are long gone from Dorothy Williams' house, but there is one reminder of Hurricane Katrina she cannot seem to get rid of — the water-damaged car in front of her house.

Reuters - Insured property losses from hurricanes in Florida and the Gulf Coast are likely to be 40 percent higher for at least the next five years, a leading consultant said on Thursday in one of the most forward-looking studies in the industry.

AP - The Hornets gave fans in New Orleans something to cheer about. Rasual Butler scored a career-high 32 points and New Orleans beat the Los Angeles Clippers 120-108 Tuesday night for its first victory in the city in over a year. The Hornets also snapped an eight-game losing streak.

AP - Determined to avoid a repeat of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, Mayor Ray Nagin says the city has improved its plans for evacuating residents during the upcoming hurricane season.

Reuters - Rasual Butler poured in a career-high 32 points as the New Orleans Hornets returned home to beat the Los Angeles Clippers 120-108 on Tuesday, giving fans in their hurricane-battered city a lift.

AP - Rasual Butler scored a career-high 32 points, hitting seven 3-pointers, and the New Orleans Hornets snapped an eight-game losing streak with a 120-108 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night.

AP - Indianapolis took a key piece from rival New England, agreeing in principle to a deal with clutch kicker Adam Vinatieri on Tuesday night.

AP - The Indianapolis Colts are switching from the NFL's most accurate kicker to the best in the clutch.

AP - New Orleans is better prepared for the upcoming hurricane season because of stronger flood walls and better evacuation plans after Hurricane Katrina, Mayor Ray Nagin said in an interview Tuesday.

AP - Trista Wright was spending her spring break cleaning out hurricane-damaged homes when she discovered some unusual papers among the moldy plaster board and debris.

USATODAY.com - Officials in New Orleans want to nip a pernicious rumor in the bud: There's no truth to an e-mail-spread report that garden centers across the USA are selling mulch from New Orleans infested with dreaded Formosan termites that will eat your house down.

USATODAY.com - As hurricane season approaches, the city doesn't have an emergency shelter, and local officials are asking for federal help to get people out of harm's way if another disaster strikes.

All New Orleans residents whose homes were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina should be allowed to rebuild if they choose, and the city will not stand in the way of reconstruction in areas considered vulnerable to flooding in future storms, Mayor Ray Nagin announced Monday.

Reuters - Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens on Monday said he is considering a mechanism in which the Federal Communications Commission would be charged with ensuring that consumers can go wherever they choose on the Internet or run any Internet-based application.

AP - Mayor Ray Nagin finished work Monday on a plan to rebuild New Orleans, endorsing a proposal that would allow all residents to rebuild their homes in neighborhoods shattered by Hurricane Katrina.

AP - Mayor Ray Nagin finished work Monday on a plan to rebuild New Orleans, endorsing a proposal that would allow all residents to rebuild their homes in neighborhoods shattered by Hurricane Katrina.

AP - A House committee said Monday it would review several post-Katrina hurricane contracts for waste and abuse, citing recent concerns about limited oversight and the haste in which they were awarded.

AP - Two more bodies have been found in the wreckage of a neighborhood that was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina, a coroner said Monday.