Police in the District of Columbia are set to begin registering residents for handguns Thursday now that the district’s 32-year-old ban has been lifted. It comes after the District of Columbia Council approved new firearms legislation Tuesday and as officials try to comply with last month’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down the city’s ban on handguns.

Tropical Storm Fausto is expected to strengthen in the Pacific and forecasters say it could soon become a hurricane. According to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, the storm had maximum sustained winds near 60 mph early Thursday. And in the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Bertha has weakened to near 60 mph as it moves southeastward away from the U.S. mainland.

Women returning to Auburn University after summer vacation are in for a shock. Birth control at the university’s pharmacy has skyrocketed from around $10 a pack to approximately $50, said Nancy Kickliter, director of the AU Medical Clinic Pharmacy.

A case of animal cruelty against a puppy at an Opelika mobile home park last month was so excessive the Humane Society of the United States is offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible, Lee County Sheriff’s Office lead investigator Capt. Van Jackson said Wednesday.

With an estimated cost of $60 a vote, Tuesday’s Republican primary runoff in Lee County was triple the $20-a-vote cost in the June election and 20 times the $3-a-vote cost on Super Tuesday in February.

The way Brenda Holmes sees it, you can’t stop progress — not even in your own backyard. So when Holmes and her husband were approached about selling their 40-year home to help make way for Celebrate Alabama, they decided to sell.

A week after Felton Tate, 44, was shot to death standing outside his Lee Road 39 home, family members and friends gathered at Pine Level A.M.E. Zion Church in Hatchechubbee.

The following are excerpts from AUDaily, a newsletter published by Auburn University.

Although the use of fireworks in the city limits are prohibited, it is still in existence in some neighborhoods. How do I know this? I can hear them and sometimes receive their remnants on my lawn and drive way. 

It’s time getting an education from a two-year post-secondary college in Alabama meant more than it does today. At least, that’s what Chancellor Bradley Byrne is willing to try to ensure.

Vice President Dick Cheney will speak at a fundraiser for the Alabama Republican Party next month in suburban Birmingham.

The Birmingham Airport Authority has voted to change the name of the Birmingham International Airport to the Birmingham Shuttlesworth International Airport.

Unlawful breaking and entering of a motor vehicle was reported between July at 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. A High-Point 9mm pistol was stolen from the vehicle.

Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh on Tuesday won the Republican primary runoff for Public Service Commission president, ensuring that the commission that watchdogs utilities will be made up of three women for the first time.

Baseball’s All-Stars came to say goodbye to Yankee Stadium — and what a long, long goodbye it was. 

Barack Obama is meeting with two potential running mates amid a push to outline his vision for Iraq and U.S. foreign policy elsewhere

McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, on Wednesday is addressing the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the nation’s oldest civil rights organization.

The success of the Auburn Canine Detection Research and Training program in providing detector dog teams to law enforcement agencies, public safety officials and the U.S. military is drawing the interest of Congress.

If only Congress could harness the energy it uses talking about gas prices to reduce them, gas prices might go down. Since that’s not an option, observers say it does not seem likely that Congress will do much to reduce gas prices this summer – or even this year – despite the rhetoric on Capitol Hill. “Something this substantial does not happen in an election year,” said Mike Pina, director of public relations for AAA.

Gay couples from across the country are one step closer to a Massachusetts wedding. The state legislature is in the process of repealing a 1913 law used to bar out-of-state gay couples from marrying in the state. The law prohibits couples from obtaining marriage licenses if they couldn’t legally wed in their home states. Gov. Deval Patrick’s 18-year-old daughter announced publicly last month that she is a lesbian.

Chesapeake Bay crabber Paul Kellam has advice for the teenage boys who help tend his traps every summer: You better have a backup plan. It’s an anxious summer for watermen harvesting the Chesapeake’s best-loved seafood, the blue crab. The way some see it, the crabbing business here isn’t just dying. It’s already dead. The bay’s blue crab stock is down 70 percent since 1990 due to overfishing and water pollution, according to Virginia and Maryland fisheries managers..

The jackpot in the multistate Mega Millions lottery drawing grew to $105 million Wednesday.None of the tickets sold for Tuesday’s $88 million drawing matched all five lotto numbers and the Mega Ball. The next drawing will be Friday. There was one second-prize winner from Tuesday night’s drawing,

Alabama’s chief election official says preliminary numbers from the runoff election indicate turnout was lower than expected. Secretary of State Beth Chapman said the turnout for Tuesday’s primary was between 4 percent and 5 percent. Chapman said the low turnout was due in part to the Democratic Party not having any runoffs in statewide or congressional races

A new tropical depression formed in the Pacific early Wednesday, while in the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Bertha turned eastward. The National Hurricane Center in Miami says the center of the new tropical depression was about 560 miles southeast of Acapulco, Mexico, and it is not an immediate threat to land. Also in the Pacific, Hurricane Elida gained strength with maximum sustained winds near 85 mph, but the storm is expected to weaken.

The Alabama Department of Public Safety said drug agents have destroyed thousands of marijuana plants this year in the state’s 67 counties.DPS said 18,751 marijuana plants have been uprooted so far in 2008. The illegal crop had an estimated street value of $37.5 million.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies for a second day before Congress amid a backdrop of fading confidence in the U.S. economy. The Fed chief appears before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday. Caught between risky cross currents of plodding growth and rising inflation, Fed policymakers are facing “significant challenges”

Four new candidates qualified for the Aug. 26 Opelika municipal elections before the Tuesday deadline, bringing the total number of candidates to 17.

An unopposed Eddie Smith will be the only guaranteed returning member of the Opelika City Council this fall.

Auburn University has been getting two employees for the price of one for a year now.

Dr. Jay Gogue took a hard hit this year when the state legislature reduced funding to the Auburn University System by $40 million. But that pales in comparison to the loss of Auburn freshman Lauren Burk in March.