Jeff Davis

Mo. utility regulators reject Ameren request to clarify public relations rules for rate cases. Missouri utility regulators decided Wednesday to not wade into a dispute between AmerenUE and a group that has organized opposition to a proposed increase in electric rates.

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Reuters) - U.S. bank stocks fell on Tuesday after reports that the Obama administration might charge banks more than $100 billion made investors worry about the sector's profits.

Man killed while eating breakfast when vehicle plows into California fast-food restaurant. Authorities say a 66-year-old man eating breakfast at a California fast-food restaurant was killed when a vehicle plowed through the corner of the building.

Man killed while eating breakfast when vehicle plows into California fast-food restaurant. Authorities say a 66-year-old man eating breakfast at a California fast-foot restaurant was killed when a vehicle plowed through the corner of the building.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The government-run fund that safeguards U.S. bank deposits tumbled to a negative balance of $8.2 billion in the third quarter, as the number of problem banks surged by a third to 552.

Police surround building near Mo. governor's mansion after call reporting hostage situation. Police said they were investigating what led to an unfounded report of a hostage situation that prompted a lockdown and office building evacuation near the Missouri governor's mansion Tuesday.

Unlikely odyssey brings Vietnamese 'boat person' back home as commander of US Navy ship. On the day his side lost the Vietnam War, Hung Ba Le fled his homeland at the age of 5 in a fishing trawler crammed with 400 refugees. Thirty-four years later, he made an unlikely homecoming ? as the commander of a U.S. Navy destroyer.

ST. ALBANS, Vt. - On a Sunday morning at Nana's Restaurant, the vinyl booths are jam-packed and waitresses fly out of the kitchen with platters plaited with french fries and brown gravy. But one mention of Wal-Mart and the ladies pause under a hanging plant speared with an American flag to explain why the big box chain needs to come to town. ``You can't even buy a pair of underwear here. Well, you can, but it'll cost you $30,'' says Bobbi Jo Magnan. ``Everybody wants a Wal-Mart.'' Longing for Wal-Mart's prices may be keen in St. Albans, a one-time railroad depot a half-hour from the Canadian border, where the main thoroughfare's weathered Victorian homes quickly give way to a jumble of car dealerships and strip malls. Yet it is here that a group of residents, teamed with preservation and environmental groups, spent four years fending off a 1993 effort to raise a Wal-Mart in a cornfield and the last nearly six trying to spoil a second attempt. The battles add up to what is believed to b

ST. ALBANS, Vt. - On a Sunday morning at Nana's Restaurant, the vinyl booths are jam-packed and waitresses fly out of the kitchen with platters plaited with french fries and brown gravy. But one mention of Wal-Mart and the ladies pause under a hanging plant speared with an American flag to explain why the big box chain needs to come to town. ``You can't even buy a pair of underwear here. Well, you can, but it'll cost you $30,'' says Bobbi Jo Magnan. ``Everybody wants a Wal-Mart.'' Longing for Wal-Mart's prices may be keen in St. Albans, a one-time railroad depot a half-hour from the Canadian border, where the main thoroughfare's weathered Victorian homes quickly give way to a jumble of car dealerships and strip malls. Yet it is here that a group of residents, teamed with preservation and environmental groups, spent four years fending off a 1993 effort to raise a Wal-Mart in a cornfield and the last nearly six trying to spoil a second attempt. The battles add up to what is believed to b

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