Senator: Postal Service to allow volunteers in Alaska town to write 'Dear Santa' responses. North Pole elves have good reason to celebrate again, thanks to a decision by the U.S. Postal Service to resume a Santa Claus letter program that's thrilled children from around the world for decades.

EAST

California investigates whether churches were cheated by leasing companies. California is investigating several companies suspected of bilking churches nationwide of hundreds of thousands of dollars through fraudulent computer leasing schemes, authorities said Friday.

Baltimore attorney plans to write book on executed DC sniper; says pair had become close. A Baltimore attorney who became a confidant of executed D.C. sniper mastermind John Allen Muhammad is writing a book about him.

So. Md. gets health-care funding for bioethics center, technology for homebound patients. Southern Maryland is getting nearly $5 million in federal stimulus money for health-care projects.

AP basketball poll: Kansas a runaway at No. 1 as top 5 remain the same; Maryland joins Top 25. Kansas is a runaway No. 1 in The Associated Press college basketball poll.

ICG says lawsuit over valley fill permit in Ky. settled; tree-planting, donation part of deal. International Coal Group said Monday it has settled a lawsuit filed by two environmental groups challenging a federal water quality permit for an Appalachian surface mine.

The good news for Boston College football fans is that the Eagles' 14-10 win over Virginia Saturday guaranteed them a winning season and kept their hopes alive for winning a third consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference Atlantic Division title. The bad news is that Clemson beat North Carolina State, 43-23, and needs only to beat Virginia at home next Saturday to clinch the title. Even if Clemson should lose that game, BC would have to beat North Carolina and Maryland the next two weeks to win the division. With those factors at work, BC's chances of making it to the ACC championship game in Tampa Dec. 5 seem slim at best. But that does not preclude a 9-3 season, which should earn first-year coach Frank Spaziani some (maybe a lot of) Coach of the Year votes. But where will BC play its 11th straight bowl game? Yesterday, Spaziani, not surprisingly, only wanted to focus on the task at hand - finding a way to beat surging North Carolina (7-3). ``We certainly had a lot more mistakes than we n

Maryland woman sentenced in mortgage fraud; ordered to pay $16 million in restitution. Federal prosecutors say a woman has been sentenced to more than 12 years in prison for her role in a mortgage fraud scheme.

Maryland town, setting of 'Blair Witch Project,' hopes new welcome signs will deter thieves. The small Maryland town where "The Blair Witch Project" was set has some new welcome signs. Please don't steal them.

Friends, family attend Louisiana funeral for executed DC sniper John Allen Mohammed. Friends and relatives of executed D.C. sniper John Allen Muhammad have gathered in Louisiana for his funeral.

DC board says 'no' to putting gay marriage ban on ballot, citing human rights law. A measure to let voters decide whether to ban same-sex marriages in D.C. cannot go on the ballot because it would violate a city human rights law, the Board of Elections and Ethics ruled Tuesday.

Md. city erects Dred Scott decision plaque to quell rancor over Supreme Court justice's statue. More than 150 years after the U.S. Supreme Court issued the notorious Dred Scott decision affirming slavery, a Maryland city unveiled a plaque Tuesday to educate visitors about the opinion and the local man who wrote it ? and to quell a local controversy.

Amid sky-high US unemployment, a top ally of President Barack Obama in the US House of Representatives said Tuesday he hoped to pass a new economic stimulus bill "targeted" on jobs by December 18.

Founder of SYMS discount clothing store, Sy Syms, dies of heart failure at the age of 83. Sy Syms, founder and chairman of the SYMS Corp. discount clothing chain, died of heart failure Tuesday in New York, according to a statement issued by the company. He was 83.

East Coast states totaling damage from nor'easter, already estimated at tens of millions. It was a desperate, ultimately futile battle ? machine against nature ? and Ocean City kept it up long after the outcome had been decided.

Union says Verizon laying off 1,000; company says it's part of announced plan. The largest union for Verizon Communications Inc. workers said the phone company is laying off more than 1,000 employees in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

Faced with high health insurance costs, a North Carolina brokerage passed the buck on to its employees, a Texas public relations firm switched from group insurance to stipends, and a Missouri travel agency let its workers walk away instead paying for insurance.

A New York police cruiser driving ahead of US Vice President Joe Biden's motorcade struck another car in mid-town Manhattan Tuesday, injuring four people, city police said.

Ed Czekaj