NEW YORK (AP) -- A catastrophic flood emptied New Orleans of much of its black youth. Powerful social forces may be doing a similar thing to places like Harlem and Chicago's South Side. Over the past decade, the inner-city neighborhoods that have served for generations as citadels of African-American life and culture have been steadily draining of black children.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate abandoned plans for a July 4 break as time dwindled for lawmakers to strike a compromise on avoiding a government default and reducing mammoth federal deficits. In a challenge to President Barack Obama, the chamber's top Republican invited him to the Capitol to discuss the impasse with GOP lawmakers.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- One in every 20 federal prisoners could be eligible for early release under a potential sentencing change for inmates convicted of crack cocaine offenses that will be voted on Thursday.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Hundreds of New York City teachers recruited from Jamaica, Trinidad and other Caribbean countries a decade ago say city officials have not followed through on promises to help them obtain U.S. citizenship.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- With jobs and federal aid at stake, dozens of U.S. cities are lining up to contest their 2010 census counts as too low.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- A former New Orleans police officer spent a grueling day first walking the prosecution through his versions of the events on a New Orleans bridge after Hurricane Katrina that left two citizens shot dead and four wounded, and then sparring with defense attorneys over his testimony.

NEW YORK (AP) -- New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's successful push to legalize gay marriage in his state has made him a national hero to liberal voters and has sparked talk of a potential presidential bid for Cuomo in 2016. But Cuomo paired his quest for same-sex marriage with efforts to slash state spending and curb the power of public employee unions, suggesting a blend of fiscal prudence and progressivism on social issues could be a new Democratic model in tough economic times.

ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) -- When commercial nuclear power was getting its start in the 1960s and 1970s, industry and regulators stated unequivocally that reactors were designed only to operate for 40 years. Now they tell another story - insisting that the units were built with no inherent life span, and can run for up to a century, an Associated Press investigation shows.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- For the first time in a year, Americans have stopped spending more. Consumer spending failed to budge from April to May, evidence that high gas prices and unemployment are squeezing household budgets. When adjusted for inflation, spending actually dropped 0.1 percent last month, the Commerce Department reported Monday.

BUCHANAN, N.Y. (AP) -- As America's nuclear power plants have aged, the once-rural areas around them have become far more crowded and much more difficult to evacuate. Yet government and industry have paid little heed, even as plants are running at higher power and posing more danger in the event of an accident, an Associated Press investigation has found.