WASHINGTON (AP) _ The worst monthly drop on record for retail sales set off new alarm bells about the economy Friday, stepping up pressure on policymakers to figure out how to combat what increasingly looks to be a severe recession. Confronting opposition by the Bush administration, Democrats in Congress said they would try next week to pass $25 billion in emergency loans for the auto industry, so wobbly that one or more of Detroit's Big Three could go under. And the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., also breaking with the administration, proposed having the government spend $24 billion to back mortgages and help 1.5 million Americans avoid foreclosures.Obama and McCain to discuss ways to work together

CHICAGO (AP) _ President-elect Barack Obama will meet Monday with John McCain in talks that Obama's transition office said would focus on ways they can cooperate on an array of troublesome issues facing the country. The meeting will be the first since Obama, the Democratic Illinois senator, beat McCain, the Arizona Republican senator, by an Electoral College landslide in the Nov. 4 election. "It's well known that they share an important belief that Americans want and deserve a more effective and efficient government, and will discuss ways to work together to make that a reality," Obama spokesman Stephanie Cutter said in announcing the meeting.Firefighters race to stop blaze before winds erupt

MONTECITO, Calif. (AP) _ Firefighters struggled to get control of a raging wildfire Friday that destroyed more than 100 homes and injured 13 people in this Mediterranean-style coastal town that has been home to celebrities from Charlie Chaplin to Oprah Winfrey. Firefighters said they had to work fast before the winds picked up. Evening winds known locally as "sundowners," gusting up to 70 mph from land to sea, pushed the fire with frightening speed Thursday, chewing up mansions, exploding eucalyptus trees and turning rolling hills into a glowing nightmare.Audit: Sharpton campaign owes US nearly $500,000

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Federal auditors have concluded the Rev. Al Sharpton's 2004 campaign owes the government nearly $500,000 for illegal donations and other financial improprieties. Sharpton has been feuding with the Federal Election Commission for years over his accounting in his failed run for president, for which he received $100,000 in so-called government matching funds that authorities later concluded he did not deserve because he hadn't followed campaign laws. The auditors have now determined that Sharpton owes $486,803 to the U.S. Treasury because of his campaign's taking improper donations, largely from the National Action Network, a not-for-profit corporation that Sharpton leads but is separate from his campaign committee.Neb. lawmakers focus on fixing safe-haven law

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) _ Nebraska officials geared up Friday for a special legislative session designed to deal with a unique "safe haven" law whose unintendend consequences have allowed parents to abandon nearly three dozen children as old as 17. As the session to correct the law approached, a 5-year-old boy was dropped off at an Omaha hospital on Thursday night. Earlier in the day, a woman dropped off two teenagers at another Omaha hospital, but one of them, a 17-year-old girl, fled. Authorities have not found her yet. As of Friday afternoon, 34 children had been abandoned under the Nebraska law, five of them from other states.

Please enable JavascriptEx-radical Ayers distances himself from Obama

CHICAGO (AP) _ Vietnam-era radical Bill Ayers said Friday that he doesn't know President-elect Barack Obama any better than "thousands of other Chicagoans" and that the two never talked about Ayers' anti-war activities. In a television interview on ABC's "Good Morning America," the college professor disputed the contention that in the new afterword of a paperback edition of his 2001 memoir "Fugitive Days" he describes himself and Obama as "family friends." "I'm describing there how the blogosphere characterized the relationship," Ayers said. "I would really say that we knew each other in a professional way, again on the same level as say thousands of other people."Dunwoody becomes first female four-star general

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Call it breaking the brass ceiling. Ann E. Dunwoody, after 33 years in the Army, ascended Friday to a peak never before reached by a woman in the U.S. military: four-star general. At an emotional promotion ceremony, Dunwoody looked back on her years in uniform and said it was a credit to the Army _ and a great surprise to her _ that she would make history in a male-dominated military. "Thirty-three years after I took the oath as a second lieutenant, I have to tell you this is not exactly how I envisioned my life unfolding," she told a standing-room-only auditorium crowd. "Even as a young kid, all I ever wanted to do was teach physical education and raise a family.Crew boards shuttle Endeavour for evening launch

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) _ Space shuttle Endeavour stood poised with its crew at the launch pad Friday for an evening flight to the international space station and a home remodeling project by astronauts doubling as kitchen and bathroom installers. The weather was promising: Forecasters said there was just a 30 percent chance that rain or clouds would interfere with the 7:55 p.m. liftoff. Commander Christopher Ferguson pumped his fists in the air and, along with his six crewmates, waved to the crowd before heading to the launch pad in late afternoon under a slightly hazy sky. He was the first to board the fueled spaceship and snapped a salute before crawling inside.Joe Jonas on phone-call breakup: He's no cad

NEW YORK (AP) _ Joe Jonas is tired of hearing about how he's a bad boyfriend _ and now he's trying to defend himself. The 19-year-old _ part of dreamy teen band the Jonas Brothers with his two siblings _ has gotten an avalanche of negative publicity after former girlfriend and fellow multiplatinum singer Taylor Swift dished about their recent breakup, which she says came in a 27-second phone call. She also was quoted as saying that he dumped her after meeting actress Camilla Belle. The revelations have been hot topics on the blogs and have muddied his reputation as a clean-cut, upstanding heartthrob.Lightning fire coach Melrose, name Tocchet interim

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) _ Barry Melrose's return to the NHL as coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning lasted 16 games. Now the job belongs to assistant Rick Tocchet. Melrose was fired Friday less than five months after he left the television booth to coach a team that finished with the league's worst record last season. "This was a tough decision to make," general manager Brian Lawton said. "Barry is a good man and we have a great deal of respect for him. We wish him nothing but success. However, the results were unacceptable and the players have to understand that we need to be better. Hopefully this change helps push them."

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