In an extraordinary response to the escalating financial crisis, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. says the government would buy direct stakes in banks and other financial institutions for the first time since the Great Depression.

An Alaska state legislative investigator finds that Gov. Sarah Palin abused her executive power when she and her husband engaged in a campaign to oust her former brother-in-law from the state police force.
Fincke, right, poses with other crew members.
Lt. Col. E. Michael Fincke, an Emsworth native, could become one of only three Americans to have spent more than a year in space.
What offices and services will be affected on Monday for the observance of Columbus Day?