Hillary Rodham Clinton’s assertions that she leads Barack Obama in the popular vote are a stretch, at best.

As millions of people approach the summer vacation season under the threat of $4-per-gallon gasoline, Congress is scrambling to respond. But don’t wait for anything that will drive down prices at the pump.

Tornadoes that tore through Arkansas last week picked up homes, cars and everything in between _ including a check from 1971.

Charles Ray Fuller must have been planning one big record company. The 21-year-old North Texas man was arrested last week for trying to cash a $360 billion check, saying he wanted to start a record business. Tellers at the Fort Worth bank were immediately suspicious _ perhaps the 10 zeros on a personal check tipped them off.

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama accuses his presidential rivals of pandering to voters by supporting the “gimmick” of temporarily lifting federal taxes on gasoline, despite his own past support for a similar tax holiday.

President Bush put politics ahead of the facts Tuesday as he sought to blame Congress for high energy prices, saying foreign suppliers are pumping just about all the oil they can and accusing lawmakers of blocking new refineries.

An overpowering bad odor at a Bank of America branch office in New Milford prompted an emergency response from state environmental officials who discovered a bad check. It wasn’t a check that was fake. It was smelly.

Two men accused of wheeling their dead buddy’s corpse down a busy street and trying to cash his Social Security check are no longer charged in the caper.

Former President Clinton has added to the falsehoods surrounding his wife’s tale of her trip to Bosnia 12 years ago.