NEW YORK - Gangs, drugs, easy access to guns and a disturbing tendency among young people to pull guns to demand respect were among the causes authorities cited in trying to explain this year's increase in murders in New York and many other major cities after years of decline.

November 24, 2004

November 24, 2004

NEW YORK - Subways and buses ground to a halt Tuesday morning as transit workers walked off the job.

NEW YORK - The city's subways rumbled to life just after midnight Friday, ended a crippling, three-day strike that brought nation's largest public transportation system to a standstill.

NEW YORK - The announcement boomed over the loudspeaker at 9 a.m. Thursday. It was the warmest Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on record, and Veronica Cherry seemed fairly certain she knew why.

November 26, 2004

November 25, 2004

NEW YORK - The announcement boomed over the loudspeaker 9 a.m. Thursday morning. It was the warmest Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on record and Veronica Cherry seemed fairly certain she knew why.

NEW YORK - Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, paid tribute to victims of the Sept. 11 attacks Tuesday as they began a weeklong tour of the United States - a trip the British press predicted would cause little excitement among Americans.

OAXACA, Mexico - Federal forces stormed Oaxaca and pushed protesters and striking teachers out of the city center they had occupied for five months, leaving the colonial city resembling a battleground, with riot police and burned vehicles lining the streets.

NEW YORK - The New York Times editorial board has endorsed Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain in the presidential primary race.

ALBANY, N.Y. - New York Gov. David Paterson and legislative leaders have agreed to ease drug laws that were once among the harshest in the nation and led a movement more than 30 years ago toward mandatory prison terms.

NEW ORLEANS - Their homes are gone, their families scattered, their reputations sliding by the day. Home for most New Orleans police officers is a cramped cruise ship, and work is 12- to 14-hour days in a wrecked city. When time off does come along, there is nowhere to go and no one to spend it with.

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. - The Police announced their first tour in decades Monday at a rehearsal at the Whisky a Go-Go as a throng of fans crowded near the legendary Sunset Strip nightclub. The tour includes a June 18 concert at US Airways Center in downtown Phoenix.

The Mesa Police Department has become the third police force in Arizona to join the Major City Chiefs Association, giving the department a voice in efforts to address national policing issues.

Mark Grace will never forget the smell. At first, he wasn’t quite sure what was invading his senses that cold October morning. Then it occurred to him.

Mark Grace will never forget the smell. At first, he wasn’t quite sure what was invading his senses that cold October morning. Then it occurred to him.

DVD

Have you heard this one yet? A bartender walks into a restroom …

Mesa's overall crime rate has decreased by more than 15 percent in the past two years. And although the city's violent crimes have risen more than any other East Valley city, the overall odds that a Mesa resident will be victimized is on the decline.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The Police kicked off its reunion tour before a sold-out crowd of 20,000 - not bad for a group playing its first stadium in more than 20 years.