HYANNIS PORT, Mass. (AP) - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, the last surviving brother in an enduring political dynasty and one of the most influential senators in history, died Tuesday night at his home on Cape Cod after a yearlong struggle with brain cancer. He was 77.
In nearly 50 years in the Senate, Kennedy, a liberal Democrat, served alongside 10 presidents - his brother John Fitzgerald Kennedy among them - compiling an impressive list of legislative achievements on health care, civil rights, education, immigration and more.
His only run for the White House ended in defeat in 1980, when President Jimmy Carter turned back his challenge for the party’s nomination. More than a quarter-century later, he handed then-Sen. Barack Obama an endorsement at a critical point in the campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, explicitly likening the young contender to President Kennedy.
To the American public, Kennedy was best known as the last surviving son of America’s most glamorous political family, father figure and, memorably, eulogist of an Irish-American clan plagued again and again by tragedy. But his career was forever marred by an accident at Chappaquiddick in 1969, when a car he was driving plunged off a bridge, killing a young woman.
Kennedy’s death triggered an outpouring of superlatives from Democrats and Republicans as well as foreign leaders.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Orders for durable goods rose last month by the largest amount in two years, as the manufacturing sector rebounded from the depths of the recession.
The Commerce Department said Wednesday that orders for goods expected to last at least three years increased 4.9 percent in July, the third rise in the past four months. Analysts expected a 3 percent increase. Orders for June were revised up to a 1.3 percent drop, from a 2.2 percent decline.
Orders for transportation equipment, which rose 18.4 percent, drove the overall increase. Commercial aircraft orders, a volatile category, more than doubled after falling 30 percent in June. Motor vehicle orders increased 0.9 percent.
Excluding transportation goods, orders rose 0.8 percent. That was the third straight increase, but just below analysts’ expectations of a 0.9 percent rise.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The federal government faces exploding deficits and mounting debt over the next decade, White House and congressional budget officials projected Tuesday in competing but similar economic forecasts.
Both the White House Office of Management and Budget and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted the budget deficit this year would swell to nearly $1.6 trillion, a record, and far above the then-record 2008 budget deficit of $455 billion.
But while figures released by the White House foresee a cumulative $9 trillion deficit from 2010-2019, $2 trillion more than the administration estimated in May, congressional budget analysts put the 10-year figure at a lower $7.14 trillion.
One reason for the difference: The CBO projection is based on an assumption that all the tax cuts put into place in the administration of former President George W. Bush will expire on schedule by 2011 as dictated by current law. President Barack Obama’s budget baseline, however, hews to his proposal to keep the tax cuts in place for families earning less than $250,000 a year.
Beyond the 10-year forecast, the nation will face further challenges posed by rising health care costs and the aging of the population, the CBO said. “The budget remains on an unsustainable path” over the long-term and will require some combination of lower spending and higher tax revenues, it said.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Car dealers will have a bit more time to get reimbursed for their Cash for Clunkers deals after the government extended the deadline for filing applications for the $3 billion government incentives into Tuesday evening.
All sales under the program ended Monday evening. But after already pushing back the deadline to submit records for the car rebate deals to noon Tuesday, the Transportation Department said the deadline would be extended to 8 p.m. because of problems with its Web site.
Government computers set up to handle the filings were deluged by dealers trying to send in their sales agreements at the last minute. Before the extension, all the paperwork was due to be submitted by Monday night, but the big rush of submissions shut down the government’s computer filing system temporarily. That raised concern among dealers that they wouldn’t be repaid for the $3,500 or $4,500 per vehicle incentives, and prompted them to push for an extension.
The government agreed to give dealers more time to provide the proper documentation and have ramped up staff to handle the influx. Transportation officials said the computer system was up and running on Tuesday morning.

Average scores on the SAT college entrance exam dipped slightly for the high school class of 2009, while gender, race and income gaps widened, according to figures released Tuesday by the College Board.
The average SAT score dipped from 502 last year to 501 on the critical reading section of the test. Math scores held steady at 515, and writing fell from 494 to 493. Each section has a maximum score of 800.
More than 1.5 million members of the class of 2009 took the exam, which remains the most widely used college entrance exam despite recent gains by another test, the ACT. The SAT tries to measure basic college-readiness skills, while the ACT is more focused on what students have learned in the classroom.
Average SAT scores were stable or rising most years from 1994 to 2004, but have been trending downward since. That’s likely due in part to the widening pool of test-takers. That’s a positive sign more students are aspiring to college, but it also tends to weigh down average scores.

NEW YORK (AP) - ABC says LaToya Jackson will give her first one-on-one interview since brother Michael Jackson’s death when she sits down with Barbara Walters next month.
She will discuss her relationship with Michael and account for her belief that he was murdered, ABC says. The interview is scheduled to air on “20/20″ on Sept. 11.
Jackson has told ABC News that she looks forward to the day justice is served “to all the parties involved in my brother’s homicide.”
She will also appear Sept. 16 and 18 as a guest co-host of ABC’s “The View,” where Walters is one of the regular hosts.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Consumer sentiment rose more than expected in August, an indication that Americans’ pessimism about the economy may be lifting.
The New York-based Conference Board says its Consumer Confidence index rose to 54.1 from an upwardly revised 47.4 in July. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected a slight increase to 47.5. Still, the index is far below 90, the minimum level associated with a healthy economy.
Economists closely monitor confidence because consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity. Consumer sentiment - fueled by signs the economy is stabilizing - has recovered a bit since hitting a record-low of 25.3 in February.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) - Penn State says tailgaters who like drinking beer in the grass parking lots before games will have to can it.
A new policy announced Monday bans glass bottles from its field lots.
That also means pouring the contents of a bottle into a cup is a no-go. Bottles won’t be allowed anywhere in the grass lots, even if they’re empty and in a recycling bag.
Officials say it’s a safety issue for children, students and animals that use the field the rest of the year.
Those who tailgate on concrete will still be able to drink from glass - the rule applies only to the grass lots.

SHANKSVILLE, Pa. (AP) - The U.S. Postal Service is marking the eighth anniversary of Flight 93’s crash in southwestern Pennsylvania with a special pictorial cancellation on letters handled at a nearby post office.
The Shanksville Post Office will offer the cancellation for 30 days starting Sept. 11, the anniversary of the terrorist attacks that included a hijacked jet that crashed in a field about 65 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
The image on the cancellation will honor the 33 passengers and seven crew killed in the crash by depicting the “Memorial Chapel Station” near the crash site. The National Park Services is in the process of turning the crash site into a national memorial by the 10th anniversary of the attacks.

FINDLAY TWP. (AP) - People traveling to or near Pittsburgh International Airport on Wednesday can expect to see smoke and what appears to be a crashed plane.
What those folks should also realize is that it is only a drill, a mock disaster staged to meet Federal Aviation Administration training requirements.
Airport spokeswoman JoAnn Jenny says the drill is being publicized because smoke and other aspects of the exercise will be plainly visible to the public, and officials want to avoid false alarms.
A fuselage from a C-130 cargo plane will be used in the drill, which will require rescue workers to remove “injured” passengers from the plane.
Emergency crews are required to conduct an FAA drill every three years. In September 2006, the airport staged a mock terminal fire.