USA
Minnesota officials have picked a preliminary design for a new bridge to replace the one that collapsed Aug. 1 in Minneapolis, but shared no details in making the announcement Monday. Public comment on the proposed 10-lane span will begin this week. Meanwhile, divers who found a ninth body in the Mississippi River where the old bridge fell continued their search for the four people still missing.
Increased demand for electronics gear, appliances, furniture, and clothing spurred a better-than-expected 0.3 percent growth in retail sales in July, the Commerce Department reported Monday. Consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of the nation's total economic activity.
Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson dropped out of the crowded 2008 Republican presidential race after his campaign failed to gain traction. He finished sixth in Iowa's nonbinding straw poll, won by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) of Los Angeles called for an investigation of major weekend passenger delays at Los Angeles International Airport after a customs department computers failed.
Angling for the support of black voters, the presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton (D) of New York announced that former basketball star Magic Johnson will hold a fundraiser to support her candidacy on Sept. 14, six days after Oprah Winfrey puts on a fundraiser for Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois. Meanwhile, Michelle Obama admonished people who have continued to ask if her husband is "black enough" to "Stop that nonsense."
Kmart said it's begun to stock the shelves of the chain's 1,400 stores with several dozen types of ethnic dolls to address the growing appetite for such toys among minority consumers.
Tiger Woods won his fourth PGA Championship Sunday at the steaming Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla., giving him 13 major titles in 12 years on the tour. Only retired great Jack Nicklaus, with 18, has more. Woods finished 8-under-par, two shots ahead of Woody Austin.
TV game and talk-show host Merv Griffin, who died Sunday in Los Angeles, went from radio crooner to creator of the long-running game shows "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy."
