Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by The Nielsen Co. for Nov. 2 to Nov. 8. Listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.

NEW ORLEANS The revival of an amusement park flooded by Hurricane Katrina has suffered a setback after the cable television network Nickelodeon said it has ended its relationship with a Louisiana company trying to redevelop the abandoned site in eastern New Orleans.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. After being pummelled by casinos popping up all around it for three years, Atlantic City is starting to roll with the punches.

SARATOGA, Wyo. Radio, television and cable industry leader Peter Francis Storer has died. He was 81.

WASHINGTON Former President Bill Clinton told anxious Senate Democrats on Tuesday to pass a health care bill soon because the U.S. economy can't resist the toxic combination of exorbitant medical costs and nearly 50 million uninsured for much longer. "My argument was that this is an economic imperative," Clinton said after the closed-door meeting.

NEW YORK Investors cooled their buying of stocks and commodities, pausing from a surge that carried major stock indexes to their highest levels in more than a year.

NEW YORK Lee Scott, former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. CEO and president, has joined the private equity firm Solamere Capital as an operating partner and a member of its investment committee.

SALT LAKE CITY The number of skier visits in the state will increase by an estimated 3 percent in the 2009-10 season to about 4.1 million, the president of industry group Ski Utah said Tuesday.

LOS ANGELES Michael Jackson's mother withdrew her objections Tuesday to the appointment of two longtime Jackson associates as executors of the singer's will.

PHILADELPHIA A judge says creditors trying to take over Philadelphia's two major newspapers in a bankruptcy auction must bid in cash, not with the millions owed them.

WASHINGTON The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has sometimes failed to complete background checks for contractors hired to help with its mounting workload of failed banks, the agency watchdog has found.

NEW YORK A commodities rally is stalling as investors get little direction from the dollar, a major force behind trading in recent weeks.

NEW YORK The strong premiere of ABC's science fiction series "V" is capping an unusually strong development season for the network.

WASHINGTON Job openings are at rock-bottom levels, according to government and private surveys released Tuesday, a trend that could keep the unemployment rate high even as layoffs slow.

WASHINGTON The Obama administration's mortgage relief program has reached one in five eligible homeowners, a government report says, but most of those borrowers are on temporary trial plans that have yet to be made final.

LAS VEGAS Tourism officials say the number of visitors to Las Vegas increased 4.3 percent in September, marking the first year-over-year monthly increase since May 2008.

JACKSON, Miss. The USA International Ballet Competition has attracted the world's best young dancers to Mississippi for 30 years. And while many ballet companies have seen budgets shrink in tough times, the IBC says a record number of dancers want to compete here in 2010.

NEW ORLEANS The only Republican in the House to vote for a Democrat-backed health care bill says two fundraisers for him have been canceled since Saturday's vote.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. Gov. Phil Bredesen said Tuesday that a private investment deal is back on track following discussions between the company and the head of a legislative panel that questioned a state-backed biofuels initiative in East Tennessee.

CONCORD, N.H. New Hampshire communities are facing rate increases ranging from 11 to 31 percent for their share of public employees' retirement in fiscal 2012 and 2013.

NEW YORK American Express Co. said Tuesday that spending on its credit cards increased in October for the first time this year, an encouraging sign that consumers may be feeling more confident about the economy.

NEW YORK Two Bear Stearns executives who ran hedge funds that crashed in 2007 amid the subprime mortgage meltdown were acquitted Tuesday of lying to investors about the looming crisis on Wall Street.

Oil prices fell Tuesday as workers headed back to deep sea platforms that were bypassed by a rapidly weakening storm in the Gulf of Mexico.

ATLANTA The parent company of Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air believes the company's smaller size relative to some of its bigger rivals is an advantage in a financially challenging environment.

WASHINGTON Senate Democrats on Tuesday proposed stripping the Federal Reserve of its supervisory powers and creating instead three new federal agencies to police banks, protect consumers and dismantle failing institutions.

LOS ANGELES A California judge has granted a temporary restraining order barring Jennifer Lopez's first husband from distributing 11 hours of home video footage from their marriage that the singer-actress claims includes sexual situations.

OMAHA, Neb. A year after raising electric rates an average 14.5 percent, the Omaha Public Power District is considering a residential rate increase of 4.9 percent more.

DUBLIN A Northern Ireland filmmaker has won euro46,000 ($69,000) in damages after a judge ruled that his Irish island home was transformed into a parking lot while he was overseas for six years.

TULSA, Okla. Williams Cos. Inc. says a 26.4-mile-long natural gas transmission pipeline in Colorado is now in use.

NEW YORK Shepard Fairey has a new legal team and new questions he must answer.

CHICAGO The American Medical Association on Tuesday voted to oppose the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, and declared that gay marriage bans contribute to health disparities.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Ten years and $2.5 billion in research have found no cures from alternative medicine. Yet these mostly unproven treatments are now mainstream and used by more than a third of all Americans. This is one in an occasional Associated Press series on their use and potential risks.

CARSON CITY, Nev. Nevada casinos saw winnings from gamblers decline in September for the 21st month in a row, another sign that the state's tourism-dependent economy continues to suffer in the recession, gambling regulators reported Tuesday.

NEW YORK A TV news producer accused of blackmailing David Letterman in exchange for keeping quiet about his sexual affairs was only trying to sell the late-night comic a screenplay, a defense lawyer said Tuesday.

DES MOINES, Iowa Shares of American International Group Inc. climbed Tuesday after Moody's Investor Service analysts said they believe the company will have the resources to fully repay the federal government.

NEW YORK Beazer Homes USA Inc. reported its first quarterly profit since 2006 on Tuesday and credited more stable home prices and cost cuts for a marked improvement in the homebuilder's gross margins.

PHILADELPHIA A judge says creditors trying to take over Philadelphia's two major newspapers in a bankruptcy auction must bid in cash, not with the $300 million owed them.

NEW YORK A man who made billions of dollars off Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme signed a will leaving the bulk of his fortune to charity, but the gift's ultimate size may depend on legal wrangling over how much of the money rightfully belongs to cheated victims.

JACKSON CENTER, Ohio Thor Industries Inc. said Tuesday its chairman and CEO Wade F. B. Thompson has stepped aside due to illness and has been replaced on an interim basis by the company's vice chairman.

MIDLAND, Texas Dawson Geophysical Co., which provides seismic data to oil and gas companies, on Tuesday reported a loss for its fiscal fourth quarter, hurt by lower prices and downtime due to foul weather.

READY OR NOT?: With the nation's jobless rate above 10 percent, many workers may expect the unexpected when it comes to their careers. But only one in five have updated their resumes in the last three months, while almost half haven't made changes to the document in the past year, according to a recent survey.

PHOENIX National restaurant chain The Cheesecake Factory Inc. has agreed to pay $345,000 to settle a federal lawsuit alleging it let some male employees sexually harass other male workers in suburban Phoenix.

WASHINGTON Women are on track to become a majority of unionized workers in the next 10 years, signaling their growing clout in the labor movement.

NEW YORK Shares of Electronic Arts Inc. took a hit Tuesday, the day after the video game publisher said it is cutting 1,500 jobs and announced it bought Playfish Inc., a maker of online social games.

NEW YORK FedEx is predicting a little more holiday cheer this year.

NEW YORK Power company Xcel Energy Inc. on Tuesday named Riley Hill to the role of president and CEO of its Southwestern Public Service Co. (SPS) subsidiary.

WASHINGTON Nearly half of lakes and reservoirs nationwide contain fish with potentially harmful levels of the toxic metal mercury, according to a federal study released Tuesday.

PORTLAND, Maine Legislative leaders from Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont have postponed a three-state meeting with FairPoint Communications to discuss the company's bankruptcy proceedings.

PARIS The 18th century porcelain Yves Saint Laurent ate from, a Cartier watch he used to wear, the leopard-print couches and gilded chairs he lounged on: It's all to hit the auction blocks as the late French couturier's longtime partner liquidates their art-and-knicknack-filled residences.

CARLSBAD, Calif. Life Technologies Corp., life sciences and medical research tools company, said Tuesday it is buying BioTrove Inc. for an undisclosed amount.