(AP)U.S. Army ground forces attacked Republican Guard units Tuesday near Karbala, scarcely 50 miles from Baghdad, part of around-the-clock combat pointing toward an assault on the capital. An American POW was rescued in Iraq. Defense officials said Army units attacked elements of the Medina Division of the Republican Guard in the clash near Karbala, hitting an elite Iraqi force weakened by heavy air bombardment over several days. Pfc. Jessica Lynch, a 19-year-old supply clerk from Palestine, W. Va., was the POW freed after nine days in Iraqi hands. Neither her condition nor the details of her rescue were immediately available.

FORT HOOD

WASHINGTON (AP) Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, had hoped a House committee would provide money for radiation detection equipment in foreign ports, but the committee voted Tuesday to stay close to the $4.2 billion President Bush requested for homeland security. The House and Senate appropriations committees passed separate spending bills of nearly $80 billion to cover the costs of the war and to provide more money for homeland security. They also included billions in assistance for the airline industry. But Democrats were unsuccessful in boosting homeland security spending beyond what Bush requested. Early in its proceedings Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee defeated an amendment by Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., to add $2.5 billion to the homeland security total. Edwards had planned to offer an amendment to provide money for the radiation detection equipment, which he said would be needed for helping prevent importing of material for so-called dirty bombs through U.S. ports. After the vote against Obey

SHUAIBA PORT, Kuwait(AP) The U.S. Army

Temple residents Tuesday got their second look in five years at the Texas Department of Transportation

Top-ranked College Station A&M Consolidated uses a simple plan to make a complex game look easy. Behind solid defense, strong pitching and aggressive hitting, the Consol Tigers took care of the Temple Wildcats, 10-5, Tuesday night in a District 13-5A baseball game at Hallford Field. The Tigers (18-1, 8-0 in district), ranked No. 1 in the latest state Class 5A poll, pounded out 13 hits and were error-free before their reserves entered for the final two innings.

BELTON

WACO

STANFORD, Calif. (AP)

HOUSTON (AP)