Temple police are aggressive in their attempts to stop road-related deaths, and for that they won´t apologize to anyone who violates traffic laws. Areas are targeted where drivers continually break the rules of the road, officials said.

THE WASHINGTON POST WASHINGTON - Inspectors general appointed to uncover waste, fraud and misconduct in federal agencies often lead underfunded and poorly staffed units and are not as independent as the public has been led to believe, according to a study released this week by the Project on Government Oversight (POGO).

Editor´s Note: While Bell County residents grumble about traffic, officials are beginning to talk about ways to pay for improvements. In this second of a two-part series, reporter Bryan Kirk looks at one possibility. By Bryan Kirk

It´s as simple as exercise. Dr. Philip Houck, associate director of the division of cardiology at Scott & White Memorial Hospital, is a believer that this low-tech solution can increase a cardiac patient´s stem cells.

WASHINGTON - A penny for your thoughts? Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson thinks the answer to that question should be not much. In fact, if he had his way, he would like to get rid of the penny. Asked Friday whether he thought the penny should be eliminated, Paulson agreed that it would make sense, saying, “The penny is worth less than any other currency.”

BELTON - This sounds awfully familiar, no matter what the sport: Mary Hardin-Baylor vs. Hardin-Simmons, with a chance at the conference title on the line. No. 14-ranked UMHB used smothering defense and physical play inside to push aside East Texas Baptist 66-50 Friday night in the quarterfinal round of the American Southwest Conference Tournament.

BELTON - The giant has fallen. Five-time American Southwest Conference Tournament men´s champion Mississippi College was shocked by Howard Payne in the first round Friday, doomed by poor second-half shooting and a breakout performance by freshman Deandray McDaniel as the Yellow Jackets won 94-90 in overtime at Mayborn Campus Center.

TYLER - The Mary Hardin-Baylor women´s basketball team built a large lead and staved off a late rally by host Texas-Tyler to defeat the Lady Patriots 75-74 Friday night in the first round of the American Southwest Conference Tournament. The Lady Crusaders (15-11), seeded fourth in the ASC´s West Division, bounced East top seed UT-Tyler (17-9) to advance to the semifinals for the second time in three season.

Temple´s boys track and field team will seek to keep building momentum after last week´s runner-up finish at the Midway Relays when it hosts the annual Temple Relays today at Wildcat Stadium. The six-school boys competition and the eight-team girls field will begin the action at 9 a.m. with the field events. The running finals are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.

GEORGETOWN - The Temple baseball team dropped another pair of pool play games in the First Texas Bank Georgetown Invitational on Friday. Austin blasted Temple 23-1 in the Wildcats´ first game, then Wylie no-hit Temple 5-0 in the second.

GEORGETOWN - Despite picking up its first loss of the season, the Belton baseball team still earned the No. 1 seed out of the A bracket at the Georgetown Invitational. The Tigers opened the day with a 6-5 eight-inning loss to Austin McCallum, then rebounded with a 12-1 win over San Angelo Central.