FORT HOOD - Not yet 2, Lily Renee Dobert has already beaten the odds. Lily, just 19 months old, was born with neuroblastoma, a malignancy that occurs along the nervous system tissue and is most commonly seen in the adrenal gland.

BELTON - There appears to be no easy way to address the challenges that inflation has brought to the Texas Department of Transportation. “We´ve seen 60 percent inflation over the last five years for transportation projects,” said Chris Lippincott, a TxDOT spokesman.

Growing up in Temple, Andrew Machuca wasn´t interested in following his father´s footsteps. That´s because in his dad´s line of work - a professional arborist - the senior Machuca´s feet often dangled two stories above the ground. But three years into his father´s tutelage learning the family business, the 21-year-old Machuca is aiming for heights his father has never seen - the Texas Tree Climbing Championship in Fort Worth´s Trinity Park.

MOSUL, Iraq - As he travels through Iraq, Army Sgt. Jon Fleenor carries a scorched and blackened teddy bear. After surviving a roadside bomb attack with the stuffed animal beside him, Fleenor doesn´t like to part from it. “I don´t necessarily believe in it, but when I don´t take it out when I go out one day, if I forget it, I don´t feel right. So I guess it works. I´m still alive so far,” he said about the gift from his wife.

The city of Temple wants to update its state-mandated drought and water conservation plan to reflect increased capacity from a membrane water treatment plant that was brought online in 2004. Talking water conservation during a workshop before the Temple City Council meeting Thursday, Public Works Director Bruce A. Butscher said that by fixing water flow problems, and possibly expanding the plant, there would be less likelihood of triggering conservation in times of drought or other water-related shortages.

For Temple and Belton, it was a bittersweet opening day to the District 13-5A Track and Field Meet, complete with a pair of golden moments and one instance the Wildcats had rather forget. Temple´s Tevin Reese set a school record in winning the boys long jump and Belton´s Regan Tindell captured the gold medal in the girls 3,200-meter run Thursday at Wildcat Stadium.

SAN ANTONIO - A whole lotta Love has taken UCLA a long way this season. Expectations were already outsized when Kevin Love walked onto the Westwood campus as the greatest high school player in Oregon history. The 6-10 freshman was the coveted big man the Bruins had been lacking since Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton starred on John Wooden´s teams in the late 1960s and early 1970s, respectively.

SAN ANTONIO - On the day Sean Sutton resigned as Oklahoma State´s coach, Bill Self walked into Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins´ office. Self told Perkins what he already knew: There would be speculation that Self was a candidate to return to his alma mater.

SAN DIEGO - San Diego Padres right fielder Brian Giles came up behind the media surrounding Trevor Hoffman and asked, “What do you think about all the talk show callers and everything, Trevor?” Hoffman just smiled.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - In a town commemorating the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. today, basketball and a Memphis team filled with 13 young black men are a cause for celebration. Blue, Tiger blue, is everywhere.