ST. LOUIS - Under intense scrutiny, Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin stood her ground Thursday night against a vastly more experienced Joe Biden, debating the economy, energy and global warming, then challenging him on Iraq, “especially with your son in the National Guard.” The Alaska governor also noted that Biden had once said Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama wasn´t ready to be commander in chief, “and I know again that you opposed the move that he made to try to cut off funding for the troops and I respect you for that.”

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Texas Hydraulics Inc. has partnered with Temple College to provide training for 400 workers using a $399,254 Skills Development Fund grant from the Texas Workforce Commission. The grant will be used to create or upgrade such positions as machinists, maintenance workers and mechanical engineers. Upon completion of training, workers will receive an average hourly wage of $15.

Temple´s beloved bull has moved up the trail. Standing proud atop a billboard that overlooks Interstate 35 in Central Temple, this red and white fiberglass Hereford guarded the city like a sphinx for more than 30 years. But on Thursday morning, a worker lassoed the cow with a steel cable, and in a matter of minutes a crane lowered it onto a flatbed trailer.

NEW YORK - Alarmed by the financial meltdown, stores nationwide are slapping sale signs on everything from fall sweaters to furniture - frantically trying to attract shoppers who are cutting back. Some analysts were already expecting the weakest sales growth for the holiday season in 24 years, and with uncertainty roiling the banking system and a teetering economy, they figure Americans will make their lists and check them three or four times.

CAMERON - Birders and Master Naturalists will be out in flocks through mid-December watching the fall show of migrating birds. Texas sits at the mouth of a funnel for flights of migrating birds coming down the east side of the Rocky Mountains and those coming down the Mississippi River that don´t want to battle prevailing winds by flying straight away across the Gulf of Mexico to winter in warmer climates, said Mark Klym of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in Austin.

When Temple football coach Bryce Monsen discussed his team´s first-half schedule this season, he admitted that there wouldn´t be any easy wins for the Wildcats. “This is a schedule for the books, and you could be 0-5 after five games just as easily as you could be 5-0,” Monsen said in mid-August. “The first five games will tell us a lot about our football team.”

BELTON - District 12-5A wins don´t come easily. Just ask coaches Rodney Southern of Belton and Ken Gray of Killeen Shoemaker. Last Thursday in Killeen, Southern´s Tigers opened up a 19-0 lead early in the third quarter before Harker Heights roared back for a 30-19 win.

KILLEEN - For two teams not known for their passing, the Harker Heights Knights and the Killeen Ellison Eagles let some fly on Thursday night. But in the end it was a couple of interceptions and the Ellison running game that allowed the Eagles to prevail 45-28 in a District 12-5A battle at Leo Buckley Stadium.

BELTON - Ben Beckworth is having a blast. He´s enjoying himself so much that not even a civil war can dampen his spirits. “This is always fun,” Mary Hardin-Baylor´s sophomore starting linebacker said of the upcoming game against rival Hardin-Simmons on Saturday. “It´s a rivalry game, and there´s a lot of excitement around it.”

TROY - If anyone knows what it takes to beat ultra-successful Crawford over the last four seasons, it´s been the Troy Trojans. In coach Grady Rowe´s four seasons at Troy, the Trojans are 2-2 against the Pirates. That´s the best record of anyone that´s played Crawford more than once in those four seasons.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Cool and calm, or so it seemed. Rookie Evan Longoria and the Tampa Bay Rays appeared perfectly at home in the playoffs with a Game 1 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Longoria said looks can be deceiving, though.

CHICAGO - After two duds by the home team at Wrigley Field, Manny Ramirez and the Los Angeles Dodgers look ready to run the Chicago Cubs´ championship drought to 100 years. Ramirez hit a mammoth home run to extend his postseason record, Russell Martin had a three-run double and the Dodgers took advantage of four errors by the clumsy Cubs in a 10-3 victory Thursday night that gave them a 2-0 lead in this best-of-five National League Division Series.

PHILADELPHIA - With one more loss to the Phillies, CC Sabathia and the Milwaukee Brewers will have all winter to rest. Brett Myers rankled Sabathia with a pesky at-bat and dominated the rest of the Brewers from the mound, and Philadelphia beat Milwaukee 5-2 on Thursday night behind Shane Victorino´s grand slam for a 2-0 lead in their best-of-five National League playoff series.