Week in Review

Sunday

HURRICANE IKE: As floodwaters receded, thousands of volunteers went into waist-deep waters along the Texas coast and rescued nearly 2,000 people.

BUSINESS: A failed plan to rescue Lehman Brothers was followed by more seismic shocks from Wall Street, including an apparent government-brokered takeover of Merrill Lynch by the Bank of America.

AUGUSTA: Augusta businessman Peter Knox IV donated one of several of his downtown buildings to Augusta native and opera singer Jessye Norman for the Jessye Norman School of the Arts. The school had been operated out of St. John United Methodist Church since it opened in 2003.

Monday

WALL STREET: The Dow Jones industrial average fell 504 points, or 4.42 percent, its biggest point decline since September 2001 and biggest percentage decline since July 2002.

- Lehman Brothers, an investment bank that predates the Civil War and weathered the Great Depression, filed for the largest bankruptcy in American history.

- Merrill Lynch approved a $50 billion transaction to become part of Bank of America Corp.

- American International Group teetered on the verge of collapse as investors bailed out and its shares lost more than 60 percent of their value in a single day.

SOUTH CAROLINA: Teen pregnancy rates are on the rise in South Carolina after a decade of decline. More than 10,000 girls between ages 10 and 19 got pregnant in the state in 2006, the most recent data available from the Department of Health and Environmental Control. That's nearly 36 out of every 1,000 girls that age.

TOURISM: Officials announced Atlanta's proposed $125 million Center for Civil and Human Rights museum will be built in downtown's prime tourist zone.

GAS PRICES: South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster's office launched price-gouging investigations against at least 12 gas suppliers and signed subpoenas against four in Aiken, Colleton, Florence and Spartanburg counties.

SPORTS: The Milwaukee Brewers fired manager Ned Yost, trying to pull out of another late-season slump that has jeopardized the team's chance of making the playoffs for the first time since 1982.

Tuesday

ECONOMY: In a bid to save financial markets and the economy from further turmoil, the U.S. government agreed to provide an $85 billion emergency loan to rescue huge insurer AIG. The Federal Reserve said it determined that a disorderly failure of AIG could hurt the already delicate financial markets and the economy.

BUSINESS: Castleberry's on 15th Street will be closing. Within 60 days, the meat products will be made in New Jersey at the plant of Aunt Kitty's Foods Inc., a subsidiary of canned food giant Hanover Foods Corp. Castleberry's Food Co. owner, Connors Bros. Income Fund, announced that it found a buyer for its meat products division. The plant on 15th Street was not part of the deal and will close after a 60-day transition.

ENERGY: The House voted to open waters off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to oil and gas drilling, but only 50 or more miles out to sea and only if a state agrees to energy development off its shore.

Wednesday

ECONOMY: Construction of new homes and apartments fell to the weakest pace in 17 years in August, dropping a surprising 6.2 percent last month, the Commerce Department reported.

ENVIRONMENT: A federal grand jury indicted Daniel Webster Cason, Harlem's director of Public Works, on 11 counts, alleging he violated the Clean Water Act.

HEALTH: Medical College of Georgia and MCG Health Inc. officials broke ground on a $31 million Cancer Center for outpatient treatment.

IRAQ: Three American soldiers were charged with murder in the deaths of four Iraqis who were bound, blindfolded, shot in the head and dumped in a Baghdad canal last year.

- The U.S. military said five American soldiers were killed when a CH-47 Chinook helicopter made a "hard landing" shortly after midnight, about 60 miles west of Basra.

ISRAEL: Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni won a clear victory in the Kadima Party's primary election, exit polls showed, placing her in a good position to become Israel's first female leader in 34 years.

Thursday

ECONOMY: The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 410 points, its biggest percentage gain in six years, after word got out of a Bush administration plan to rescue banks strapped with bad debt. The rebound also came after an infusion of billions of dollars by the Federal Reserve.

NATION: Emergency vehicles with lights flashing led twin processions to open Minneapolis' new Interstate 35W bridge before dawn, less than 14 months after the shocking and deadly collapse of its predecessor. The state put the $234 million project on a fast track and finished it three months early.

ARTS: The inaugural 10-day Westobou Festival opened at Augusta Common with local Beatles tribute band Number 9 and Slow Dancing , a large-scale photography/installation/dance work presented by the Augusta Ballet.

Friday

ECONOMY: The Bush administration unveiled a bailout plan worth a half-trillion dollars or more to save failing financial institutions. The news sent the Dow Jones soaring 368 points.

ARTS: The Arts in the Heart of Augusta festival opened with a parade of nations. A part of the larger Westobou festival, Arts in the Heart runs through today.

GOLF: The Americans delivered four major comebacks at the Ryder Cup, pushing them to a 51/2-21/2 lead over their European rivals.