national

As America's trade with the Far East -- principally China -- expanded massively during the 1980s and 1990s, California reaped the benefits as the gateway for both exports and imports.

With trade emerging as a major component of the state's very diverse economy, traffic and payrolls blossomed at its major ports.

SAN FRANCISCO - California Attorney General Jerry Brown, a likely Democratic candidate for governor next year, faces political blowback no matter how he rules on the undercover videotaping by conservative filmmakers at offices of the community group ACORN in southern California.

Brad and Janell live in the bushes near in Golden Gate Park. In the last two years, they have heard the pitch from the Homeless Outreach Team, they've been rousted by the dawn patrol, and they've huddled under a tree during drenching rain and numbing cold.

SAN FRANCISCO - And they won't leave.

Even if it means a roof over their heads or a bed to sleep in every night.

LAS VEGAS - Even the men who hand out "nude girls direct to your room" cards stopped their hawking long enough to do some gawking at the "stripper-mobile" as it rolled down the Las Vegas Strip on this week.

TAMPA, Fla. - Marine reservist Jasen Bruce was getting clothes out of the trunk of his car when a bearded man in a robe approached him.

That man, a Greek Orthodox priest named Father Alexios Marakis, speaks little English and was lost, police said. He wanted directions.

OHENWALD, Tenn. - Most of the locals haven't heard the trumpeting or seen the massive animals that can stand 12 feet tall and weigh thousands of pounds.

Here in Hohenwald, a small city outside Nashville with a population of about 3,800, residents know world-famous elephants roam just outside of town.

But that's all they know.

LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. - The New Testament instructs Christians to love their enemies.

Now a Lehigh Acres, Fla. man says he is attracting the attention of the FBI after he followed those instructions, attempting to send a dozen roses to the suspected gunman in the recent massacre at Fort Hood in Texas.

WASHINGTON - During their tour of the U.S. Capitol, four Navajo Code Talkers were approached by tourists who wanted to shake their hands or simply say thank you.

When the group walked into the Rotunda, a tour guide led visitors in applause for the "Windtalkers," a reference to the 2002 Nicolas Cage movie based on the Code Talkers' World War II service.

SAN FRANCISCO - For Indian beadworkers who craft intricate necklaces and earrings, Haitian metalworkers who recycle oil drums into sculptures, and Guatemalan weavers who make rainbow-hued tapestries, the economic downturn that has choked off consumer spending could mean a devastating plunge back into poverty.

Priya Haji is determined to stop that from happening.

The souvenirs that Jeff Ernst and his shipmates brought home after more than a month at sea aren't exactly the typical tourist stuff.

One brought home a discarded toilet seat, while Ernst settled on a few trashed buoys and life rings. And while they aren't the usual trinkets, the items speak volumes as to why Ernst was sailing around the Pacific Ocean this fall: