NEW YORK (AP) - A listless late shift dragged on that night in the newsroom of The Associated Press and, across town, at The New York Times. Feet up on the AP city desk, an editor named Charles Crane read an H.G. Wells novel to while away the news-free night. "Telegraph instruments clicked desultorily," he said later, "and occasionally one could hear the heartbeat of the clocks." At the Times, the managing editor, Carr Van Anda, had returned from his usual late supper to an office where a forgettable story about a political feud was being readied for the front page. A copy boy dozed.

MINNEAPOLIS - Percy Ross is tapped out.

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) - Texas Tech is ready for the Bob Knight era to begin. So, it appears, is Knight.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - Southwest Missouri State is in the Final Four, but most fans without deep pockets will be watching on TV instead of from inside the St. Louis arena 3 1/2 hours away. The games were sold out long ago and prices are soaring.

ST. LOUIS - Portraits of her 10-year-old son on Carmen Anderson's desk were constant reminders of everything special to her, even as she fended off the stalking by the boy's father.

EDINA (AP) - Percy Ross, the flamboyant millionaire-turned-philanthropist who doled out cash to readers of his syndicated column for nearly 17 years before closing his wallet two years ago, has died at age 84.

In visions of a more literate America, most literate Americans never imagined a time when every respectable shopping mall would have at least one bookstore even if it was one operated by those chains that value huge displays of books by vapid authors as a way of supporting slim inventories of serious titles.

(In Part 1 of an interview last Thursday, Corey Stevens recounted his formative years and the time he took a job as a third-grade teacher to pay the bills. Today, conversation continues with the blues crooner, who plays with his band today at the Blue Ox Bar in downtown Brainerd.)

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Federal agents did not fire at Branch Davidians in the 1993 siege that ended in a deadly blaze at the group's compound in Waco, Texas, according to a preliminary report from last month's simulation of the confrontation.

ST. LOUIS - On streets, in churches, at football games and on stage, everyone from rural volunteers to rock star Sheryl Crow is shaking the trees for one more voter on Election Day.