WASHINGTON – More than 2 million people have voluntarily enrolled for the new prescription drug benefit in the past month, exceeding projections by the Bush administration. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt touted the enrollment numbers on Monday as good news for a program that has stumbled in the …

BILLINGS, Mont. – Most of the gray wolf pups born in Yellowstone National Park last year have died, possibly because of a dog disease, a federal wolf expert says. Just 22 of the 69 pups born last year are still alive, said Doug Smith, the park’s wolf project leader. That’s …

ESTERHAZY, Saskatchewan – Fire broke out Sunday in a mine in central Canada, forcing some 70 miners trapped underground to retreat to emergency rooms with oxygen and supplies, a mine official said. Marshall Hamilton, a spokesman for Mosaic Company, the Minneapolis-based firm that operates the potash mine, said the fire …

WASHINGTON – The former coal operator chosen by President Bush to oversee mine safety received a medal from Pennsylvania’s governor for his work when nine trapped miners were rescued in 2002. But Richard Stickler is likely to be questioned closely about that same work next week at his Senate confirmation …

IRVING, Texas – Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) posted record profits for any U.S. company on Monday — $10.71 billion for the fourth quarter and $36.13 billion for the year — as the world’s biggest publicly traded oil company benefited from high oil and gas prices and demand for refined products. …

Here’s what is on tap for Tuesday: “FOX & Friends First” Starts at 6 a.m. ET The opening salvos in Judge Samuel Alito‘s Supreme Court confirmation hearings are fired. How did the nominee handle the first day? We’ll ask Tim O’Brien, FOX News Channel’s Supreme Court analyst. Then, the race …

NEW YORK – By 2030, the number of residents in New York City could put such a strain on its infrastructure that the demand for power exceeds the supply, housing becomes scarce and rush hour lasts all day because of an overwhelmed transit network. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a panel …

NEW YORK – Tori Spelling has so many sTORIes to tell. The “Beverly Hills 90210” alumna, who has been spoofing her rich-kid reputation on VH1’s “so noTORIous,” is working on a memoir to be published in 2008 by Simon Spotlight Entertainment, a division of Simon & Schuster. “We all think …

MILWAUKEE – Someone hung a mannequin from the top of a 1,200-foot television tower and authorities said Saturday that the culprit may now have radiation poisoning. Police were called to a tower of WDJT-TV in Milwaukee at about 9:30 a.m. Saturday, department spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz said in a news …

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Saddam Hussein appeared at his genocide trial Wednesday, a day after writing the judge that he no longer wanted to attend. The deposed Iraqi leader walked into the courtroom with a broad smile and took a seat alongside his six co-defendants. The chief judge, Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa, …