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North Carolina beat Illinois Monday night 75-70 to capture the NCAA men's basketball championship in St. Louis. After trailing 40-27 at halftime, the top-ranked Fighting Illini rallied to tie, then faltered in the final minute. It's the first national title for UNC coach Roy Williams.

Hurricane Rita is gaining strength as it crosses the Gulf of Mexico, with current sustained wind speeds topping 135 miles per hour. Forecasters expect the Category Four storm to hit the Gulf coast of Texas or western Louisiana by early Saturday.

The Bush administration has made Social Security reform a top priority in its second term. In arguing for partial privatization of the system, the president and his supporters warn of dire consequences unless something is done. Bush's critics say he is arguing for overly drastic measures. NPR Don Gonyea reports.

Voters headed to the polls Tuesday for statewide primaries in Ohio and Indiana. In Ohio, an open Senate contest has top billing.

HBO ran over the competition at last night's Emmy Awards, taking 16 awards. The cable channel's Angels in America, a mini-series about the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, took seven honors. The Sopranos won for best drama. Sarah Jessica Parker and Kelsey Grammer took top comedy acting honors.

The list of the top-performing college endowments came out Thursday. Yale University's investments have beaten the S&P 500's performance for the last five years. Marketplace's Steve Tripoli explains how college endowments work and how schools like Yale manage to beat the market year after year.

Official Washington had barely caught its breath yesterday over the resignation of Attorney General John Ashcroft, when President Bush announced his new choice for the top law enforcement job: White House counsel and longtime Bush confidant Alberto Gonzales. NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg reports.

The top U.S. commander in northern Iraq says that this week's deadly attack on a U.S. base near the city of Mosul may have been the work of a suicide bomber wearing an Iraqi military uniform. Brig. Gen. Carter Ham says he is concerned the attack's success may encourage similar attempts. NPR's Vicky O'Hara reports.

Two new reports extend blame for abuses at Abu Ghraib to the Pentagon's top leaders. But neither calls for the punishment of anyone more senior than brigade commanders at the prison -- infuriating critics who say Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld should resign.

In Alabama, the key runoff was for U.S. Senate, where Katie Britt topped Rep. Mo Brooks in the Republican race.