Thomas Frank, featured speaker at the River City Reading Festival

McKensie Gwilliam, 15 months, plays with a stuffed animal Monday in her room at Children's Mercy Hospital, after suffering a second relapse in her battle with leukemia.

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Pit-road reporters Jamie Little, left, and Shannon Spake take a break on the scene in Daytona Beach, Fla. The women are in Kansas City, Kan., for this weekend's NASCAR races at Kansas Speedway.

Contributed Photo

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Esther Gurian

Orville L. Voth

Right, a bottle of syrah Palin wine

Eric Risberg/AP Photo

Arun Chatterjee waits for a branch of Washington Mutual to open Friday in downtown Sacramento, Calif. Washington Mutual, one of the nation's largest banks, was seized by the Federal Insurance Corp., Thursday, and then sold to JPMorgan Chase & Co.

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Republican presidential Nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., left, and Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., meet for their first debate at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. Foreign policy was the main focus of the first presidential debate.

Jim Bourg/AP Photo

GAVIN, 1, LEFT, gives his big brother, Quinn Thompson, 11, a pregame pep talk before the season-opening football game. Quinn plays for the Lawrence Lightning. Their mother, Karin Thompson, Lawrence, submitted the picture.

A prison guard escorts an inmate during the Carcel Reinado prison inmate beauty pageant Friday at the Buen Pastor medium-security female prison in Bogota, Colombia.

Fernando Vergara/AP Photo

U.S. Border Patrol interns work at computer terminals during a training class this month at the Border Patrol sector headquarters in Imperial, Calif. Towns and small cities along the 1,952-mile border with Mexico have benefited economically from the Border Patrol's growth over the last decade.

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Pakistani troops patrol Friday in the Bajour Agency, Pakistan. Pakistan has decried this week's exchange of fire between U.S. and Pakistani forces.

Aamir Qureshi/AP Photo

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Melissa and Andrew Moddrell

Lauren and Dan Davis

Matt All and Ashley Anstaett

Kellee and Thomas Pratt

Alden and Courtney Bradley

Emily and Nathan Jamison

Students of Evelyn Falen's Piano Studio in Lawrence performed at the Clavino Festival on July 26 at the Ramada Inn in Topeka. From left are Evelyn Falen, piano teacher, Amanda Coatney, Jared Sommers, Mary Beth Bronson, Jessica Sommers, Sisi Srisutiva and Parkin Srisutiva.

Photo courtesy of Nicole Ramer

Summer 2008 participants attend the 6 a.m. session of Red Dog's Dog Days on July 15 at Kansas University's Memorial Stadium. Don "Red Dog" Gardner started the Dog Days community workout program in 1984.

Photo courtesy of Don Jardon

Piano students performed at the Clavino Festival on July 26 at the Ramada Inn in Topeka. From left are Jesse Dowell, Evelyn Falen, piano teacher, and Sam Dowell. The students take lessons at Evelyn Falen's Piano Studio in Lawrence.

Photo courtesy of Nicole Ramer

Summer 2008 participants attend the noon session of Red Dog's Dog Days on July 15 at Kansas University's Memorial Stadium. Participants who attend at least 25 workout sessions receive a T-shirt. More than 800 people earned the shirts this year.

Photo courtesy of Don Jardon

Students of Evelyn Falen's Piano Studio in Lawrence performed at the Clavino Festival on July 26 at the Ramada Inn in Topeka. From left are Grayson Gilbert, Macy McKee, Will McKee, Zoe Reed, Hannah Reed and Evelyn Falen, piano teacher.

Photo courtesy of Nicole Ramer

Piano students performed at the Clavino Festival on July 26 at the Ramada Inn in Topeka. From left are Evelyn Falen, piano teacher, Matthew Eagle, Melissa Akers, Amanda Akers, Joel Akers and Alexander Miller. The students take lessons at Evelyn Falen's Piano Studio in Lawrence.

Photo courtesy of Nicole Ramer

Summer 2008 participants attend the 6 p.m. session of Red Dog's Dog Days on July 15 at Kansas University's Memorial Stadium. Don "Red Dog" Gardner and his wife, Beverly, volunteered an average of 55 hours weekly during the summer months to organize and lead Dog Days, a free community exercise program that celebrated its 25th anniversary in July.

Photo courtesy of Don Jardon