Atlanta's first black mayor remembered

ATLANTA -- Congressmen, a former U.N. ambassador and a former president joined more than 5,000 mourners Saturday in remembering Maynard Jackson, Atlanta's first black mayor and a political mastermind.

Jackson, who died Monday of a heart attack at age 65, influenced urban politics for decades after his 1973 election, including pioneering the practice of designating a portion of government contracts for minority-owned businesses.

Jackson "was a fearless, courageous, audacious leader," said Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin. "Maynard had our back."

Former President Bill Clinton paid tribute to his fellow Democrat, who helped him gain popularity in Georgia during his 1992 presidential campaign.

"He saw how good affirmative action worked for well-connected white folks and thought the rest should get a try," Clinton said. "I loved every talk I ever had with him. I loved every argument I ever had with him."

Firefighters still on duty at wildfires in West

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Nearly 300 firefighters remained on the job Saturday battling the remnants of two wildfires that menaced parts of the city.

Three teenagers had been arrested and accused of setting the first of the two fires that burned along the Rio Grande this past week.

Investigators said that fire, estimated at 75 percent contained, was started by a firecracker tossed into a pile of the cottony seed fibers from cottonwood trees. It burned 352 acres Tuesday and forced the evacuation of hundreds of people as it raced north through the heavily wooded river bottom area.

No arrests had been made in the second fire, which was started Wednesday about a mile from the first blaze, authorities said. It burned 165 acres and forced some 200 people from their homes.

Elsewhere, fire crews were still on active duty Saturday battling flames in California and Arizona.

Cheney to stand in for Bush at Thurmond funeral

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Vice President Dick Cheney will represent President Bush at the funeral of Strom Thurmond on Tuesday, the White House says.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld also will go to the First Baptist Church in Columbia to pay respects to the former Republican senator, said state Sen. John Courson.

Further details of the service have not been released.

The one-time arch segregationist was 100 when he died Thursday at a hospital in his hometown of Edgefield, about 60 miles from Columbia. He was the longest-serving senator in history when he left the U.S. Senate five months ago.

His body will lie in state at the South Carolina State House on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. The casket will be taken to the church for the funeral service Tuesday afternoon.

Thurmond will be buried with full military honors and laid to rest in a family plot at the Willowbrook Cemetery in Edgefield.

Calif. fined $62.5 million for food stamp errors

LOS ANGELES -- The federal government has fined California $62.5 million for making too many mistakes in handing out food stamps last year, following a record $114 million fine for the same problem in 2001.

California's 14.8 percent error rate was nearly double the national average of 8.26 percent, according to a letter from Eric Bost, the U.S. Agriculture Department undersecretary who oversees food and nutrition services.

The state issued more than $172 million in coupons to recipients who were not entitled to them and did not give $79.5 million to others who were entitled, Bost said.

California, which provides more than 1.7 million people with food stamps, has struggled for years to improve its track record. Its error rate was 17.4 percent in 2001.

-- From wire reports