Despite being one of the bloodiest films of the year, moviegoers at Cinemark Hollywood U.S.A. said they were pleased with the "The Passion of the Christ" and stayed in their seats through the credits. 'Passion' opened Wednesday and sold out all nine shows.

PLANO, Texas - The people streaming out of the movie theater looked as if they'd just attended a wake - and many said they felt as if they had. Red eyes and muffled crying were common as Christians and the merely curious flocked to theaters nationwide for the Ash Wednesday opening of Mel Gibson's ''The Passion of The Christ.

Bill Perry, vice provost for Texas A&M, said in the Council for Built Environment's heated forum Wednesday, that the decision to turn Hotard residence hall into office space for 447 new faculty and staff was final. "It was not an easy decision," Perry said.

Muslim leader Imam Siraj Wahhaj said Wednesday that we can learn to be a better society by studying the legacy of the militant, black civil rights leader Malcolm X, who was assassinated in 1965 at age 40. "I think it is wrong to study a man just to glorify him," Wahhaj said.

A former police officer from Tennessee has produced a controversial video to show drivers the procedures used by police departments to prosecute people they accuse of driving under the influence of alcohol. Tim Stone was a municipal police officer in Tennessee for seven years and said he has extensive knowledge of the police's driving under the influence enforcement procedures.

A rare, deadly lung condition is so common among people with sickle cell anemia that testing for and treating it could help many patients live longer, healthier lives, a study found.

WASHINGTON - President Bush wants quick election-year enactment of a constitutional amendment prohibiting gays from marrying each other, but Republicans in Congress are not rushing to heed his call.

WASHINGTON - Almost all medications given in the hospital soon must bear a supermarket-style bar code that health workers will match to patients to help ensure they get the right dose of the right drug at the right time.

HOUSTON (AP) - As part of a settlement of a federal lawsuit filed by a college NAACP chapter seeking voting rights, the Waller County district attorney apologized for his ''threatening'' behavior toward Prairie View A&M students. U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal approved the settlement Tuesday night, and it was filed Wednesday in federal court in Houston.