NEW YORK (AP)—On Sept, 2 Verizon Wireless announced it’s opening up access to smart phones for customers who prepay for service, such as people with poor credit and those who don’t want to be tied down by long-term contracts.

Prepaid service has long been the domain of low-end phones, but such companies as Sprint Nextel Corp. and Leap Wireless International Inc. have recently introduced smart phones for their Boost, Virgin Mobile and Cricket brands.

Foster served as the marching band’s director from 1946 until his retirement in 1998. He created more than 200 halftime pageants for the band at the historically Black university.

LEGENDARY BANDLEADER—In this July 16, 2008 photo, Benjamin McNamee, 17, from Miami, Fla., right, shakes hands with William Foster, 88, left, founder of the Florida A&M Marching 100 band, during a break at the FAMU band camp in Tallahassee, Fla.

by Steven R. Hurst

WASHINGTON (AP)—President Barack Obama kept a promise but took a risk in boldly declaring an end to 7½ years of war in Iraq and asserting that America had turned the page on the costly, divisive conflict.

In relatively brief but politically freighted remarks from the Oval Office on Tuesday night, Obama lavished praise on America’s military men and women, saying they had “stared into the darkest of human creations—war—and helped the Iraqi people seek the light of peace.”

CAMPAIGN PROMISE FULFILLED—President Barack Obama greet members of the military and their families on the tarmac at Biggs Army Airfield in Texas, Aug. 31.

Obama’s second address to the nation shifted quickly, however, to politics, with a reminder of his erstwhile opposition to the deeply unpopular war, a position that—in part—fueled his successful run for the White House.

For the Week of Sept. 9-15

September 9

1739—The so-called Stono, South Carolina slave revolt begins. It was led by a slave from Angola named Jemmy. The group gathered near the Stono River about 20 miles from Charleston and began a march and insurrection, which resulted in the deaths of at least 25 Whites. Marching under a banner proclaiming “Liberty,” it took a couple of hundred armed Whites to put down the revolt.