Rex, New Orleans' oldest parading Carnival group, is celebrating the city's tricentennial with 21 of its 28 floats commemorating its history from those who lived in the area before Europeans settled it in 1718 to the Battle of New Orleans in 1815.

The substance in the letter turned out to be cornstarch.

A police department spokesman says a preliminary test of the powder indicated it wasn't dangerous.

MIAMI — Vic Damone, whose mellow baritone once earned praise from Frank Sinatra as "the best pipes in the business," has died in Florida at the age of 89, his daughter said.Victoria Damone told The Associated Press in a phone interview Monday that her father died Sunday at a Miami Beach hospital from complications of a respiratory illness.Damone's easy-listening romantic ballads brought him million-selling records and sustained a half-century career in recordings, [...]