Sales of new single-family houses fell 2.3 percent in August from July, the Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development just reported. The annualized rate: 295,000 sales.

The report underscores the weakness of the housing market, The Associated Press says. Sales have now fallen four straight months and are at a six-month low. Economists, according to the AP, say the pace needs to be about 700,000 "to sustain a healthy housing market."

With its white sand beaches and tropical weather, for visitors, Puerto Rico is close to paradise. But for those who live there, the past decade has been difficult. For most of that time, Puerto Rico has been in a recession.

To see Puerto Rico's economy up close, a good place to start is Rio Piedras. It's a former suburb, now a bustling neighborhood in Puerto Rico's capital, San Juan.

SULPHUR SPRINGS - Postal employees across Northeast Texas will gather in Sulphur Springs Tuesday in an effort to keep their jobs.

Rallies are planned in every congressional district throughout the United States to inform the public about the financial status of the agency.

GREENVILLE - Trial is scheduled this week for a Greenville man who is alleged to have engaged in a shootout with police last summer.

Francisco Javier Davila-Rodriguez is alleged to have shot and slightly wounded a man on Texas Street in July 2010. Davila-Rodriguez then reportedly got into a shootout with Greenville Police before he was eventually apprehended.

A round from his gun was also said to have struck a window of a residence down the street, narrowly missing a mother and her child inside.
 

SULPHUR SPRINGS - Billy Emerson of Sulphur Bluff has announced that he'll run for Hopkins County Commissioner for Precinct 3. The positions is currently held by Don Patterson, who is retiring.

Emerson is the manager of the North Hopkins Water Supply Corporation and serves on the Sulphur Bluff School Board.
 

WOLFE CITY - The Historic Santa Fe Train Depot turns 100 years old this weekend. The Depot has been home to the Wolfe City Public Library since 1985.

On Monday, Hunt County Justice of the Peace for Precinct 3 Aaron Williams will present a proclamation for the building.

Saturday's celebration starts at 10:30 a.m. KETR will be live at the event.

You can learn more about Saturday's celebration at ketr.org/events.
 

PARIS - Residents recently attended a program on the disease presented by the Cooper Lions Club's newly elected Vice President Melissa Millard, of Cooper Home Health.

Millard informed the audience that Alzheimer's is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States and the fifth leading cause of death for those ages 65 and older.

Saturday's effort begins with registration at 8 a.m. and a 2-mile walk at 9 a.m. at the Trail de Paris, next to the Love Civic Center.
 

Kenya's Patrick Makau ran the Berlin Marathon on Sunday in a new world record time — 2 hours, 3 minutes and 38 seconds. He shaved 21 seconds off the previous record, set by Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie on the same course in 2008.

Good morning.

Our headlines so far today:

-- Shutdown Showdown Continues: Senate Has Key Vote Today

-- NYPD Could 'Take Down A Plane' If Necessary, Commissioner Says

Other stories making headlines include:

Gen. Abdul Raziq is the acting police chief of Afghanistan's Kandahar province. Just 33 years old, he's a former warlord on whom the United States relied during its 2010 "surge" operation. But Raziq is also accused of brutal abuses of power, even massacring his tribal rivals, according to a new article in The Atlantic.