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Moody's Investor's Service has downgraded the credit rating of a regional bank with a strong central Illinois presence. The one notch reduction of Commerce Bank from a1 to a2 is among downgrades of 10 small to mid-sized banks.

Tuesday is the first day of fall. This time of year reminds critic Abigail Deutsch of Stephen Dobyns' "How to Like It" — a poem about a man who ponders his lost summers and fleeting dreams.

Chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer was a full-on celebrity after defeating Boris Spassky in 1972. His disappearance from public view in 1975 made him all the more mysterious. Fischer inspired books and movies and, in the 1980s, a musical.

Members of the Writers Guild of America are on strike and walking the picket lines Monday. The guild members took to the picket lines in New York and Los Angeles.

As voting began Tuesday, poll workers were getting ready for what is expected to be record turnout throughout the day. Workers in Pittsburgh; Clermont County, Ohio; Raritan Township, N.J.; Chelsea, Mich.; and Roanoke, Va., talk about how things are going in their precincts.

Republican media consultant Mike Murphy says President Barack Obama has more political power than any recent president. He calls Obama's speech impressive, noting that it reinforces themes the president ran on. He says the speech united the country behind a common purpose.

Heather Church will never forget the day, many years ago, when she tripped on the stairs in a busy clothing store. Before her head could hit the ground, someone caught her.

Fighting continues in eastern Ukraine, but a new cease-fire agreement is set to go into effect on Sunday. Two women in Ukraine say they don't expect the truce to last long.

The Ukrainian air force says one of Russia's most modern ships was at the shipyard but doesn't say if that ship was hit. Russia acknowledges a vessel was hit, but doesn't say which kind.

E.B. White's classic children's book is ostensibly about a spider and a pig. But author Michael Sims says the story is really about the barn the critters live in, based on a real barn on White's Maine farm.