Gold record SEAN M. HAFFEY / Union-Tribune Michael Phelps helped power the U.S. swim team to a world-record win in the 400-meter medley relay and won a record eighth gold medal at the Beijing Games today.

What's Inside Thousands pay respects to Bernie Mac in Chicago Most e-mailed U-T stories Pelosi now open to House vote on offshore drilling Shale-oil technology discovery shows vast promise and pitfalls Experience no sure sign of success as president Rice U. student, missing 8 months, found at Berkeley Inmates discover new careers in firefighting, help cut costs Seattle unloads 5 self-cleaning toilets on eBay More News

2008 VOTE: PRESIDENT

LAKE FOREST – Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain aired some sharp differences on issues, interspersed with revealing personal insights, during genial back-to-back interviews yesterday with the leader of a prominent evangelical megachurch.

• Forum marks him as formidable force

Run much like a corporation with a board of directors, the homeowner association of a common-interest development is required under state law to prepare an annual budget and regularly undertake studies to determine precisely how much money will be needed for long-term maintenance, such as reroofing, painting and resurfacing of streets.

Suffering from excruciating spinal deterioration, Robby Garvin, 24, of South Carolina tried many painkillers before his doctor prescribed methadone in June 2006, just before Garvin and his friend Joey Sutton set off for a weekend at an amusement park.

MOSCOW – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev yesterday signed a revised framework for a deal to halt the fighting in neighboring Georgia, which has stirred some of the deepest divisions between world powers since the Cold War.

BEIJING 2008: 29TH SUMMER OLYMPICS

BEIJING – Simon Burnett isn't buying it. He isn't buying that someone can swim in 17 preliminary heats, semifinals and finals over a nine-day Olympic meet and emerge from the water with eight gold medals while setting seven world records.