Analysts fear that at some point — no one knows when — investors could balk at lending to the weakest states, setting off a crisis that could spread to the stronger ones, much as the turmoil in Europe has spread from country to country.
The man who the police said sowed terror across two states, setting off bombs in Manhattan and on the Jersey Shore and touching off a furious manhunt, was tracked down on Monday morning sleeping in the dank doorway of a neighborhood bar and taken into custody after being wounded in a gun battle with officers.
JOHN KERRY, America's secretary of state, set off this week on a tour that takes him to China, South Korea, Indonesia and Abu Dhabi.
Mr. Gargano's connections to Alpha, whose casino project was being reviewed by the state, set off a storm of protest in the Legislature.
The sorrowful widower, unable to bear the thoughts of a single state, set off the next morning, and was married to a woman at Linton.
Still, the very existence of federal court ruling recognizing same-sex marriage in California, the nation's most populous state, set off cheers of "We won!" from crowds assembled in front of the courthouse in San Francisco.
Reports of a flashing space creature, or maybe a mutant bug that glows at both ends, have created panic in the country's most populous state, setting off riots and lynchings that have killed more than a dozen people.
Mr. Walker, who pushed last year to sharply curtail collective bargaining rights for most public employees in the state, setting off protests and a recall effort against him, defended his actions as fighting off demands from special interest groups in favor of the needs of ordinary taxpayers.
Scott Walker's attack on the bargaining rights of state workers set off a national furor, and when state workers in Michigan and Ohio also came under fire, the progressive and union communities finally stood up and said, "No more!" Unfortunately, only two of the three seats Democrats needed to win in Wisconsin were won, and the State Senate majority remains Republican.
SAKE, Congo — A major confrontation between the Congolese Army and a renegade general is plunging the country back toward war, threatening to undermine the fledgling democratic state and set off a new regional conflict on a scale not seen here in years.
But the secretary of state, Katherine Harris, set off more legal wrangling by refusing requests by three counties for manual recounts.
