Hilton Garden Inn-Temple, located across the street from Scott and White Memorial Hospital, officially opens today after several delays. Jeff Harper, the general manager of Hilton Garden Inn-Temple, said Thursday a majority of the guest rooms would be available Friday, as well as the fitness center and pool areas. He said the restaurant would open for dinner Friday.

DuBois Furniture will be opening a store in Temple with a grand opening scheduled for Aug. 1. The announcement was made Thursday by James DuBois in a news release.

KB Toys, the lone toy store in Colonial Mall-Temple, is on a company closing list of 377 stores as part of its bankruptcy restructuring. Thursday afternoon the Colonial Mall-Temple KB Toys’ location had a sign at its entrance that read “Store Closing …. Everything Must Be Sold!”

WASHINGTON (AP)

AUSTIN (AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defeating Islamic extremism in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan is a bigger strategic challenge for the United States than finishing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. commander in the region said Thursday. It is not mainly a military mission, said Gen. John Abizaid, commander of U.S. Central Command.

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP)

Pride and positive feelings permeated the Frank W. Mayborn Civic and Convention Center on Thursday night at the annual Temple Wildcat Football Banquet. That pride was exhibited by many people who have been part of Temple’s program for as long as they can remember, such as retired coaching legend Bob McQueen and current senior linebacker John Hamilton.

Two District 17-4A rivals joined the same club on Thursday, as Lampasas tight end Brock Stickler and Harker Heights center James Wood were selected to the first team of the Texas Sports Writers Association’s Class 4A all-state high school football squad. Three other area players appeared on the TSWA list, all from 17-4A co-champion Heights. Defensive lineman Keith Jenkins was voted to the third team, while offensive lineman Michael Schumard and defensive back Cameron Fox each received an honorable mention.

BROWNWOOD — The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor basketball teams came away with mixed results in their road trip to Howard Payne on Thursday. The Lady Crusaders used hot three-point shooting and solid defense to blow past the Lady Jackets 62-52. Unfortunately for the men, the Yellow Jackets exploded to shoot 51 percent in the second half en route to an 83-65 win over the Crusaders.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Andre Agassi put his fingers to his lips and bowed after going five sets with Marat Safin. He blew kisses to all corners of the court in what has become a postmatch ritual. “You never know when it’s your last,” Agassi said. “So you want to say bye properly.”

HOUSTON (AP) — The media mass was six deep straining to hear the words of New England quarterback Tom Brady, one of the few recognizable faces in this otherwise faceless Super Bowl. Not far away, sitting alone at a table and reading a newspaper, was teammate Richard Seymour, an All-Pro defensive tackle and probably the Patriots’ best player.

NEW YORK (AP) — Kobe Bryant was selected to start in the NBA All-Star game, voted in by fans despite a sexual assault charge. The Los Angeles Lakers star led Western Conference guards with 1,759,717 votes in final results released Thursday, fourth among all players.