ONWARD, compassionate soldiers

With the Senate back in Republican hands, President Bush's highly touted "Armies of Compassion" may finally receive their marching orders on a whole host of issues, from mentoring to homelessness. Look to the State of the Union address for a hint of the commander in chief's commitment to this particular battle | Bob Jones

THERE'S NO DRESS CODE IN the west Orlando neighborhood of Washington Shores, but there's a uniform nonetheless: baggy jeans, jersey from a favorite sports team, and often a stocking cap, despite the warm Florida winters. Every day the young men in uniform gather on the crumbling steps of low-rise apartment buildings or shuffle aimlessly past the liquor stores and check-cashing joints. There's really nowhere to go, and certainly no hurry to get there.

On Tuesdays, however, a different kind of uniform invades Washington Shores. The pinstripe-and-wingtip crowd doesn't exactly blend in around here, and neighbors at first must have been perplexed. Was someone in trouble? Who could afford such high-priced lawyers? Was some secret development deal going down?