Top cable programs for Feb. 21-27

Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by the Nielsen Co. for the week of Feb. 21-27. Day and start time (EST) are in parentheses:

1. "Jersey Shore" (Thursday, 10 p.m.), MTV, 5.48 million homes, 7.72 million viewers.

2. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.857 million homes, 5.89 million viewers.

3. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.853 million homes, 5.82 million viewers.

4. "NCIS" (Sunday, 8 p.m.), USA, 3.68 million homes, 5.06 million viewers.

5. "NCIS" (Sunday, 7 p.m.), USA, 3.41 million homes, 4.74 million viewers.

6. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.22 million homes, 4.77 million viewers.

7. NBA Basketball: New York vs. Miami (Sunday, 8 p.m.), ESPN, 3.174 million homes, 4.21 million viewers.

8. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.170 million homes, 4.18 million viewers.

9. "Royal Pains" (Thursday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.04 million homes, 4.05 million viewers.

10. "NCIS" (Monday, 7 p.m.), USA, 3.02 million homes, 4.01 million viewers.

11. "Big Time Rush" (Monday, 8 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.99 million homes, 4.23 million viewers.

12. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.967 million homes, 4.39 million viewers.

13. "NCIS" (Thursday, 7 p.m.), USA, 2.964 million homes, 4.15 million viewers.

14. "Teen Mom II" (Tuesday, 10 p.m.), MTV, 2.95 million homes, 4 million viewers.

15. "NCIS" (Sunday, 9 p.m.), USA, 2.94 million homes, 3.95 million viewers.

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MTV and Nickelodeon are owned by Viacom. USA is owned by General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal. ESPN is owned by the Walt Disney Co.

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Online:

http://www.nielsen.com/

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Police say suicide bomber targeting Iraqi soldiers in western Iraq kills 8 people

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(AP) — Police say suicide bomber targeting Iraqi soldiers in western Iraq kills 8 people.

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Redskins cut LB Andre Carter, G Derrick Dockery

Neither move was a surprise. Carter was a poor fit for the team's 3-4 defense, and Dockery had become a bench-sitter who was due $3.8 million in salary in 2011.

The cuts came a day after the Redskins cut running back Clinton Portis rather than pay him $8.3 million next season. It wasn't that long ago that Portis, Carter and Dockery were premium-paid, reliable members of the starting lineup, but all will be at least 30 by the start of the next season and have no place in coach Mike Shanahan's plans.

Carter had 11 sacks in 2009 playing defensive end in the 4-3, but he struggled when moved to linebacker last season in the 3-4. He started only five games and had 2½ sacks, symbolic of the argument that the Redskins switched the scheme before they had the personnel in place to make it work.

Dockery hadn't missed a game in his eight-year career, playing in 116 straight in the regular season, before he was made inactive in Week 5, having struggled to adapt to Shanahan's zone blocking scheme on offense. Dockery, whose starting job was taken by Kory Lichtensteiger, played in only one more game the rest of the season.

Dockery was drafted by the Redskins in the third round in 2003 and hit the big-money free agent jackpot twice in a short amount of time. He left in 2007 to sign a blockbuster $49 million deal with Buffalo but was cut after two seasons. He then returned to Washington to sign a five-year $26.5 million contract with $8.2 million guaranteed in 2009.

The Redskins also made a second-round tender to restricted free agent linebacker Chris Wilson. The tender is subject to whatever free agent rules are included when the NFL and the players' union reach a new collective bargaining agreement.