Second the nod for dpreview.com, great site with tons of technical info. I bought my first dSLR (a Nikon D70, which I loved) with their help.
First things first: how wide is wide enough? Most dSLRS sold as kits come with a zoom that starts at 18mm. That's considerably wider than most point and shoots (somewhere around 24mm-36mm), but not super wide - you might want to go try one out at your local camera store to see. If that's not wide enough, your price tag just went up - the really wide lenses are pretty pricey. Or you can just buy the body and rent a WA lens, if you need to stay on a budget for now. Some good rental stuff online.
Assuming 18mm works, my recommendation if you're not too up on camera stuff: stick with either Nikon or Canon. They've been around the longest, and if you get into it, there's a lot more equipment available - you can buy new/used lenses and bodies from Nikon, Canon, or a bunch of 3rd-party vendors.. For new cameras, the Rebel XS and the Nikon D40 are comparable in price and performance, and both come with an 18-55 zoom in the kit. As far as pixel count, dpreview covers this in depth, but the short and skinny: depends on how big you want to go with your final image. If web publishing only, don't worry about it. If printed at 8x10, any dSLR at 6MP or higher is probably just fine. dSLRs have a much bigger sensor than a point and shoot, so 6MP on a dSLR is actually a whole lot more information than a 10MP P&S.
Final thought: have you considered a used setup? You can get an older Canon or Nikon with more features than either the Rebel XS or the D40 for less than $500. You might check out Keh.com, I've bought from them and been very happy:
http://www.keh.com/onlinestore/home.aspx
Addendum to final thought: If you're in/around Raleigh, check w/ Peace Camera (on Peace St., imagine that). They sell both used and new, and their prices are pretty darn close to B&H or Adorama. Note: you can also check with Ritz or Wolf Camera, but in my experience they really, really like their cameras and price accordingly.