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La. man accused of helping in KKK killing pleads
COVINGTON, La. (AP) -- A Louisiana man accused of helping his father hide the body of a Ku Klux Klan recruit pleaded guilty Thursday to obstruction of justice and was sentenced to three years in prison, according to a prosecutor's spokesman....
Autopsy concludes animal killed rural teacher
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- An autopsy has concluded that a rural teacher was killed by animals, and the head of the Alaska State Troopers says wolves are the likely suspect....
Few details about ambitious KC school closing plan
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Kansas City school officials promised Thursday to shut down nearly half the district's schools by the start of classes in the fall without offering details of how they intend to implement the complicated plan in just a matter of months....
Ohio State shooter had 50 rounds of ammunition
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- An Ohio State University janitor was armed with more 50 rounds of ammunition when he walked into a campus maintenance shop and shot two supervisors before killing himself, police said Thursday....
APNewsBreak: Calif. murder suspect broke parole
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- A convicted sex offender charged with murdering one California teenager and under investigation for another killing violated his parole by moving too close to a school but was allowed to remain free, according to records obtained Thursday by The Associated Press....
Port Authority, developer meet over WTC plan
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has met with a developer a day before a deadline to work out a new schedule for rebuilding parts of the World Trade Center site....
Lesbian teen in prom flap sues, returns to school
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- Constance McMillen didn't believe her Mississippi school district would really call off her senior prom rather than allow her to show up with her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo. On Thursday, a day after the Itawamba County school board did just that, the 18-year-old lesbian high school senior reluctantly returned to campus to some unfriendly looks, she said....
Ex-AP reporter, bureau chief Nance dies in Ohio
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- John Nance, a former Associated Press reporter and photographer who covered the Vietnam War and later oversaw the news cooperative's operations in the Philippines, has died. He was 74....
UN humanitarian chief criticizes Gaza blockade
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The U.N. humanitarian chief says Israel's blockade of Gaza is not helping its security or weakening Hamas' hold on the territory....
Court upholds 'under God' in Pledge of Allegiance
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A federal appeals court in San Francisco upheld the use of the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance and "In God We Trust" on U.S. currency, rejecting arguments on Thursday that the phrases violate the separation of church and state....
Pa., NJ, Ohio residents prep for possible flooding
SUTERSVILLE, Pa. (AP) -- Just weeks after dealing with record-setting snowfall, residents in Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Jersey are preparing for the possibility of flooding....
Firm accused of overbilling, hurting NO's recovery
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- New Orleans' watchdog has found serious problems with the work of an engineering company hired to oversee the rebuilding of city buildings and infrastructure damaged in Hurricane Katrina, including overbilling, billing the city for theater tickets and Christmas gifts and questionable contract arrangements....
NY attorney general recuses self in Paterson probe
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Amid concerns over a conflict of interest and just two days after a poll showed the public opposed his investigation into two scandals involving Gov. David Paterson, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo took himself off the case Thursday and appointed a respected former judge to take over....
Interior: Climate change threatens migratory birds
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Global climate change poses a significant threat to migratory bird populations, which are already stressed by the loss of habitat and environmental pollution, according to a report released Thursday....
Feds recall more children jewelry in cadmium probe
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Federal safety regulators recalled a line of holiday-themed bracelets Thursday, expanding their effort to purge children's jewelry boxes and store shelves of items containing high levels of the toxic metal cadmium....
Federal court says Nevada can limit brothel ads
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- A federal appeals court on Thursday upheld a Nevada law that bars legal brothels that operate in some of the state's rural areas from advertising by newspaper, leaflets and billboards in Las Vegas, Reno and other places where prostitution is illegal....
Yemen holds NJ man after al-Qaida sweep, shootout
BUENA, N.J. (AP) -- He was raised in New Jersey, where he was on the high school wrestling team and earned a black belt in karate. Nearly a decade later, Sharif Mobley is under arrest in Yemen, suspected of being an al-Qaida member and accused of killing a guard in an attempt to break out of a hospital....
Mass. club pleads no contest in boy's Uzi death
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) -- A Massachusetts sporting club is donating $10,000 to children's charities as part of a deal settling criminal charges in the death of an 8-year-old boy who accidentally shot himself in the head with an Uzi during a gun fair....
Blagojevich asks judge to delay corruption trial
CHICAGO (AP) -- Ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich's attorneys asked a federal judge Thursday to postpone his corruption trial, saying so many uncertainties surround the charges it would be "playing Russian Roulette" with his future if the court went ahead with the June 3 start date....
DC school evacuated for police helicopter landing
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A helicopter from a suburban Washington police department made an emergency landing near a District of Columbia school, forcing its evacuation....
Zebra that sprinted through Atlanta euthanized
ATLANTA (AP) -- A 12-year-old circus zebra that caused a stir when he escaped and ran through downtown Atlanta last month has been euthanized....
Court favors sage grouse in Mont. grazing lawsuit
HELENA, Mont. (AP) -- The U.S. Forest Service must re-examine how livestock grazing affects sage grouse habitat in southwestern Montana after an appeals court ruled its original assessment was not reliable....
Woman beaten in NYC bar after rejecting advances
NEW YORK (AP) -- A stranger followed a woman into a New York City bar restroom after she rejected his advances early Thursday, savagely beat her in a toilet stall and perhaps tried to sexually assault her, police said....
1 dead after plane crashes at small AZ airport
CHANDLER, Ariz. (AP) -- A World War II-era plane crashed Thursday while attempting to land at a small airport in suburban Phoenix, killing the pilot and starting at least one hangar on fire, authorities said....
Colorado interstate reopened after rock slide
GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) -- Workers have reopened Interstate 70 in western Colorado, three days after a rock slide tore gaping holes in an elevated section and littered the highway with boulders....
Couple pleads no contest in deadly USC hit-and-run
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A married couple charged in a hit-and-run crash that killed a University of Southern California student and seriously injured another in a crosswalk near campus pleaded no contest on Thursday....
Woman rescued after car plows off Calif. bridge
LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- A woman whose car plunged off a bridge into the murky Los Angeles River was fighting for her life Thursday after being submerged for nearly a half-hour until divers rescued her, officials said....
Lawmaker's clash with fellow Democrats nothing new
WEST BRANCH, Mich. (AP) -- Shortly after entering Congress in 1993, Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan withstood President Bill Clinton's charm offensive and voted against free-trade legislation - an early display of the independent streak that has put him at odds with fellow Democrats many times since....
2 Marine fighter pilots rescued; SC crash probed
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION BEAUFORT, S.C. (AP) -- Two Marine aviators aboard a flaming F/A-18D reacted quickly enough to slow their jet so they could safely eject over the Atlantic Ocean, their commander said Thursday....
Ex-New Orleans officer pleads in shooting cover-up
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- A second former New Orleans police officer pleaded guilty Thursday to covering up the deadly shooting of unarmed residents after Hurricane Katrina, with a judge calling the plot a "despicable" scheme that immeasurably compounded the storm's damage....
ACORN gives up Ohio business license, won't return
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- The community organizing group ACORN has agreed to give up its Ohio business license and not return under another name, as it has in other states, under a settlement struck with a libertarian center that sued it....
Trucker convicted in 2 small-town Mich. killings
CORUNNA, Mich. (AP) -- A jury convicted a trucker of first-degree murder Thursday in the shootings of an abortion protester and a businessman in a small Michigan community, rejecting claims that the gunman could not be held criminally responsible because he was mentally ill at the time....
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- NY attorney general recuses self, taps independent counsel in probe of Gov. Paterson....
World backgammon champion Tim Holland dies at 79
MIAMI (AP) -- Tim Holland, a world backgammon champion who was one of the most prominent competitors in the game's modern heyday, has died. He was 79....
US police departments seeking more bilingual cops
NEW YORK (AP) -- Police departments across the country are stepping up efforts to recruit officers who can speak more than one language, in some cases offering raises or even sending cops abroad as part of immersion programs....
US Customs: Mexican cartels corrupt border agents
McALLEN, Texas (AP) -- Mexican drug cartels are infiltrating federal law enforcement agencies along the southwest border and those charged with weeding them out say they don't have the money to catch all the corrupt agents, homeland security officials told a U.S. Senate panel Thursday....
Ex-La. school official gets prison in bribery case
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The former president of New Orleans' school board has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for her role in a bribery scheme involving a brother of former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson....
Minneapolis schools end lockdown in 2nd day
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- A lockdown has ended at Minneapolis Public Schools after police say a threat made on a social networking site turned out to be not credible....
Former aide to US Rep. Shays pleads guilty
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- The ex-campaign manager for former U.S. Rep. Chris Shays pleaded guilty Thursday to tax evasion and to taking more than $250,000 in campaign money for car repairs, limousine rides, baseball tickets, furniture and other personal uses....
Mich. congresswoman called to Detroit grand jury
DETROIT (AP) -- A congresswoman who is the mother of Detroit ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick says she'll comply with a subpoena to testify before a grand jury in Detroit....
Mediator to lead talks over firing of RI teachers
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- The head of a troubled Rhode Island school that fired all its teachers has agreed to use a mediator in upcoming negotiations with the teachers' union....
DoD to resume education grants to military spouses
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) -- Facing a phalanx of angry military spouses, the Defense Department said Thursday it will resume payments for college courses and job training for spouses who had already applied for grants when the popular program was abruptly halted last month....
Ala. professor accused of 3 killings fired
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) -- The University of Alabama in Huntsville has fired the professor accused of shooting six co-workers, killing three....
Calif. man sought in mom's death arrested in Ariz.
VALLEY CENTER, Calif. (AP) -- California authorities say a doctor's son who was sought for questioning in his mother's killing has been arrested in Arizona....
Smart Spending: Wedding gifts on a budget
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Spring has sprung and so have the wedding invitations. They'll be joyous events, but finding the perfect gifts to bring along can be stressful during these tough economic times....
Police: Va. Tech gets threats in online postings
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) -- Virginia Tech police are investigating new threats of another mass shooting at the university in online YouTube postings....
Woman cited in icy Ohio crash that flipped officer
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, Ohio (AP) -- An Ohio woman has been ticketed in an accident captured in dramatic video that showed a police officer flipping over a guardrail....
NY man dies after police use stun gun on him
RHINEBECK, N.Y. (AP) -- Police say they're investigating the death of a 44-year-old New York man who died after a sheriff's deputy used a stun gun to subdue him....
Miss. school prom off after lesbian's date request
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- An 18-year-old student says a Mississippi school board that canceled a high school prom did so in retaliation for her request to bring a same-sex date....
Pa. suspect: Caretaker by day, 'Jihad Jane' online
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Colleen LaRose spent long days caring for her boyfriend's father in a second-floor apartment in Pennsburg, a small town north of Philadelphia....
Calif. boy who called 911 thanks dispatcher
NORWALK, Calif. (AP) -- A 7-year-old boy who called 911 from a locked bathroom while armed robbers threatened his parents hugged and high-fived on Wednesday the sheriff's dispatcher who took his call....
NJ man accused of raping, beating 5 daughters
PATERSON, N.J. (AP) -- A New Jersey man with apocalyptic visions is accused of years of terrorizing his family, raping his five daughters and impregnating three, beating his children with wooden boards and even moving at one point to avoid child welfare investigators....
Ga.'s system to defend the poor still reeling
ATLANTA (AP) -- Georgia's public defender system is still trying to recover its financial footing five years after a courthouse gunman racked up a $3 million taxpayer-funded defense tab on the way to his conviction....
Photos taken by OC serial killer released
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) -- Prosecutors said convicted serial killer Rodney Alcala used his camera to gain the trust of young women and now they fear photographs he snapped decades ago could contain images of more potential victims....
The nation's weather
Unsettling weather activity was forecast to continue to develop throughout the Mid- and Eastern U.S. on Thursday....
48 Hawaii-only species given endangered listing
HONOLULU (AP) -- Wildlife officials lauded Washington's "holistic approach" to conservation in Hawaii after the Obama administration declared 48 species as endangered and announced plans to set aside more than 40 square miles on Kauai as critical habitat to allow the plants and animals to flourish....
2 teens wanted in 2009 killing found in Mexico
HEMET, Calif. (AP) -- Two fugitive teenagers wanted in the 2009 killing of a 16-year-old boy have been found in Mexico and returned to authorities in Riverside County after a four-month manhunt....
SF drug cases at risk amid crime lab questions
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- At least two dozen felony drug cases were dropped Wednesday in San Francisco Superior Court amid questions of evidence tampering at the city's crime lab....
Tribes face hurdles with sex offender registration
SANTA ANA PUEBLO, N.M. (AP) -- Only Ohio and Native American tribes in Washington and Oregon have so far met the deadline to comply with a federal law passed nearly three years ago to coordinate and expand sex offender registration nationwide, a U.S. Justice Department official said Wednesday....
Mass. patron who paid for conjoined twins' op dies
BOSTON (AP) -- A Massachusetts philanthropist who gave away millions of dollars to meet medical expenses for needy people and paid for the separation surgery of conjoined twins has died. A. Raymond Tye was 87....
NYC judge: Govt must stop blocking money to ACORN
NEW YORK (AP) -- A federal judge who found it unconstitutional that Congress tried to cut funding to the activist group ACORN has rejected a government request to change her mind and has ordered government agencies to make it clear the funding isn't blocked....
Coast Guard: Icebreaker to be reactivated by 2013
SEATTLE (AP) -- After a $62 million overhaul, the Coast Guard will have its third icebeaker back in service in 2013, filling a critical need as the fleet takes on new responsibilities, the commandant of the service said Wednesday....
Police surprised by teacher-student sex confession
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- In his 28 years with the Burbank Police Department, Sgt. Robert Quesada had never heard of anything quite like it: A well-respected teacher at one of the city's public schools walks into police headquarters and confesses to having an affair with a 14-year-old boy....
Sex offender with letter carrier job reassigned
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A letter carrier who is a registered sex offender has been reassigned after concerns were raised that he was delivering mail in a San Diego suburb with many children, a Postal Service spokeswoman said Wednesday....
NJ police seek man who shot, ran over bus driver
JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) -- Police are asking for the public's help in finding a man who robbed and shot a New Jersey minibus driver, then stole the bus and ran him over, leaving him paralyzed....
Math and English classes could be standardized
SEATTLE (AP) -- Governors and education leaders on Wednesday proposed sweeping new school standards that could lead to students across the country using the same math and English textbooks and taking the same tests, replacing a patchwork of state and local systems in an attempt to raise student achievement nationwide....
Ex-Detroit councilwoman gets 37 months for bribery
DETROIT (AP) -- A former Detroit city councilwoman was sentenced to more than three years in prison Wednesday for bribery after a federal judge refused to set aside her guilty plea during a stormy court hearing dominated by a dispute over evidence of other payoffs....
Colo. gov back at Capitol after bike accident
DENVER (AP) -- Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter held his first news conference after a bike accident last week and says he's in pain, but recovering....
NJ judge scolded for mocking defendant's English
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- The New Jersey Supreme Court's disciplinary committee has publicly reprimanded a lower-court judge who belittled an immigrant defendant's poor English skills and compared another defendant to O.J Simpson....
Once-revered SC lawmaker freezes to death alone
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- When Juanita Goggins became the first black woman elected to the South Carolina Legislature in 1974, she was hailed as a trailblazer and twice visited the president at the White House....
Ex-Texas school worker pleads guilty to abuse
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) -- A former employee of Texas state facility for the developmentally disabled accused of sanctioning fights among residents has pleaded guilty midway through his Corpus Christi trial....
Dallas man suspected in office shootings dies
DALLAS (AP) -- Dallas police say a former city attorney accused of shooting a father and son inside their financial business has died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound....
Drug arrests latest black mark on RI police force
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- After three Providence police officers were arrested last week in a cocaine-peddling sting, Chief Dean Esserman called it a "hard day" for the department....
Unlicensed dentist charged in Ore. shooting death
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- A Russian-speaking immigrant who police said may have been practicing dentistry without a license for years in Oregon has been charged with murder in the shooting death of a man believed to be a patient....
Calif. woman arrested, 60 dogs seized from home
LAKESIDE, Calif. (AP) -- A California woman has been arrested after animal control officers found 60 dogs in crates inside her small Lakeside home east of San Diego....
Va. gov counters state atty. gen.'s advice on gays
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has directed state agencies not to discriminate against gay people, essentially overriding the state attorney general's advice to colleges....
Study: Law officers struggle to readjust after war
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- For soldiers patrolling in Iraq and Afghanistan, death can come from a bomb hidden in a trash pile or an innocent-looking face in the crowd. Returning home alive can depend on the quick turn of a steering wheel or pull of a trigger....
Bad blood detailed in Maine 'lobster wars' trial
ROCKLAND, Maine (AP) -- Even under the rough-and-tumble rules of the sea that Maine lobstermen live by, staring down the barrel of a 12-gauge shotgun is extreme....
Families: 3 Americans detained in Iran call home
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Cindy Hickey had rehearsed what she would say to her son when she finally got to talk to him months after he was detained in Iran. When the time came, the conversation lasted only about a minute, she said, "so it was hard to say a lot."...
Va OKs 1st bill banning mandated health coverage
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Virginia's General Assembly became the first in the nation Wednesday to approve legislation that bucks any attempt by President Barack Obama and Congress to implement a national health care overhaul in individual states....
Officials: Ohio death row inmate sought suicide
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Officials say an Ohio death row inmate was attempting suicide when he overdosed on pills two days before his scheduled execution....
Lawyers to depose Dallas bomb suspect's associates
DALLAS (AP) -- Lawyers for a Jordanian man charged with trying to blow up a Dallas skyscraper plan to depose witnesses in Jordan who know the suspect....
Passenger removed from flight at Miami airport
MIAMI (AP) -- Authorities say a flight from Miami to the Dominican Republic had to return to an airport gate because of an unruly passenger....
Ex-Marine sues Calif. city to get back police job
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- An ex-Marine acquitted on charges of killing unarmed Iraqi detainees sued the city of Riverside Wednesday over not being rehired as a police officer....
UN report: Much of Somalia's food aid diverted
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Up to half the food aid intended for the millions of hungry people in Somalia is being diverted to corrupt contractors, radical Islamic militants and local U.N. workers, according to a U.N. Security Council report....
Ga. judge bans release of photos of slain hiker
ATLANTA (AP) -- A Georgia judge has barred authorities from releasing crime scene and autopsy photos of a 24-year-old University of Georgia graduate slain while hiking....
Appeals court hears arguments on forest roads rule
DENVER (AP) -- Lawyers for the state of Wyoming and the Colorado Mining Association say a 2001 federal rule banning construction of new roads on National Forest land violates the law....
Mass. court upholds state gun-lock requirement
BOSTON (AP) -- The highest court in Massachusetts on Wednesday upheld the constitutionality of a state law that requires gun owners to lock weapons in their homes in a ruling applauded by gun-control advocates....
Calif. art patron's collection to be sold in NYC
NEW YORK (AP) -- A late philanthropist's modern art collection featuring a rarely seen work by Pablo Picasso is being auctioned in New York City....
Charges: 2 gave kids sleep supplement at day care
CINCINNATI (AP) -- Two former Ohio day care workers accused of slipping an over-the-counter dietary supplement into candy and giving it to their charges to help them sleep at nap time were charged with misdemeanors Wednesday....
DC courthouse busy with same-sex applications
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hundreds of couples applied for marriage licenses in Washington during the first week they were available to same-sex couples....
First Cadillac wagon in North America
Station wagons have been passe in the United States for years, but this didn't stop Cadillac from launching its first U.S.-built wagon....
$1.2M settlement reached in Ohio caged kids case
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) -- Eleven adopted and foster children forced to sleep in cages by their adoptive parents have reached a $1.2 million settlement with the Ohio county where they once lived....
