South bakes, humidity feels like 100-plus degrees
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -- The South is roasting under temperatures and humidity that make beaches feel more like a bakehouse, and heat advisories were posted from the Atlantic to the Great Plains....
Defense opens for Ark. doctor charged in bombing
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- Lawyers for a doctor accused of masterminding a bombing that disfigured the chairman of the Arkansas Medical Board opened their defense Friday, hoping to show that prosecutors "cobbled together" a theory when they couldn't link the physician to the bomb or the scene....
Official: 1 person dead in LA building explosion
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Fire officials say at least one person has died in a suspected natural gas explosion that rocked a large South Los Angeles commercial building and hurled people into the street....
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Fire official says at least 1 dead in LA explosion, crews search for more possible victims....
UN removes 5 Taliban from sanctions blacklist
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The U.N. Security Council on Friday removed five Taliban members from its sanctions blacklist, a move sought by the Afghan government to promote reconciliation....
Arizona sheriff not relenting after court ruling
PHOENIX (AP) -- Lost in the hoopla over Arizona's immigration law is the fact that state and local authorities for years have been doing their own aggressive crackdowns in the busiest illegal gateway into the country....
No homes in imminent danger from SoCal wildfire
PALMDALE, Calif. (AP) -- A huge wildfire churned through high desert wilderness north of Los Angeles on Friday, destroying a few buildings and forcing people from about 2,000 homes. Most of the displaced residents were allowed to return as the threat eased....
8 hurt when LA commuter train and MTA bus collide
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Authorities say eight people are hurt after a Metro Blue Line commuter train and a city bus collided south of downtown Los Angeles....
4th bear caught after deadly MT campground attack
COOKE CITY, Mont. (AP) -- The last grizzly bear believed involved in the fatal mauling of a Michigan man at a campground near Yellowstone National Park has been captured, and Montana wildlife officials are awaiting DNA tests to confirm their suspicions....
Texan exonerated for rape ordered freed on bond
HOUSTON (AP) -- A judge has ordered that a Houston man who has spent the last 27 years imprisoned for a rape he didn't commit be freed on bond....
Texas mom in starving case changes plea to guilty
DALLAS (AP) -- A mother whose three children were found starving after being shut away in a Dallas hotel bathroom for as long as nine months changed her plea to guilty Friday, bringing her trial to a sudden end....
APNewsBreak: 4 positive tests of St. Louis vets
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Four veterans treated at the St. Louis VA Medical Center's dental clinic have tested positive for hepatitis, but further testing is needed to determine if inadequately sterilized dental equipment is to blame....
Wreckage of medical plane found in Lake Michigan
LUDINGTON, Mich. (AP) -- Underwater searchers using sonar found the wreckage of a small medical plane that crashed into Lake Michigan a week ago, officials said Friday....
Kerry says he mishandled furor over yacht taxes
BOSTON (AP) -- Sen. John Kerry said he always intended to pay taxes in Massachusetts on his $7 million yacht but conceded he mishandled the public furor over his decision to dock the vessel in tax-free Rhode Island....
NM governor considers pardon for Billy the Kid
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) -- The showdown between Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid has fascinated the American public for nearly 130 years with its classic, Old West storyline of the frontier lawman hunting down the notorious gunslinger....
Moms work full-time for hikers' release from Iran
PINE CITY, Minn. (AP) -- Cindy Hickey was sitting in her home office last summer, preparing a receipt for a client of her animal physical therapy business when the phone rang. She picked up, then nearly hung up, thinking it was a sales call....
The nation's weather
Scattered storms were forecast to continue moving through the Central U.S., following a low pressure system in the Northern Plains on Friday....
Aspiring police officers train, compete at event
ATLANTA (AP) -- Shoot or don't shoot? Eighteen-year-old William Bryant takes a deep breath and gulps before he aims his pistol and shoots a passenger in a van who appears to be reaching for a weapon....
Immigration skirmish brews in quiet SC town
SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (AP) -- In a quiet Southern bedroom community of gardens and parks across the country from Arizona, another skirmish in the battle over illegal immigration is brewing....
House rejects bill to aid sick 9/11 responders
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A bill that would have provided up to $7.4 billion in aid to people sickened by World Trade Center dust fell short in the House on Thursday, raising the possibility that the bulk of compensation for the ill will come from a legal settlement hammered out in the federal courts....
Fed atty: Military secrets sold to pay for HI home
HONOLULU (AP) -- A federal prosecutor said Thursday a former B-2 bomber engineer helped China design a stealth cruise missile to raise money to pay the $15,000-a-month mortgage on the mansion-like home he built on Maui's north shore....
Ousted USDA employee Sherrod plans to sue blogger
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Ousted Agriculture Department employee Shirley Sherrod said Thursday she will sue a conservative blogger who posted a video edited in a way that made her appear racist....
1 dead, 3 sickened at Pa. water treatment plant
SEWICKLEY, Pa. (AP) -- A sewage plant employee became faint and died Thursday while working in a 30-foot hole, and three other people who tried to rescue him were overcome by an unknown gas and had to be hospitalized, officials said....
Air show to go on despite deadly crash
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- A popular air show will be held this weekend, days after four people were killed when a military cargo plane crashed at an Anchorage base during a training demonstration for the event, military officials said Thursday....
SEC accuses Dallas investors of insider trading
DALLAS (AP) -- Sam and Charles Wyly, Dallas billionaire investors known for their support of conservative candidates and causes, made $550 million in undisclosed profits through 13 years of insider trading, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit filed Thursday....
Armenian-Americans sue for century-old losses
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Armenian-American lawyers filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against the Turkish government and two banks seeking compensation for the heirs of Armenians whose property was allegedly seized nearly a century ago as they were driven from the Turkish Ottoman Empire....
Overflow crowd attends funeral of slain Calif girl
MORENO VALLEY, Calif. (AP) -- Mourners packed a Southern California church Thursday to say goodbye to Norma Lopez, a 17-year-old girl who was abducted just blocks from her school then killed....
Texas man gets death penalty for beheading 3 kids
EDINBURG, Texas (AP) -- A jury sentenced a south Texas man to death on Thursday, four days after convicting him of capital murder for beheading his common law wife's three children in 2003....
Police: Gunman kills stepfather, 2 others in Texas
SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- On a leafy cul-de-sac in a gated Texas community, a man walked inside his stepfather's home with a briefcase. A teenage boy at the house didn't recognize him but could tell he was angry. He took his young siblings outside, and moments later heard gunfire....
Change of venue arguments heard in Smart case
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Defense lawyers for the man charged with kidnapping Elizabeth Smart argued Thursday that the case should be moved out of Utah so he can get a fair trial....
Concern raised over cost of plane attack trial
DETROIT (AP) -- Michigan's entire congressional delegation has told Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano it wants assurances the federal government will pay for security at the trial of a man accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound flight....
NY's Paterson: I regret leaving governor's race
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- A day after a special prosecutor cleared Gov. David Paterson of allegations that he tampered with a witness who had accused a top aide of domestic violence, he said Thursday that he regrets dropping out of the race for a full term as New York governor....
Train passengers rescued from DC-area tracks
SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) -- More than 40 passengers have been removed safely from a commuter train near Washington, D.C., after being stuck there for three hours when a storm brought a power line down on the tracks northwest of the capital....
Mo. ballot measures tests federal health care law
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- More than 1 million people are expected to participate in what amounts to the largest-ever public opinion poll on the nation's new health care law....
Obama signs bill to combat crime in Indian Country
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) -- President Barack Obama has signed a bill he says will address the unique public safety challenges facing American Indian tribes....
Colo. pot shops face closure under tough new rules
DENVER (AP) -- Nearly a fifth of Colorado's medical marijuana dispensary operators could be forced out of business in coming weeks because of new state rules barring some convicted felons from the pot business, federal drug authorities say....
Mass. woman left in recliner dies on 81st birthday
BOSTON (AP) -- A woman hospitalized in critical condition after sitting for a month with deep bedsores in a recliner soaked with her waste died Thursday, on her 81st birthday, prosecutors said. Five family members who lived with her face various elderly abuse charges and could see upgraded charges....
CAPITAL CULTURE: Malia's latest adventure is camp
NEW YORK (AP) -- She's had a front row seat to history for a year and a half, meeting heads of state, touring the Kremlin, flying around the world on Air Force One, being serenaded by Paul McCartney and enjoying command performances from the Jonas Brothers....
NTSB examines fuel pump in fatal Maine plane crash
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- Investigators plan further examination of the fuel pump on a small plane that crashed near Portland International Jetport in Maine, killing two people....
Jefferson County, Ala. ex-commissioner sentenced
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) -- A former commissioner of Alabama's most populous county has been sentenced to prison on conspiracy and bribery convictions stemming from a sewer construction project that later soured and left the county on the verge of bankruptcy....
4 teens shot in Calif. city in 13-hour span
SALINAS, Calif. (AP) -- Authorities say two teens were killed and two wounded in three separate shootings in the central California city of Salinas over a span of about 13 hours....
Trials for Pa. man accused of killings, jailbreak
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) -- A man whose northeastern Pennsylvania property contained as many as 12 corpses will be tried on double-murder charges this fall....
Rescuer pulls mom, 2 kids from car in Minn. pond
RICHFIELD, Minn. (AP) -- The Minnesota Department of Transportation says a state highway first responder rescued a Twin Cities woman and her two children after the mother drove their car off a highway and into a pond....
Bullet hole found in Arizona lawmaker's office
YUMA, Ariz. (AP) -- Authorities say a bullet apparently was fired into an office of a Democratic congressman who has been an outspoken opponent of the state's immigration law....
$1.7B worth of pot seized in Central Calif sweep
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- Nearly 100 people have been arrested in an ongoing sweep of marijuana-growing operations that has netted more than $1.7 billion worth of pot in California's Sierra Nevada range, federal and state agents said Thursday....
Democrats catch break with trial's early end
CHICAGO (AP) -- Jurors deciding if former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich tried to sell President Barack Obama's old Senate seat were out of sight Thursday, a far more benign result for Democrats than if the corruption trial had lasted through the summer as expected while the party geared up for tough elections....
Excessive force suspension reversed for Texas cop
DALLAS (AP) -- A white east Texas police officer's suspension for slamming a black handcuffed suspect face first onto the hood of a squad car has been reversed by an arbitrator who determined the officer's actions were reasonable....
Suspect breaks sprinkler at Calif. cop station
MODESTO, Calif. (AP) -- Police in Modesto, Calif., are wading through the damage from a flood at the downtown station after a suspect broke a sprinkler....
Pa. diocese sued after abuse accuser's suicide
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The estate of a man allegedly abused by a priest in the 1980s is suing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, alleging he committed suicide this year after the diocese stopped paying for his mental health treatments after two other suicide attempts....
2 New Orleans officers charged in beating death
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Two New Orleans police officers were indicted Thursday on federal charges in the beating death of a 48-year-old man, part of a sprawling Justice Department probe that has led to charges against 18 of the city's officers....
Acupuncture patient says she was locked in office
BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) -- Police in Bellingham, Wash., say an acupuncture patient called 911 for assistance after she says clinic workers apparently forgot about her and locked up the office....
Moore wants to bring back downtown movie theaters
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) -- For generations, Americans viewed films in stately, single-screen theaters that were pillars of city business districts - an experience that faded with the rise of suburban multiplexes and the decline of downtowns....
Definition of piracy at center of Va. hearing
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) -- A judge sharply questioned the government Thursday about whether an alleged attack by six Somali nationals on a U.S. Navy ship was an act of piracy....
AP IMPACT: Before the CIA, there was the Pond
NEW YORK (AP) -- It was a night in early November during the infancy of the Cold War when the anti-communist dissidents were hustled through a garden and across a gully to a vehicle on a dark, deserted road in Budapest. They hid in four large crates for their perilous journey....
Mother's death in NYC fire is ruled a suicide
NEW YORK (AP) -- A single mother apparently slit the throats of her three children, then sat with them and her toddler in their burning home until she died from smoke inhalation last week, according to police and autopsy results released Thursday....
2 die after getting trapped inside Ill. grain bin
MOUNT CARROLL, Ill. (AP) -- Authorities say two young workers died and another is in serious condition after becoming trapped inside a grain bin in northwestern Illinois....
1st US execution of woman since 2005 set for Sept.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- A Virginia woman who used sex and money to persuade two men to kill her husband and her stepson to collect a $250,000 life insurance policy was scheduled Thursday to be executed in two months, which would be the first U.S. execution of a woman in five years....
Wash. high court lifts stay of execution for Brown
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) -- Washington state's Supreme Court has lifted the stay of execution for a death row inmate who claimed the state's method of lethal injection violated constitutional bans on cruel and unusual punishment....
NY judge denies appeal based on scared Astor juror
NEW YORK (AP) -- The judge in the Brooke Astor case has denied a motion to overturn the convictions of the New York philanthropist's son and his co-defendant....
Companies: Detroit mayor dodging process servers
DETROIT (AP) -- Companies have been trying to serve Detroit Mayor Dave Bing with lawsuits over bills that his former steel company has not paid....
Change of venue hearing to be held in Smart case
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Defense lawyers for the man charged in the 2002 kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart will ask a judge to move a November trial out of Utah to another state....
Phoenix shootout leaves 1 officer, 2 suspects dead
PHOENIX (AP) -- A shooting during an undercover drug operation in Phoenix has left three people dead, including one police officer and two suspects, authorities said....
Hawaii lawsuit seeks equal rights for gay couples
HONOLULU (AP) -- Six gay couples in Hawaii are filing a lawsuit Thursday asking for the same rights as married couples, three weeks after Gov. Linda Lingle vetoed a same-sex civil unions measure....
How the AP-Univision poll was conducted
The Associated Press-Univision poll of Hispanic adults was conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago from March 11-June 3. It is based on a nationally representative random sample of 1,521 Hispanic adults. Data were gathered via mail, the Internet and telephone. The majority of interviews were completed via mail (82 percent); 15 percent were completed by via telephone and 4 percent via the Internet....
Man dies in skydiving mishap in Montana
HELENA, Mont. (AP) -- A man attending a skydiving festival in the northwestern Montana town of Marion was killed when he plummeted to the ground after his parachute became entangled with another man's....
Documents detail search for captive Idaho soldier
BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- In the minutes after Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl was reported missing last June, his U.S. Army comrades in southern Afghanistan began searching bunkers, latrines, vehicles, even Afghan National Police posts in a nearby settlement....
3 dead in crash of medical helicopter in Tucson
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- A medical helicopter crashed on a Tucson street and burst into flames Wednesday, killing all three people aboard. A witness said the pilot steered the plummeting chopper away from a house....
Pensions withheld for 3 Calif. administrators
BELL, Calif. (AP) -- California pensions will be withheld for three former Bell administrators until the state attorney general determines whether the city broke any laws in paying them outsized salaries....
Idaho fires threaten homes as wind fans flames
BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- Three homes burned and dozens of others were evacuated Wednesday as a wind-whipped grassfire northwest of Idaho's capital city expanded to thousands of acres and threatened rural subdivisions. No injuries were reported....
NYC looks to stop spreading bedbug infestations
NEW YORK (AP) -- One of every 15 New Yorkers battled bedbugs last year, officials said Wednesday as they announced a plan to fight the spreading infestation, including a public-awareness campaign and a top entomologist to head the effort....
Pakistani scientist lawyers seek 12-year sentence
NEW YORK (AP) -- A U.S.-trained scientist from Pakistan who was convicted of trying to murder U.S. agents and military officers in Afghanistan should be sent to prison for 12 years rather than life because she is mentally ill, her lawyers said in court papers Wednesday....
Judge delays ruling in Neb. immigration lawsuits
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- A judge said Wednesday she's not sure whether lawsuits challenging a Nebraska city's ban on hiring and renting to illegal immigrants should be heard in federal or state court, delaying any ruling on blocking the voter-approved ordinance....
Plaintiffs: NYC settlement of 50-shot case is fair
NEW YORK (AP) -- The fiancee of an unarmed man killed by police in 50-bullet barrage and a friend who survived the shooting said Wednesday that a settlement of the federal civil lawsuit with New York City that topped $7 million was fair but not cause for celebration....
Father's handgun killed 2 young brothers in Calif.
CHINO HILLS, Calif. (AP) -- Two Southern California brothers - a 12-year-old who loved skateboarding and a 10-year-old about to start fifth grade - were shot to death with their father's handgun in what could be a double suicide or a murder-suicide, authorities said Wednesday....
Judge orders tougher look at fire retardant drops
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) -- A federal judge Wednesday ordered the U.S. Forest Service to take a tougher look at the possibility that routinely dropping toxic fire retardant on wildfires from airplanes will kill endangered fish and plants....
No charges for NY's Paterson in aide violence case
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- New York Gov. David Paterson will not face criminal charges for calling up a woman who later dropped domestic violence charges against a top aide, though the aide could still face prosecution, according to an investigative report issued Wednesday....
Canadian woman is next top UN internal watchdog
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The United Nations turned to a Canadian woman on Wednesday who was chief auditor for the World Bank as its choice for the next head of the U.N.'s internal watchdog agency....
US reps sign letter against Sealaska lands bill
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Dozens of U.S. House members have signed a letter opposing a bill allowing a private Alaska Native corporation to select choice lands in the nation's largest national forest for its own use....
Kids in closet foil teen burglars in suburban LA
FONTANA, Calif. (AP) -- An emergency call from 11-year-old twins has helped police nab four intruders who broke into their home as they hid in a closet in suburban Los Angeles....
Texas, feds wait turns in polygamist leader cases
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A Utah Supreme Court decision that overturns polygamous church leader Warren Jeffs' 2007 criminal conviction won't automatically make him a free man. Even if Utah doesn't retry him, Texas and federal prosecutors are waiting to move forward with their own cases....
Report: Texas mayor killed herself
COPPELL, Texas (AP) -- Autopsy reports confirm a Texas mayor's gunshot wound was self-inflicted and her daughter was shot from behind....
Pair convicted of murder in Philly officer's death
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Two men were convicted of first-degree murder Wednesday in the ambush death of a police officer after a bank robbery, even though neither defendant pulled the trigger....
Massey: Mining to resume at W.Va. mine
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Massey Energy plans to resume extracting coal by constructing a new entrance to its Upper Big Branch mine within months, despite continuing investigations of the explosion that killed 29 men there in April, the company's chief executive said Wednesday....
UCLA launches experimental hand transplant program
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- UCLA says it is launching a hand transplant study and is looking for amputees, including war veterans, willing to undergo the experimental surgery....
Passengers in Calif. bus crash sue Greyhound
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- Four adults and two children injured in a deadly bus crash in Central California filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Greyhound Lines Inc....
Christian teacher settles Ohio arm-branding case
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- An Ohio family has settled a lawsuit against a middle school teacher who was accused of burning the image of crosses on students' arms....
Police: Man burns prosthetic leg with crack pipe
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) -- A New Mexico man who investigators say set his prosthetic leg on fire with a pocketed crack pipe has been arrested....
Border governors meeting set for Sept. 19-20 in NM
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) -- U.S. and Mexican border governors will gather in New Mexico in late September, but Gov. Bill Richardson said Wednesday it's not a protest over the event's cancellation in Arizona because of that state's immigration enforcement law....
