Fla. wildfires hit 160 homes; arsonists sought
PALM BAY, Fla. (AP) -- Investigators searched Tuesday for one or more arsonists behind a string of stubborn wildfires that have destroyed or damaged more than 160 homes on Florida's Atlantic coast....
Deputies kill 2 in gun battle on Calif. reservation
SAN JACINTO, Calif. (AP) -- A man and woman opened fire on guards at an entrance to an Indian reservation and fled into the hills, where they were killed in a gun battle with sheriff's deputies and a SWAT team, authorities said Tuesday. It was the second deadly gunfight involving deputies on the reservation in five days....
CA installs 1st black female top legislator in US
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- California on Tuesday installed the nation's first black female legislative leader, swearing in Los Angeles Democrat Karen Bass as speaker of the state Assembly....
Sect mother of newborn not a minor, Texas concedes
SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Texas child welfare officials conceded Tuesday that a newborn's mother, held in foster care as a minor after being removed from a polygamous sect's ranch, is an adult....
Chinese-Americans open wallets for quake relief
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Chinese communities around the country are mobilizing to help victims of a catastrophic earthquake that destroyed countless buildings and killed thousands of people in China's Sichuan province, where many immigrants have roots....
Man jailed when daughter fails to get diploma
CINCINNATI (AP) -- A man ordered by a judge to make sure his daughter hit the books has found himself in jail because she failed to earn a high school equivalency diploma....
Mom, 2 children mutilated and dismembered in Fla.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- A woman and her two young children slain north of Tampa were found mutilated and dismembered in a crime scene that investigators described as one of the most gruesome they had ever seen....
Rebuilding unlikely in tornado-ravaged Okla. town
PICHER, Okla. (AP) -- No government money will be awarded for rebuilding any of the 100 homes leveled by a deadly tornado that tore through one of the nation's most polluted areas, state and federal officials said Tuesday on a tour of the region....
Anonymous rape tests are going nationwide
ELKTON, Md. (AP) -- Starting next year across the country, rape victims too afraid or too ashamed to go to police can undergo an emergency-room forensic rape exam, and the evidence gathered will be kept on file in a sealed envelope in case they decide to press charges....
Detroit City Council moves toward ousting mayor
DETROIT (AP) -- The City Council narrowly approved taking the first step Tuesday toward removing Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who is charged with perjury over explicit text messages sent to a former aide....
Texas authorities investigate more polygamy charges
CLYDE, Texas (AP) -- Behind guarded, ornate gates at the end of a rural road, a self-proclaimed prophet warns his followers about the end of time and rails against a dangerous and unclean world outside their West Texas compound....
Lesbian chased out of NYC bathroom settles suit
NEW YORK (AP) -- A popular restaurant has agreed to pay $35,000 to settle a lawsuit with a lesbian who said a bouncer chased her out of the women's bathroom and forced her to leave because she looked masculine....
Ohio Dems seek impeachment of scandal-scarred AG
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- House Democrats filed articles of impeachment Tuesday against scandal-scarred Attorney General Marc Dann, a fellow Democrat who could become the first official impeached and convicted in Ohio in two centuries....
Immigration raid in Iowa largest ever in US
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Federal officials say a raid at a northeastern Iowa meat processing plant this week was the largest in U.S. history....
La. furniture salesman guilty of spying for China
McLEAN, Va. (AP) -- A New Orleans furniture salesman pleaded guilty Tuesday to spying for the Chinese government and providing Beijing with secret information on military relations between the U.S. and Taiwan....
Retailer Meijer fined for campaign violations
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) -- Michigan fined big-box retail chain Meijer Inc. more than $190,000 Tuesday for campaign law violations in its effort to build a big-box superstore in a northern Michigan suburb....
Military cracks down on scrap-metal scavengers
TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. (AP) -- Hundreds of Marines were conducting a combat training mission in the Mojave Desert when an air patrol spotted something kicking up dust: A civilian pickup truck speeding across the barren landscape....
Survivors remain linked by drunken driving tragedy
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- One earned a football scholarship years after burns and lung damage kept him in the hospital for two months. Another poured her grief into preventing other alcohol-fueled crashes and became president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. A third began speaking publicly about the tragedy only after two decades of staring at scars in the mirror....
Victims say Swiss bank funded Iran terror
NEW YORK (AP) -- American victims of terrorist attacks in Israel have filed a lawsuit seeking more than $500 million from UBS AG, saying the Swiss bank made it possible for Iran to fund the terrorists....
No injuries reported in collapsed N.C. parking deck
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Authorities say it appears no one was injured when a small section of a four-story parking deck in Charlotte, N.C., collapsed....
Arizona police hunting for a serial predator
PHOENIX (AP) -- Police are hunting for a serial predator who has been linked to four unsolved attacks on women in Phoenix and nearby Mesa, including two unsolved killings....
Fashion students at Va. university design abayas
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- The assignment for Virginia Commonwealth University fashion students: design an abaya, an enveloping cloak worn by Muslim women, that is stylish yet acceptable in Arab countries....
N.Y. farmers fear a shortage of skilled workers
BATAVIA, N.Y. (AP) -- New York farmers say a shift in state policy is making it harder for them to hire experienced seasonal workers through federal guest-worker contracts....
Lawyer: 2 will admit fraud fueled luxury lifestyle
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Presumably, she didn't fleece Prince Charles. But a couple of young jet-setters plan to admit in court that other people who crossed their paths unwittingly financed their luxury lifestyle....
Exxon seeks $800M from Alaska over gas, oil leases
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) -- Exxon Mobil Corp. asked Monday that Alaska pay $800 million in damages, claiming the state breached a deal when it revoked gas and oil leases on a North Slope oil field....
Gay rights groups launch hospital rating system
NEW YORK (AP) -- Just over half of 88 hospitals got top marks under a new rating system created by two national gay-rights organizations which hope the standards will result in more compassionate treatment of gay and lesbian patients....
Helicopter that crashed lacked some safety gear
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A medical helicopter that crashed in Wisconsin did not have two pieces of safety technology the National Transportation Safety Board has recommended to prevent crashes, company officials said Monday....
S. Ill. hospital resumes some outpatient surgeries
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Southern Illinois Veterans Affairs hospital has resumed some outpatient surgeries, more than eight months after its entire surgical unit was shut down because of a reported spike in post-surgical deaths, officials said Monday....
Prosecutor wraps up case in Ill. fundraiser trial
CHICAGO (AP) -- A top political fundraiser parlayed his success at amassing enormous amounts of campaign money for Gov. Rod Blagojevich into the access and clout to launch a $7 million shakedown scheme in state government, a prosecutor told jurors Monday....
FEMA, EPA visit tornado-ravaged Oklahoma town
PICHER, Okla. (AP) -- The reason most residents of Picher won't be able to rebuild their homes following a massive tornado is plainly visible from most parts of town....
Missouri lawmakers advance 2nd voter photo ID bill
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Missouri Republicans on Monday advanced a constitutional amendment allowing a photo identification requirement for voting and recrafted an ID law similar to one the state Supreme Court struck down two years ago....
Networks, AP sue in South Dakota over exit polling
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- The three major networks, CNN, Fox News and The Associated Press filed a lawsuit Monday asking a federal judge to strike down a South Dakota law that prevents exit polling within 100 feet of a voting place....
Man, woman indicted in sale of child for sex acts
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment Monday accusing a man and woman of training the woman's child to be a dominatrix, selling her sexual services and photographing some of the acts....
Woman sentenced to 10 years in ND infant's death
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- A woman who left her newborn son alone for about two weeks to die, then put his body in a suitcase and placed it in a ditch near her home, was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison....
Deadly mob beating unnerves Cleveland neighborhood
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Even by tough, urban-crime standards it was a grisly attack: Up to 15 people chased a man, then kicked and beat him to death on the street. Before police arrived, one attacker urinated on the victim's head....
Thailand museum director indicted in federal probe
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The director of a Thailand museum was indicted on a wire fraud charge in connection with a federal investigation into looted Southeast Asian antiquities....
Texas teen with bullet in head pleads guilty
BEAUMONT, Texas (AP) -- A teenager with a bullet lodged in his forehead that police wanted removed in order to prove he tried to kill the owner of a used-car lot pleaded guilty Monday to aggravated assault and other charges....
