NATIONAL NEWS
Teenage girl dies after inhaling helium at party
EAGLE POINT, Ore. (AP) — Last weekend, 14-year-old Ashley Long told her parents she was going to a slumber party. But instead of spending the night watching videos and eating popcorn two blocks away, she piled into a car with a bunch of her friends and rode to a condo in Medford, Ore., where police say the big sister of one of her friends was throwing a party with booze and marijuana. ...Read More
Newark mayor: NYPD Muslim files 'deeply offensive'
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The mayor and police director of New Jersey's largest city said Wednesday the New York Police Department misled their city and never told them it was conducting a widespread spying operation on Newark's Muslim neighborhoods. Had they known, they said, they never would have allowed it. ...Read More
Jury: 26 years total for former U.Va. lax player
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — A jury convicted a former University of Virginia lacrosse player Wednesday of second-degree murder of his ex-girlfriend in a drunken, jealous rage, rejecting a first-degree murder verdict and a possible life sentence. ...Read More
Police charge 2 in death of Ala girl forced to run
ATTALLA, Ala. (AP) — At a doublewide trailer along a dirt road in rural Alabama, authorities say 9-year-old Savannah Hardin was forced to run for three hours as punishment for having lied to her grandmother about eating candy bars. The severely dehydrated girl had a seizure and her death days later was ruled a homicide. ...Read More
Judge says Wash. can't make pharmacies sell Plan B
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — Washington state cannot force pharmacies to sell Plan B or other emergency contraceptives, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, saying the state's true goal was to suppress religious objections by druggists — not to promote timely access to the medicines for people who need them. ...Read More
Lesbian federal worker wins health benefits case
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge in San Francisco ruled Wednesday that the U.S. government cannot deny health benefits to the wife of a lesbian court employee by relying on the 1996 law that bars government recognition of same-sex unions. ...Read More
Authorities tracing phone of mountain man's family
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Troy James Knapp is a wanted man, a mountain recluse authorities say is responsible for more than two dozen cabin burglaries in the remote southern Utah wilderness. He's considered armed and dangerous, a ticking time bomb. ...Read More
DC police official in celeb escort flap to sue
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former District of Columbia police commander whose division provided a police escort to actor Charlie Sheen last April has given notice that he intends to file a whistleblower lawsuit against the city, saying he was demoted because he testified to the D.C. Council that such escorts for celebrities were commonplace. ...Read More
Report: Crime at US public schools on the decline
MIAMI (AP) — Violent crime at the nation's schools is declining, and students and schools are reporting less bullying and gang activity. ...Read More
Scientist admits taking, leaking think-tank papers
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ethicists are criticizing a prominent scientist for misrepresenting himself to obtain and then leak sensitive documents from a conservative think tank that campaigns against mainstream global warming science. ...Read More
Court seems split on double jeopardy question
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court seemed divided Wednesday on whether to allow an Arkansas man to be retried on murder charges even though a jury forewoman said in open court that they were unanimously against finding him guilty. ...Read More
Newark mayor: NYPD misled us on Muslim spying
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The mayor and police director of New Jersey's largest city said Wednesday the New York Police Department misled their city and never told them it was conducting a widespread spying operation on Newark's Muslim neighborhoods. Had they known, they said, they never would have allowed it. ...Read More
Police: Ga. victims related in Korean spa shooting
NORCROSS, Ga. (AP) — A gunman walked into the Su Jung Health Sauna, argued with someone and then opened fire, killing two of his sisters and their husbands, then himself, authorities said Wednesday ...Read More
Police: 2 Ga. children reported missing found safe
DECATUR, Ga. (AP) — Authorities say they are searching for a man they believe kidnapped two young children after offering help to their mother after the family car broke down along an Atlanta-area interstate. ...Read More
States may tap mortgage money to fill budget gaps
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The ink wasn't even dry on a settlement with the nation's top mortgage lenders when Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon laid claim to a chunk of the money to avert a huge budget cut for public colleges and universities. ...Read More
Poll: Obama benefitting from improving economy
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is reaping political benefits from the country's brighter economic mood. A new poll shows that Republicans and Democrats alike are increasingly saying the nation is heading in the right direction and most independents now approve the way he's addressing the nation's post-recession period. ...Read More
High court torn over law banning lies about medals
WASHINGTON (AP) — Free speech cases before the Supreme Court often lead justices to consider far-fetched scenarios, and Wednesday's argument over a law making it a crime to lie about having received top military honors was no exception. ...Read More
Capitol bomb probe leads to unrelated weapons case
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A second person has been charged in an offshoot of the FBI sting that led to charges last week against a Virginia man charged with plotting a suicide bombing at the U.S. Capitol. ...Read More
Stepmom, grandmother charged in Ala. girl's death
GADSDEN, Ala. (AP) — The grandmother and stepmother of a 9-year-old Alabama girl who died after witnesses said she was forced to run for three hours as punishment for lying have been charged with murder and are being held in jail. ...Read More
Current, former Palin aides defend her
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Current and former aides to Sarah Palin are strongly denouncing an upcoming HBO movie about the 2008 presidential campaign. ...Read More
Police say Wash. school shooting leaves 1 injured
SEATTLE (AP) — An 8-year-old girl was shot in the abdomen at an elementary school in Washington state Wednesday afternoon and one of her classmates was detained, authorities said. ...Read More
2nd degree murder verdict in lacrosse death trial
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Jurors found a former University of Virginia lacrosse player guilty of second-degree murder Wednesday in the drunken, jealousy-fueled slaying of his ex-girlfriend, rejecting a verdict of first-degree murder and a possible life sentence. ...Read More
8-year-old critical after Wash. school shooting
SEATTLE (AP) — An 8-year-old girl was in critical condition Wednesday after she shot in the abdomen at her elementary school near Seattle, and one of her classmates was detained, authorities said Wednesday. ...Read More
Police say love triangle led to CA murder-suicide
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A 73-year-old gunman entangled in a love triangle shot and killed the treasurer of a remote-controlled airplane club who police said was having an affair with the estranged wife of the attacker. ...Read More
Obama signs payroll tax cut extension into law
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has signed an extension of the Social Security payroll tax cut through the end of the year. ...Read More
Police: Girl forced to run 3 hours dies; 2 charged
ATTALLA, Ala. (AP) — At a doublewide trailer along a dirt road in rural Alabama, authorities say 9-year-old Savannah Hardin was forced to run for three hours as punishment for having lied to her grandmother about eating candy bars. The severely dehydrated girl had a seizure and her death days later was ruled a homicide. ...Read More
Obama helps break ground on black history museum
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama heralded a new national black history museum as "not just a record of tragedy, but a celebration of life" as he marked Wednesday's groundbreaking of the long-sought-after museum on the National Mall. ...Read More
High court torn over law banning lie about medals
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court appeared sharply divided Wednesday over a law that makes it a crime to lie about having been awarded top military honors. ...Read More
High court rules for power company over Mont. dams
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court sided with a power company Wednesday in a dispute with Montana over who owns the riverbeds beneath 10 dams sitting on three Montana rivers. ...Read More
Rising sales point to better year for housing
WASHINGTON (AP) — The housing market is flashing signs of health ahead of the spring-buying season. ...Read More
Jury: 26 years total for former US lax player
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia (AP) — A jury says a former University of Virginia lacrosse player should serve 25 years in prison for the second-degree murder of his ex-girlfriend. ...Read More
Some money from mortgage settlement to be diverted
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The ink wasn't even dry on a settlement with the nation's top mortgage lenders when Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon laid claim to a chunk of the money to avert a huge budget cut for public colleges and universities. ...Read More
W.Va. mine boss charged with fraud in deadly blast
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Federal prosecutors investigating the West Virginia coal mine explosion that killed 29 men are working their way up the corporate ladder with criminal charges. ...Read More
Jurors weigh murder case of ex-Va. lacrosse player
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — After six hours of deliberations, jurors in the murder trial of a former University of Virginia lacrosse player are asking a second question about their instructions. ...Read More
Court says police cannot be sued over warrant
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Wednesday that California police officers cannot be sued because they used a warrant that may have been defective to search a woman's house. ...Read More
'Occupy' to hold national conference in Philly
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A group of protesters affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement plans to elect 876 "delegates" from around the country and hold a national "general assembly" in Philadelphia over the Fourth of July as part of ongoing protests over corporate excess and economic inequality. ...Read More
Geithner: Obama seeks 28 percent corp. tax rate
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the current corporate tax system is outdated, unfair and inefficient. He is calling for an end to dozens of subsidies and loopholes that he says offer tax breaks to companies that move jobs and profits overseas. ...Read More
Obama seeks corporate tax rate cut, loophole limit
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama rolled out a corporate tax overhaul plan Wednesday that lowers rates but also eliminates loopholes and subsidies cherished by the business world. A long-shot for action in an election year, the plan nevertheless stamps Obama's imprint on one of the most high-profile issues of the presidential campaign. ...Read More
AP Exclusive: National meth lab busts up in 2011
ST. LOUIS (AP) — An Associated Press survey of the nation's top methamphetamine-producing states shows national lab seizures rose again last year. ...Read More
Judge: Wash. can't make pharmacies sell Plan B
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — Washington state may not force pharmacies to sell Plan B or other emergency contraceptives, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, saying the state's true goal is to suppress religious objections by druggists — not to promote timely access to the medicines for people who need them. ...Read More
Police: Victims related in Korean spa shooting
NORCROSS, Georgia (AP) — A man who was asked to leave a Korean health spa in an Atlanta suburb earlier in the day came back with a gun and shot two of his sisters and their husbands and then killed himself, police said Wednesday. ...Read More
Man's childhood comic collection fetches $3.5M
DALLAS (AP) — Billy Wright plunked down dime after dime for comic books while growing up in the late 1930s and early 1940s, caring for the collection he started around the age of 9 until his death more than half a century later. On Wednesday, most of that collection sold for a whopping $3.5 million. ...Read More
Poll: Obama benefitting from improving economy
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is reaping political benefits from the country's brighter economic mood. A new poll shows that Republicans and Democrats alike are increasingly saying the nation is heading in the right direction and most independents now approve the way he's addressing the nation's post-recession period. ...Read More
Congressional offices receive mailed threats
WASHINGTON (AP) — Some congressional offices outside Washington and media organizations have received threatening letters containing a suspicious powdery substance that was tested and proved to be harmless, the FBI and the Senate's top law enforcement officer said Wednesday. ...Read More
New black history museum rising on National Mall
WASHINGTON (AP) — Frederick Douglass was black and that was enough for the Smithsonian Institution to bar the famed abolitionist from speaking at a lecture series intended to convince President Abraham Lincoln that he should end slavery as war divided the nation in February 1862. ...Read More
US drafts plan to fight feared Alzheimer's disease
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration declared Alzheimer's "one of the most-feared health conditions" on Wednesday as it issued a draft of the nation's first strategy to fight the ominous rise in the mind-destroying disease. ...Read More
Texas man gets life in prison in torture case
WEATHERFORD, Texas (AP) — A Texas man who tortured his former neighbor while holding her captive nearly two weeks has been sentenced to life in prison. ...Read More
Ark. man pleads not guilty in death of teen
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A convicted rapist accused of killing a 16-year-old girl he met online pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder Wednesday, several days after authorities found the girl's body in a blue, plastic barrel in western Arkansas. ...Read More
Suspect in Capitol bomb sting waives court hearing
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (AP) — A man charged with plotting a suicide bombing inside the U.S. Capitol as part of an FBI sting will remain in jail while he awaits trial after he waived his right to a detention hearing Wednesday. ...Read More
