ALL RECENT AP STORIES

Democrat senators divided on government health insurance, so House's bill has nowhere to go

WASHINGTON (AP) _ The glow from a health care triumph faded quickly for President Barack Obama on Sunday as Democrats realized the bill they fought so hard to pass in the House has nowhere to go in the Senate.

Speaking from the Rose Garden about 14 hours after the late Saturday vote, Obama urged senators to be like runners on a relay team and "take the baton and bring this effort to the finish

The 13 people killed when an Army psychiatrist allegedly opened fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, included several people who shared the same profession as the alleged shooter, a father of three with ties to Laos whose family had a history of military service, a civilian who had returned to work a week after suffering a heart attack, and a psychiatric nurse who arrived at Fort Hood a day before the shooting. Here is a look at the victims.

___

Michael Grant Cahill

Cahill,

An Army chaplain asked mourners Sunday to pray for the accused Fort Hood shooter, calling on them to focus less on why the tragedy happened and more on helping each other through "the valley of the shadow of darkness."

"Lord, all those around us search for motive, search for meaning, search for something, someone to blame. That is so frustrating," Col. Frank Jackson told a group of about 120 people gathered at one of the post's chapel. "Today, we pause to hear from you. So Lord, as we

Commuters in the City of Brotherly Love have been told to gear up to begin a second week of finding other ways to work following the collapse of a proposed deal to end a six-day-old strike by about 5,000 bus drivers, subway and trolley conductors and mechanics.

The largest union representing workers of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority wants an independent forensic audit of pension funds. The union is also rejecting language that could reopen the contract if SEPTA's

Reggie Turner stopped by a growing memorial to 11 victims of an alleged serial killer because he knew one of the women. Michelle Lee came to pay her respects as a mother and grandmother. Mark Mason and two buddies rode their motorcycles to just take a look.

The street corner opposite the home dubbed Cleveland's "House of Horrors" buzzes with visits from mourners, well-wishers, politicians and the curious.

"We wanted our children to understand what has occurred, to understand how people

A strong earthquake was reported in the ocean off Indonesia on Sunday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The quake measured a magnitude of 6.7, the survey reported. It hit at 3:41 a.m. local time (1941 GMT)

It struck at a depth of 11 miles (17.7 kilometers) and had its epicenter about 10 miles (15 kilometers) north-northwest of Sumbawa and 830 miles (1,335 kilometers) east of the Indonesian capital of Jakarta.

There were no immediate reports that tsunami warnings were issued

A 63-year-old man suspected of fatally shooting one person and wounding three others in a Vail bar has been arrested in what authorities say was an apparently random shooting.

Longtime Vail resident Richard Moreau is accused of firing several shots outside and in the Sandbar Sports Grill in the mountain ski resort town. Police say he was arrested Saturday at the scene on suspicion of first-degreee homicide.

Police said Gary Bruce Kitching, 70, of Carbondale, was fatally shot. The

Based on the rhetoric, America's war on drugs seems poised to shift into a more enlightened phase where treatment of addicts gains favor over imprisonment of low-level offenders. Questions abound, however, about the nation's readiness to turn the talk into reality.

The economic case for expanding treatment, especially amid a recession, seems clear. Study after study concludes that treating addicts, even in lengthy residential programs, costs markedly less than incarcerating them, so budget-strapped

A U.S. Army spokesman says the man authorities say went on a shooting spree at Fort Hood is in critical but stable condition.

Spokesman Col. John Rossi told reporters on Sunday at Fort Hood that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is still hospitalized in Texas. He was taken off a ventilator on Saturday.

Hasan was shot during an exchange of gunfire during Thursday's attack. The military moved him on Friday to Brooke Medical Center in San Antonio, about 150 miles southwest of Fort Hood.

Thirteen

To 12-year-old Suzannah Pabla, piercing her nose was a way to connect with her roots in India. To Suzannah's school, it was a dress-code violation worthy of a suspension.

To other Indians, the incident was emblematic of how it can still be difficult for the American melting pot to absorb certain aspects of their cultural and religious traditions.

Suzannah was briefly suspended last month from her public school in Bountiful, Utah, for violating a body-piercing ban. School officials

A Northwestern University professor and journalism students who spent three years investigating the case of a man convicted in the 1978 killing of a security guard believe they have evidence that shows prosecutors put the wrong man behind bars. But in the quest to prove his innocence, they may have to defend themselves, too.

Cook County prosecutors have outraged the university and the journalism community by issuing subpoenas to professor David Protess seeking his students' grades, his

It galled her to do it, but Sarah Dillon was desperate for answers, so she wrote letters to convicted snipers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo: If you murdered my son, please confess, she wrote.

She got no reply.

"I've been waiting for answers for seven years," said Dillon, who took to wearing a button that said "Billy Gene Dillon is a very important person" as a reminder that his killing remains unsolved.

Sarah Dillon is not the only person with unanswered questions about

It is the British empire of the dead.

Scattered across 150 countries and managed from a modest office building near London's Heathrow Airport, a global patchwork of graveyards constitutes a beautiful memorial to the ugliest carnage: the 1.7 million fighting men and women who died for Britain and its dominions in the world wars of the last century.

Most were buried where they fell, and their graves are still tended by dedicated groundskeepers even as the wartime generations dwindle

In a Nov. 7 story about the racial issues in a New York community a year after the stabbing death of an Ecuadorean immigrant, The Associated Press misspelled the last name of one of the defendants charged in the immigrant's death. His correct name is Anthony Hartford, not Harfford.

The scenes seared into the minds of those who know Bobby Yurkanin differed only in place: Whether in the pool, around the dinner table or at the bowling alley, he was the 50-something man whose life had long before been handed over to the sickness of his parents. Always his father was by his side.

Yurkanin moved across the country to care for his dying mother, only to do it all over as his father sank into the fog of Alzheimer's disease. When the octogenarian grew combative, his son would

A slain Catholic nun who lived and worked on the Navajo Indian reservation was remembered Saturday for her passion for the poor at funeral services.

A tearful, standing-room only crowd attended a funeral Mass for 64-year-old Sister Marguerite Bartz at Gallup's Sacred Heart Cathedral. Bartz was laid to rest later Saturday just across the state line in St. Michaels, Ariz., on a rocky hillside overlooking the reservation where she lived for the last decade.

Bartz was dedicated

Gunfire at a bar near the Colorado ski resort town of Vail killed one and injured two Saturday night, and a man was quickly arrested in connection with the shooting, police said.

A man who was being escorted out of Sandbar Sports Grill Bar pulled out a gun and shot someone in the arm, bar patron Nancy Lewis said.

Other witnesses told the Vail Daily newspaper that the man fired several shots, then re-entered the bar and fired several more shots. Police received an emergency call at

A slain Catholic nun who lived and worked on the Navajo Indian reservation was remembered Saturday for her passion for the poor at funeral services.

A tearful, standing-room only crowd attended a funeral Mass for 64-year-old Sister Marguerite Bartz at Gallup's Sacred Heart Cathedral. Bartz was laid to rest later Saturday just across the state line in St. Michaels, Ariz., on a rocky hillside overlooking the reservation where she lived for the last decade.

Bartz was dedicated

The scenes seared into the minds of those who know Bobby Yurkanin differed only in place: Whether in the pool, around the dinner table or at the bowling alley, he was the 50-something man whose life had long before been handed over to the sickness of his parents. Always his father was by his side.

Yurkanin moved across the country to care for his dying mother, only to do it all over as his father sank into the fog of Alzheimer's disease. When the octogenarian grew combative, his son would

There was the classroom presentation that justified suicide bombings. Comments to colleagues about a climate of persecution faced by Muslims in the military. Conversations with a mosque leader that became incoherent.

As a student, some who knew Nidal Malik Hasan said they saw clear signs the young Army psychiatrist _ who authorities say went on a shooting spree at Fort Hood that left 13 dead and 29 others wounded _ had no place in the military. After arriving at Fort Hood, he was conflicted

The 13 people killed when an Army psychiatrist allegedly opened fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, included several people who shared the same profession as the alleged shooter, a father of three with ties to Laos whose family had a history of military service, a civilian who had returned to work a week after suffering a heart attack, and a psychiatric nurse who arrived at Fort Hood a day before the shooting. Here is a look at the victims.

___

Michael Grant Cahill

Cahill,

With the words "Let's roll" _ the command issued by United Flight 93 passenger Todd Beamer to lead the passenger revolt _ U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and 39 victims' relatives and dignitaries turned shovels of dirt at a groundbreaking ceremony Saturday for a permanent national memorial.

"We made it. Not to our goal, not to the finish line. Certainly not any semblance of closure, but nevertheless, we made it to the next milestone of our journey," said Gordon Felt, whose brother,

Negotiations aimed at ending a transit strike in Philadelphia broke off Saturday night over disagreement on pensions and the impact of possible national health care overhaul, and Pennsylvania's governor walked away from the negotiations.

"In my 32 years in government, I have never been more disappointed by a negotiation than I am right now tonight," Gov. Ed Rendell told reporters Saturday evening, flanked by Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and negotiators for the Southeastern Pennsylvania

Virginia Tech administrators have been advising Pentagon officials on how to respond to the mass shootings at Fort Hood.

University spokesman Mark Owczarski (oh-ZAR-skee) says the school's president and about a dozen administrators had a teleconference with miltitary officials Friday.

He says Pentagon officials asked for guidance on how to respond to the shooting spree at the Texas military base. The discussion ranged from how to help victims' families to accommodating large numbers

Authorities say Anthony Sowell lured women into his home in a busy neighborhood, killed them _ most by strangulation _ and scattered their remains throughout the inside and buried some in the backyard.

Such brazenness defies logic, but experts identify a narrow subcategory of serial killers, including the 1893 Chicago Fair killer, Dr. H.H. Holmes, and Milwaukee cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer, who hunt from home.

"These types are so rare that you can't make a summary estimation as to why

The high school buddies who trolled the streets looking for Hispanics to attack called it "beaner hopping."

"Jose, Kevin and I started popping and Jose punched him so hard he knocked him out," Anthony Hartford told police, according to prosecutors.

Hartford said he didn't do it often: "Maybe only once a week."

There had been other high-profile attacks on a growing Hispanic population on eastern Long Island before Ecuadorean immigrant Marcelo Lucero was stabbed to death a year

One of two police officers who confronted the alleged Fort Hood killer says he shot Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan before kicking the man's weapon away, handcuffing him and ending the nation's worst killing spree on a military base.

Sgt. Mark Todd joined Sgt. Kimberly Munley, hailed as a hero for her actions, in a firefight with Hasan that lasted less than a minute. Todd, 42, was not wounded, but the exchange left Munley injured and Hasan critically wounded.

Seconds after Todd arrived on

Authorities say one of the officers who has been hailed as a hero in the Fort Hood massacre has had a second surgery and is grateful for all the good wishes.

Sgt. Kimberly Munley was injured during the shooting rampage at the Texas post that she has been credited with helping end by shooting the alleged gunman.

Fort Hood spokesman Col. John Rossi read a statement on Munley's behalf at a news conference Saturday. He said she and her family were thankful for all the support and prayers

A U.S. Army spokesman says the man authorities say went on a shooting spree at Fort Hood has been taken off a ventilator but still remains in intensive care at a military hospital.

Spokesman Col. John Rossi told reporters on Saturday at Fort Hood that he is not sure if Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is able to communicate.

Hasan was shot during an exchange of gunfire during Thursday's attack. The military moved him on Friday to Brooke Medical Center in San Antonio, about 150 miles southwest

Seattle police on Saturday said they believe a man suspected of fatally shooting a police officer on Halloween night also firebombed police cruisers and other property nine days earlier.

At a news conference, Seattle Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel identified 41-year-old Christopher Monfort as the man shot by police on Friday as he was sought in connection with the killing of Officer Timothy Brenton. Pugel also said investigators found improvised explosive devices at Monfort's apartment.

"This

Obama tells Democrats to answer the call of history as they move toward health care vote

WASHINGTON (AP) _ President Barack Obama summoned Democrats to "answer the call of history" Saturday as the House pushed toward a vote on a landmark health care bill holding out the promise of coverage for tens of millions who lack it.

After months of struggle capped by a final wrenching compromise over abortion, Speaker Nancy Pelosi predicted, "we will pass health care reform," and likened the

The father of an autistic Massachusetts boy who died after his mother allegedly withheld cancer medication has died from injuries sustained in a motorcycle crash.

Eric Fraser died Thursday after being taken off life support earlier in the week. The 38-year-old Fraser and another biker collided in Malden on Oct. 25. The other rider died that night.

Fraser's son, Jeremy Fraser, died of leukemia in March at age 9. The child's mother, Kristen LaBrie of Salem, has been charged with attempted

A brother of the man authorities say went on a shooting spree at Fort Hood says the Army psychiatrist is peaceful person _ and hopes he will be treated fairly by the legal system.

Eyad (ee-YAHD') Hasan said in an e-mail statement released Saturday that he hopes authorities will give his family information on Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan's condition. He also says he hopes his brother is allowed the right to an attorney when he gains consciousness.

The brother says the Army major is a compassionate

Texas governor Rick Perry has visited with wounded victims from the Fort Hood shooting.

Perry said at a news conference on Saturday that the soldiers he visited with told him it is an honor to serve their country and they are committed to returning to service. He praised the care they were receiving and described his conversations with the soldiers as "humbling."

Perry says people from across the state have responded to the tragedy, and in some cases, people lined up for hours to

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan's family says he confided in them that he felt harassed as a Muslim in the U.S. military _ and wasn't treated as an American and soldier should be.

He visibly lived his faith, wearing his military uniform to services and a cap and tunic around his apartment complex. But one day, he discovered his "Allah is Love" bumper sticker was ripped up and torn, and his car was keyed. A fellow soldier was charged, and the apartment manager where the two lived said the serviceman

Some Muslim servicemembers are worried that the mass shooting at Fort Hood could unravel their work to be accepted as loyal, dedicated soldiers.

Witnesses have told investigators that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan shouted "Allahu akbar!" _ the phrase that means "God is great!" in Arabic _ before opening fire in a rampage that left 13 soldiers dead. While a motive in the attack isn't clear, Hasan had complained to family members of discrimination.

Many Muslims who serve in the military

Fire officials say operations at Ellis Island have been widely disrupted by a transformer fire.

Armando Roman, director of Jersey City's Fire and Emergency Services Department, says firefighters were dispatched at about 12:50 p.m. after reports of an elevator emergency.

Roman said the incident was reported as a working fire because some people saw heavy smoke, but further investigation determined that a transformer had failed in the museum's mechanical room.

No injuries were

New York State Police investigators said in a written report that a woman who killed seven people plus herself in a crash on the Taconic State Parkway was a regular marijuana user.

The report says Diane Schuler's husband told police his wife "smoked marijuana once in a while to relieve the stress of work and the kids."

Schuler's sister-in-law told police she "didn't believe in medicine and used marijuana to relax," usually smoking after her children went to bed.

Relatives of

A memorial to honor a Sept. 11 victim from a small northwestern Connecticut town has been halted by the unexpected conflict arising from his father's insistence it say his son was murdered by "Muslim terrorists."

Town officials in Kent are balking, saying it would be inappropriate to single out a religious group in a project on town property and paid for with taxpayers' money. The memorial plaque to be erected outside the town hall is on indefinite hold.

Peter Gadiel is criticizing

A 36-year-old woman has died after she was struck several times while retrieving boxes on a Sacramento freeway.

California Highway Patrol spokeswoman Lizz Dutton says the woman walked onto eastbound Interstate 80 to try and get several boxes of clothes that had fallen from her car Saturday.

She was hit by an approaching car whose driver did not see her. The impact propelled the woman into another lane where she was hit by other oncoming vehicles.

Authorities have not released

Authorities in Wisconsin say an inmate somehow armed himself with a knife and threatened a sheriff's deputy before the officer shot and wounded him.

The Waukesha County sheriff's department says Steven P. Lettenberger, 43, was at the hospital for treatment Friday afternoon. Authorities say he tried to attack the deputy who was guarding him.

The officer then shot Lettenberger, who had been in custody for endangering safety and carrying a concealed weapon. The deputy was not injured.

Lettenberger

It galled her to do it, but Sarah Dillon was desperate for answers, so she wrote letters to convicted snipers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo: If you murdered my son, please confess, she wrote.

She got no reply.

"I've been waiting for answers for seven years," said Dillon, who took to wearing a button that said "Billy Gene Dillon is a very important person" as a reminder that his killing remains unsolved.

Sarah Dillon is not the only person with unanswered questions about

Former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, have visited wounded soldiers and their families after the mass shooting at Fort Hood.

The Bushes made their private visit to Fort Hood's Darnall Army Medical Center on Friday night. Bush spokesman David Sherzer said in an e-mail that the couple thanked Fort Hood's military leaders and hospital staff for the "amazing care they are providing."

An Army psychiatrist, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, is accused of killing 13 people and wounding

Police in Florida say a graffiti artist who apparently ran out of paint midway through a spray-painted creation left a note to potential critics to explain the unfinished work.

Palm Bay police Officer Dan Fisher says the artist painted the words "ran out of purple" on the white concrete wall. The note was next to an incomplete bright purple piece that read "Solo."

Fisher says the artist would likely face a criminal mischief charge if he or she is apprehended. The damage was estimated

Suspected swine flu is sweeping a traditional Eskimo whaling village on a remote Alaska island _ prompting an urgent medical mission to deliver help.

"Diomede is probably the most isolated place in the United States right now," said David Head, a doctor involved in the effort. "We thought it would be better to go out there and just vaccinate people."

So many of the 130 residents of Diomede have been stricken with flu-like symptoms that the Alaska Army National Guard stepped in with

A jury convicted a Florida man Friday of murdering his former son-in-law, rejecting the man's defense that he was too fat to have run up and down a flight of stairs to commit the crime and make a quick getaway.

Edward Ates looked down and shook his head in court as he was found guilty of murder and weapons counts for killing Paul Duncsak, who was shot six times at his home in Ramsey, about 25 miles northwest of New York.

Ates' "too fat to kill" defense provided an angle to the trial

The accusations that Mayor Sheila Dixon used holiday gift cards for the needy during personal shopping sprees may sound like a minor embarrassment at worst, a small-time case of a politician enjoying the perks of power.

For Dixon, the stakes could not be higher.

Dixon, 55, will put her political future in the hands of a jury Monday, when her trial on theft charges begins. She's accused of asking wealthy developer pals to donate gift cards worth thousands of dollars, saying they would

Esther Heymann was overflowing with grief for her stepdaughter. Standing in a blustery snow, overlooking the empty field where Flight 93 had crashed a couple of years earlier, she couldn't stop crying.

The only other person there was a local man, sitting in his warm car. Every few minutes he'd come out, asking Heymann if she was OK; mostly, he just let her grieve. Alone.

Finally, the man approached her. His wife was making soup at home. She should come and have some, get warm, wait

Ida has become a tropical storm again, with top winds of 45 mph (72 kph), as it swirls in the Caribbean on a track that could bring it to the U.S. Gulf Coast next week.

Ida came ashore in Nicaragua as a hurricane Thursday before weakening and dumping rain on Central America. Thousands were evacuated but no deaths were reported.

The storm edged back over the Caribbean the next day, where nourishing waters are helping it build its muscle back up.

The still tentative forecast track

Donald Baim

NATICK, Mass (AP) _ Dr. Donald Baim, a renowned cardiologist and medical device executive, died Friday following surgery to treat a form of cancer, his family said in a statement. He was 60.

Baim had undergone recent surgery to remove diseased tissue caused by adrenal cancer, a rare form of the disease that attacks the adrenal glands.

Baim, a former Harvard medical school professor, most recently served as chief medical officer for Boston Scientific Corp., a leading

The family of an Ecuadorean man slain on a Long Island street will be among those participating in a candlelight vigil and memorial service to mark the first anniversary of the killing.

Joselo Lucero (loo-SEHR'-oh) says his mother and sister will join him on the Patchogue (PATCH'-awg) street corner where Marcelo Lucero was stabbed to death on Nov. 8, 2008.

Six teenagers have pleaded not guilty in the hate crime killing. A seventh reached a plea deal this week with prosecutors and

State investigators raided ACORN offices on Friday, taking away computer hard drives and documents as part of a probe into alleged embezzlement and tax fraud when the organization's national headquarters was based in New Orleans.

"This is an investigation of everything _ ACORN, the national organization, the local organization and all of its affiliated entities, specifically as it relates to any potential violations of Louisiana law," Assistant Attorney General David Caldwell said.

ACORN

Two years after the remains of a toddler who came to be known as "Baby Grace" were dumped in Galveston Bay, the child's stepfather was convicted of capital murder in her beating death.

The remains of Riley Ann Sawyer _ weighing 12 pounds and stuffed into a plastic container _ remained unidentified for nearly a month after they were discovered October 2007. Investigators dubbed the child "Baby Grace."

Then Sheryl Sawyers of Mentor, Ohio, a Cleveland suburb, saw an artist's sketch and

A federal appeals court has ruled that Santa Cruz City Council members did not violate a man's rights when they ordered him removed from a council meeting after he made a one-armed Nazi salute.

Robert Norse was arrested at the March 2002 meeting after he made the gesture and refused to leave. He was arrested again in 2004 when he refused another order from the city council to leave after parading around council chambers.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled this week

Killing or removing 25 California sea lions over the past two years has not reduced the toll on salmon at the base of Bonneville Dam in the Columbia River.

A new report from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimates sea lions ate 4,960 salmon and steelhead during the spring of 2009 _ 2.4 percent of the fish passing the dam located near Cascade Locks, Ore. That compares to an adjusted estimate of 4,927, or 2.9 percent of the run, in 2008.

And while the number of California sea lions

A man so broke that he said he didn't have the money to visit his son 30 minutes away opened fire Friday at the engineering firm that fired him two years ago, killing one person and wounding five, authorities said.

As officers led a handcuffed Jason Rodriguez into a police station, a reporter asked the divorced 40-year-old why he had attacked his former colleagues.

"Because they left me to rot," said Rodriguez, who recently told a bankruptcy judge he was making less than $30,000 a

A tentative contract agreement has been reached that could end the public transit strike that has idled Philadelphia's subways, buses and trolleys for four days, Gov. Ed Rendell said late Friday.

"I'm very optimistic that the trains and buses will be in operation tomorrow evening," the Pennsylvania governor said late Friday night at a news conference.

Rendell, who has been brokering the talks, said negotiators for Transport Workers Union Local 234 and the Southeastern Pennsylvania

The U.N. Security Council joined calls Friday on Afghan President Hamid Karzai to fight corruption, with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calling the country's political situation "delicate" following deeply flawed elections.

In a tepid statement, the Council "acknowledged" _ rather than welcomed _ the conclusion of the tumultuous electoral process where Karzai was declared the winner after challenger Abdullah Abdullah withdrew from a runoff race saying it could not be free or fair.

Abdullah

The 13 people killed when an Army psychiatrist allegedly opened fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, included a pregnant woman who was preparing to return home, a man who quit a furniture company job to join the military about a year ago, a newlywed who had served in Iraq and a woman who had vowed to take on Osama bin Laden after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Here is a look at some of the victims.

___

Francheska Velez

Velez, 21, of Chicago, was pregnant and preparing

As if going off to war, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan cleaned out his apartment, gave leftover frozen broccoli to one neighbor and called another to thank him for his friendship _ common courtesies and routines of the departing soldier. Instead, authorities say, he went on the killing spree that left 13 people dead.

Investigators examined Hasan's computer, his home and his garbage Friday to learn what motivated the suspect, who lay in a coma, shot four times in the frantic bloodletting. Hospital

Donald Baim

NATICK, Mass (AP) _ Dr. Donald Baim, a renowned cardiologist and medical device executive, died Friday following surgery to treat a form of cancer, his family said in a statement. He was 60.

Baim had undergone recent surgery to remove diseased tissue caused by adrenal cancer, a rare form of the disease that attacks the adrenal glands.

Baim, a former Harvard medical school professor, most recently served as chief medical officer for Boston Scientific Corp., a leading

Pfc. Marquest Smith, on his way to Afghanistan in January, was completing routine paperwork about a bee-sting allergy when the sounds erupted.

A loud, popping noise. Moans. The sudden, urgent shout of "Gun!"

Smith poked his head over the cubicle's partition and saw an extraordinary sight: An Army officer with two guns, firing into the crowded room.

The 21-year-old Fort Worth native quickly grabbed the civilian worker who'd been helping with his paperwork and forced her under

Several hundred people gathered at a base stadium where the Army's chief chaplain offered prayers for families and victims of the shooting rampage that left 13 dead and 30 wounded at Fort Hood, Texas.

Chaplain Douglas Carver told those a the Friday night vigil -- many dressed in fatigues and black berets -- to "remember to keep breathing ... keep going."

God Bless America and Amazing Grace were sung as husbands wrapped their arms around their wives, babies cried and old men in wheelchairs

Police on Friday shot and wounded a person-of-interest sought in the Halloween night killing of a Seattle police officer, just as a massive memorial service for the officer drew to a close.

Tukwila police spokesman Mike Murphy said the shooting occurred as Seattle police detectives investigated a tip at an apartment complex in the south Seattle suburb. He said the man fled, then was shot when he drew a handgun.

Television footage showed dozens of cruisers surrounding the building,

As of Friday, Nov. 6, 2009, at least 4,359 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The figure includes nine military civilians killed in action. At least 3,475 military personnel died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.

The AP count is one fewer than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Friday at 10 a.m. EDT.

The British military has reported 179 deaths;

As of Friday, Nov. 6, 2009, at least 833 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. The department last updated its figures Friday at 10 a.m. EDT.

Of those, the military reports 640 were killed by hostile action.

Outside the Afghan region, the Defense Department reports 72 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

A jury convicted a Florida man Friday of murdering his former son-in-law, rejecting the man's defense that he was too fat to have run up and down a flight of stairs to commit the crime and make a quick getaway.

Edward Ates looked down and shook his head in court as he was found guilty of murder and weapons counts for killing Paul Duncsak, who was shot six times at his home in Ramsey, about 25 miles northwest of New York.

Ates' "too fat to kill" defense provided an angle to the trial

The Los Angeles City Council has given preliminary approval to an ordinance that would ban the declawing of cats.

The unanimous vote Friday follows a similar action by the Beverly Hills City Council a day earlier. A final vote in both cities is expected Nov. 17.

Council members described the procedure as unnecessary and abject animal cruelty.

City Council President Eric Garcetti added an urgency clause to the ordinance so it can take effect before New Year's Day 2010, when the

A teenager was charged Friday with killing a nun after allegedly breaking into her trailer home on the Navajo Indian reservation in search of cash or valuable items.

Federal authorities accused Reehahlio Carroll, 18, of Navajo of "unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought" in the death of 64-year-old Sister Marguerite Bartz, who served at St. Berard Catholic Church in Navajo.

Carroll was expected to appear in federal court on Monday, said Norm Cairns, a spokesman

A top official in Gov. Bill Richardson's cabinet has resigned over a drunken driving arrest just days after she was appointed to a spot in President Barack Obama's administration.

Secretary of Aging and Long-Term Services Cindy Padilla submitted her resignation on Oct. 26. The governor's chief of staff requested the resignation because the administration has a zero tolerance policy for drunken driving, according to a Richardson spokeswoman.

In late October, Padilla was named principal

A fourth teen is facing murder charges in the beating death of a Chicago high school honor student last month.

The 14-year-old's name isn't being released. He was charged Thursday as a juvenile and appeared Friday before a judge.

Prosecutors allege the teen delivered the punch that rendered the 16-year-old Derrion Albert briefly unconscious. His attorney and family members refused to comment after the hearing.

Three other teens have been indicted on murder charges in Albert's

A Wisconsin man who got his cheesehead hat signed by President Barack Obama has decided to donate it to a museum rather than sell it on eBay.

Mansfield Neblett told The Associated Press in an e-mail Friday he decided to donate the triangular, bright yellow hat to the Wisconsin Historical Society. Obama signed the hat Wednesday during a visit to a Madison middle school that Neblett's daughter attends.

Fans often wear the hats shaped like slices of cheese to Green Bay Packers games.

The

An 85-foot blue spruce soon will embark on a long journey from the mountains of northeastern Arizona to Washington, D.C., to stand as the Capitol Christmas tree.

The 7,000-pound tree that is taller than a seven-story building will be harvested Saturday. From Alpine, it will go on a statewide tour before arriving at the Capitol on Nov. 30.

The tradition of having states provide a Capitol Christmas tree started nearly 40 years ago. This is the first year the tree will come from Arizona.

"It's

A sculpture of a New Zealand government minister crafted from cow manure sold for New Zealand dollars 3,080 ($2,220) on an auction Web site. The bust of New Zealand Environment Minister Nick Smith, sculpted as a protest by artist Sam Mahon, attracted 112 bids before being picked up by an anonymous buyer on Friday.

Mahon said he created the sculpture, and chose the medium, to protest what he considers Smith's too-soft stance on pollution created by dairy farms. He said the bust did not smell

Thousands of family members, friends and colleagues said farewell Friday to seven Coast Guard members who died when their plane collided with a Marine helicopter off the San Diego coast.

"No ceremony is as difficult as this one, at this place, at this time," Adm. Thad Allen, the Coast Guard commandant, said at a memorial service at Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento, where the crew was based.

The Coast Guard members were on a C-130 plane searching for a missing boater when the aircraft

A Michigan man charged with killing an abortion protester and a business owner told police he had guns loaded in his truck when he took two nieces and a friend to school just before the shooting spree.

An affidavit unsealed Friday also says 33-year-old trucker Harlan Drake told police he shot 61-year-old Mike Fuoss and 63-year-old abortion foe James Pouillon on Sept. 11 in Owosso, 70 miles northwest of Detroit.

Authorities say Drake didn't like Pouillon's graphic signs and held a

A man serving time for killing his infant son and trekking around the country with the child's body pleaded not guilty Friday to doing the same thing to his baby daughter.

Prosecutors contend that Jason Hann stuffed 2-month-old Montana Hann's corpse into a trash bag in 2001 then kept it in trailers and motorhomes for nine months as he and his girlfriend moved from state to state doing odd jobs.

The body was finally discovered in an Arkansas storage facility.

Hann, 34, pleaded

Authorities in Wisconsin say a deputy shot an inmate at a hospital in suburban Milwaukee after the inmate began a scuffle.

Waukesha Memorial Hospital Kathy Allen says the inmate is in critical condition there with a gun shot wound. She says the inmate was at the hospital for treatment when he became unruly.

The Waukesha County Sheriff's Department says the deputy who shot the inmate was not injured. Authorities declined to say whether the inmate was trying to escape.

The sheriff's

Two 16-year-old boys have been charged as adults in the death of a 16-year-old girl who was shot after a homecoming football game in Long Beach.

Los Angeles County prosecutors say Tom Love Vinson and Daivion Davis were charged Friday with one count each of murder and two counts each of attempted murder.

Davis pleaded not guilty Friday. Vinson's arraignment was continued to Nov. 16.

Police say honor student Melody Ross was an innocent bystander who was shot when two gangs had

As the lone survivor of a deadly 2007 Connecticut home invasion called for an investigation into why prison officials let a writer interview one of the defendants for a book, the state attorney general said Friday a probe has already begun.

William Petit, whose wife and daughters were killed in their Cheshire home, said he wants Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal to investigate what Petit calls "gaffes" and "miscues" involving Joshua Komisarjevsky's interviews with writer Brian

Iraq's foreign minister has reiterated his country's request for a high-level international envoy to investigate the extent of foreign involvement in recent bombings of government institutions.

In a letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon circulated Friday, Hoshyar Zebari said the aim of the attacks on Aug. 19 and Oct. 25, which killed and injured hundreds of civilians, was "to paralyze the Iraqi state and its institutions and to abort the democratic political process under way in Iraq."

"These

An animal rights group on Friday asked a U.S. Department of Agriculture agency to look into an owner's treatment of a circus elephant that escaped and was hit by a sport utility vehicle on a northwestern Oklahoma highway.

The 29-year-old female elephant, meanwhile, was treated by veterinarians at Oklahoma State University and released to its owner, said university spokesman Gary Shutt. Shutt would only say that the animal's injuries were not major.

The group In Defense of Animals

A wealthy health care executive came home one night in September to find a terrifying note from his wife, Quinn Gray: The 37-year-old housewife and mother of two had been abducted from her posh Florida beach community.

"There are three men holding me right now and they want $50,000 cash," Gray wrote. "Do not do anything stupid. NO COPS!"

Authorities say the 25-year-old mechanic charged with trying to extort thousands from Gray's husband wasn't her captor _ but her accomplice and lover.

Fort Hood suspect gave away belongings, said methodical goodbyes, before shooting rampage

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) _ As if going off to war, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan cleaned out his apartment, gave leftover frozen broccoli to one neighbor and called another to thank him for his friendship _ common courtesies and routines of the departing soldier. Instead, authorities say, he went on the killing spree that left 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, dead.

Investigators examined Hasan's computer,

A civilian police officer is being praised for taking down a man suspected of opening fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood when she shot him in the torso.

Police officials say after arriving at the scene of Thursday's gunfire, Sgt. Kimberly Munley saw the suspect and started firing at him.

Munley's boss, Chuck Medley, told The Associated Press on Friday that Hasan then spun around and charged at her with a gun in each hand.

Medley says Munley shot the alleged gunman, Maj. Nidal

An appeals court has ruled Pennsylvania State Police botched a prostitution investigation in which troopers gave an informant money to pay for sex four times at a massage parlor, along with a total of $180 for the man's trouble.

The Superior Court opinion issued Thursday upheld a Lehigh County judge's ruling that threw out prostitution charges against Sun Cha Chon in suburban Allentown on the grounds that the government had acted outrageously.

The appeals court ruling described how

A Guatemalan designated as one of the world's biggest drug kingpins has been convicted of cocaine importation and distribution charges.

Jorge Mario Paredes-Cordova (HOR'-heh MAH'-reeoh Pah-REH-dess Cor-DOH'-vah) was convicted Friday by a federal jury in Manhattan on charges he led a drug-trafficking syndicate that smuggled tons of cocaine into the country from Central America.

Paredes-Cordova was captured in Honduras in May 2008 while living there under a false identity. Before that,

Noor Faleh Almaleki just wanted to be a normal American woman.

The striking 20-year-old from Iraq, who'd lived in Phoenix since she was a young girl, wanted her hair and makeup to be perfect, her clothes to be fashionable. She wanted a job, a degree and a husband of her choosing.

On her Facebook page, Noor posted photos of herself and wrote: "I am spectacular," punctuated with a smiley face emoticon.

But Noor's father had a much different ideal for his daughter: a life in strict

Police say an Ohio man sent a letter to a business associate saying his family would soon be dead before fatally shooting his wife, son and himself.

The businessman who received the letter, William Beer, says John Eckard was ill and the family, which owned a used car dealership, lived beyond its means. Beers called police immediately after reading the letter Thursday morning.

Pataskala Police Chief Chris Forshey says Eckard left behind a number of letters indicating legal and financial

Some documents detailing the case against a former Yale University employee accused of killing a graduate student must be unsealed and made available to the public in three business days, a Connecticut judge ruled Friday.

New Haven Superior Court Judge Roland Fasano said certain sensitive information will remain confidential, and his ruling gave attorneys for Raymond Clark III enough time to appeal if they wish.

Clark, 24, is charged with murder in the death of 24-year-old Annie Le,

A federal judge imposed an unusual election system on a suburban village Friday, nearly two years after finding that the existing system was unfair to Hispanics.

The village, Port Chester, is run by a mayor and six trustees. Under the new system, called cumulative voting, residents will be allowed to cast as many as six votes for one trustee candidate.

No Hispanic had ever been elected trustee or mayor in the village 25 miles northeast of New York City, although the population of

An Army medical official says the man suspected of opening fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood has been transferred to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.

Hospital spokeswoman Maria Gallegos says Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is in stable condition in the intensive care unit at the hospital on Fort Sam Houston outside San Antonio, about 150 miles southwest of Fort Hood.

Gallegos said Friday that the "shooter is here." She would not provide more details.

Hasan is accused of

In an Oct. 30 story about African-American Muslims, The Associated Press reported erroneously that a 2007 Pew survey estimated that 35 percent of the nation's Muslims were African-American. The survey estimated that 20 percent were African-American.

The floor of VFW Post 291 has been scuffed by the shoes and boots of veterans who fought in wars going back nearly a century, to World War I.

The setting is a comfort for Willis Cochran, who served in the Navy during the Vietnam War.

But his jaw tightens and face darkens as he remembers what happened when he returned to his hometown of Bainbridge, Ga., 43 years ago.

"I was treated like trash. I tell you what hurt the worst was when the old woman spit on me," said Cochran,

A 22-year-old man accused of posing as a student at two Arizona high schools wanted to play basketball and hoped to get a college scholarship, authorities said.

Yuma police on Wednesday arrested Anthony M. Avalos on charges of forgery and sexual conduct with a minor. They said he fraudulently attended Kofa High School and Vista Alternative School intermittently since September 2008. He was a center on Kofa's basketball team.

Avalos remained jailed Friday on more than $110,000 bond.

A single hole-in-one is a big enough dream for most golfers. But two in one round? That's some luck. Reeves Barbour, the 30-year-old son of Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, had two aces in a single round Oct. 25 on a Robert Trent Jones course in Gainesville, Va.

Reeves Barbour told WJLA-TV in Arlington, Va., that he scored the first hole-in-one with a 7-iron on the par-3 ninth hole. He said he hit the ball 174 yards.

He got the second ace just two holes later, on the par-3 11th. Barbour

A woman in South Korea who tried to pass the written exam for a driver's license with near-daily attempts since April 2005 has finally succeeded on her 950th time. The aspiring driver spent more than 5 million won ($4,200) in application fees, but until now had failed to score the minimum 60 out of a possible 100 points needed to get behind the wheel for a driving test.

Cha Sa-soon, 68, finally passed the written exam with a score of 60 on Wednesday, said Choi Young-chul, a police official

Oregon police have charged a man with drunken driving after he called 911 to report his marijuana as stolen but the dispatcher couldn't understand him because he was vomiting while on the road.

Marion County sheriff's deputies say 21-year-old Calvin Hoover, of Salem, told dispatchers early Tuesday that someone had broken into his truck and stolen cash, a jacket and a small amount of marijuana while he was at a tavern in Salem.

He then called 911 again to complain that deputies had

Charges have been filed against three men accused of beating a man who sleepwalks after they found him asleep in one of the men's apartment. Iowa City Police Sgt. Troy Kelsay said the 21-year-old victim who was not identified, suffered injuries over most of his body. Kelsay said the man's injuries did not appear to require hospitalization, but the victim was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Three men were charged with willfully causing bodily injury. According to a criminal complaint,