ALL RECENT AP STORIES

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today: 1. THOUSANDS RALLY FOR LABOR REFORMS The workers paraded through Dhaka, Bangladesh, to demand safety at work after a garment factory building collapse that has killed over 400 people. 2. WHO WAS WATCHING THE ELDER BOSTON BOMBING SUSPECT Russia put Tamerlan Tsarnaev under surveillance during his six-month visit to Dagestan. 3. AGE FOR BUYERS OF MORNING-AFTER PILL LOWERED The FDA says 15-year-olds...

The Congressional Medal of Honor Society plans to honor the six educators killed in the December massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut with its highest civilian award. The society says Rachel D'Avino, Dawn Hochsprung, Anne Marie Murphy, Lauren Rousseau, Mary Sherlach and Victoria Soto exemplified courage, sacrifice and selflessness in trying to protect students from the gunman. Harold A. Fritz, the president of the society, tells the New Haven Register ( http://bit.ly/Zzk5yf...

Rhode Island appears poised to become the nation's 10th state to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry after a legislative panel voted Tuesday to forward same-sex marriage legislation to the full House for a final _ and largely procedural _ vote. The outcome of Thursday's House vote is not in doubt, as the House overwhelmingly passed an earlier version of the bill in January. The Senate passed the bill by a comfortable margin last week, but it had to return to the House because of small changes...

A woman whose mother was killed in last year's school shooting in Newtown, Conn., confronted Sen. Kelly Ayotte Tuesday during the senator's first public appearance in New Hampshire since voting against gun control legislation. About 150 people attended the town hall meeting, where Ayotte defended her vote against a bill that would have required criminal and mental health background checks for people buying guns online or at gun shows. After the vote two weeks ago, the New Hampshire Republican,...

Developers in Seattle have been leading the U.S. in building hundreds of tiny apartments _ some about the size of a generous parking spot _ to cater to solo young workers, retirees who prefer city living, students and others looking to downsize. Now, some residents are complaining that micro-apartments crowd too many people together, aren't compatible with some neighborhoods, don't encourage people to put down roots, and circumvent a design review process meant to get public input. They're pushing...

When Eva Nelson-McClendon first moved to Detroit's Birwood Street in 1959, she didn't know much about the wall across the street. At 6 feet tall and a foot thick, it wasn't so imposing, running as it did between houses on her street and one over. Then she started to hear the talk. Neighbors told her the wall was built two decades earlier with a simple aim: to separate homes planned for middle-class whites from blacks who had already built small houses or owned land with plans to build. "That...

"There are options that are available to me that are on the shelf right now that we have not deployed." _ President Barack Obama, who signaled he would consider U.S. military action against Syria if there's evidence chemical weapons were used in its civil war. ___ "Of course, family members will take possession of the body. We'll do it. We will do it. A family is a family." _ Tamerlan Tsarnaev's uncle, Ruslan Tsarni of Maryland, after the bombing suspect's wife agreed to release the body to his...

A second body was found Tuesday at a rugged site in the Santa Monica Mountains where a small plane crashed and burned after a midair collision with another small plane that managed to make a belly landing on a golf course, authorities said. The discovery was made as investigators examined the crash site and firefighters stood by to make sure the fire did not rekindle in windy conditions, said Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Tony Imbrenda. The plane went down Monday on a ridge in...

A day after a woman reported finding an abandoned newborn crying in the sand on a Hawaii beach, police arrested her and revealed she's the baby's mother. Keala Simeona, 21, of Honolulu, was arrested Tuesday for filing a false police report. Police don't expect to pursue additional offenses at this time. She posted $250 bail and was released. She had told police she was parked at Sandy Beach in east Honolulu sometime between 11:30 p.m. Sunday and midnight when she heard several people screaming....

Relatives of the deceased Boston Marathon bombing suspect will claim his body now that his wife has agreed to release it, an uncle said Tuesday. Tamerlan Tsarnaev's body has been at the medical examiner's office in Massachusetts since he died after a gunfight with authorities more than a week ago. Amato DeLuca, the Rhode Island attorney for his widow, Katherine Russell, said in a statement Tuesday that his client had just learned that the medical examiner was ready to release Tsarnaev's body...

The Federal Reserve is widely expected Wednesday to stick with its aggressive efforts to strengthen a still-subpar economy. The Fed will likely end a two-day meeting with a statement noting that job growth remains modest and that it's standing by its campaign to keep loan rates at record lows to help ease unemployment. The central bank's efforts include buying $85 billion a month in Treasurys and mortgage bonds to try to keep long-term borrowing costs down. Investors will have only the Fed's...

Government authorities should end the practice of placing juveniles' names on publicly accessible sex-offender registries, Human Rights Watch says in a report warning of lasting and unwarranted harm to some youths. Some law enforcement officials and victims' rights advocates agree the current registry system is flawed and support steps to allow more discretion in juvenile offenders' cases. Offenses triggering inclusion on the registries can range widely _ from rape to consensual sex between children...

A day after a woman reported finding an abandoned newborn crying in the sand on a Hawaii beach, police arrested her and revealed she's the baby's mother. Keala Simeona, 21, of Honolulu, was arrested Tuesday for filing a false police report. Police don't expect to pursue additional offenses at this time. She posted $250 bail and was released. She had told police she was parked at Sandy Beach in east Honolulu sometime between 11:30 p.m. Sunday and midnight when she heard several people screaming....

Ricin was found in the former martial arts studio of the man suspected of sending poison letters to President Barack Obama and other public officials, and was also discovered on a dust mask and other items he threw in the trash, federal prosecutors said in a court document made public Tuesday. The affidavit says an FBI surveillance team saw James Everett Dutschke remove several items from the studio in Tupelo, Miss., on April 22 and dump them in a trash bin about 100 yards down the street. The...

Costs tied to the long-running shutdown of California's San Onofre nuclear power plant have soared to $553 million, while the majority owner raised the possibility Tuesday of retiring the plant if it can't get one reactor running later this year. The twin-domed plant between San Diego and Los Angeles has not produced electricity since January 2012, when a tiny radiation leak led to the discovery of unusual damage to hundreds of tubes that carry radioactive water. Edison International _ the parent...

Police were trying to determine if there's a link between a man accused of breaking into an apartment in Placerville and trying to kidnap a toddler, and the killing of an 8-year-old girl about 45 miles away in Calaveras County, a newspaper reported Tuesday. Police arrested Jason Wryrynen, 44, after getting a call around 8 a.m. Tuesday that he had entered the apartment and tried to take a 15-month-old girl from her mother, The Sacramento Bee reported ( http://bit.ly/18lVptq ). Wryrynen tried...

Authorities in southern Kentucky say a 2-year-old girl has been accidentally shot and killed by her 5-year-old brother, who was playing with a .22-caliber rifle he received as a gift. Kentucky State Police said the toddler was shot just after 1 p.m. CDT Tuesday in Cumberland County and was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was later pronounced dead. Cumberland County Coroner Gary White told the Lexington Herald-Leader that the children's mother was at home at the time. White told the newspaper...

A charter passenger jet made an emergency landing Tuesday in Bermuda after the captain reported a possible fire in the cabin, officials in the British island territory said. Thomas Cook Airlines Flight 149 landed safely in Hamilton and the passengers and crew were safely evacuated, said Lt. Jay Donawa, a spokesman for the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service. "No injuries were reported and there was no fire on board when the aircraft landed," Donawa said. The A330 aircraft had 338 passengers and...

The man who packed the parachutes used by infamous skyjacker D.B. Cooper more than four decades ago has been identified as the victim of a homicide in Washington state. However, authorities say they have no reason to think the death of 71-year-old Earl Cossey was linked to the Cooper case. The King County Medical Examiner's Office said Tuesday that Cossey died April 23 of blunt force trauma to the head. Cossey's daughter found his body Friday when she went to his home in the Seattle suburb of...

A California woman faces attempted murder charges after police say she tried to sneak orange juice bottles spiked with a lethal amount of rubbing alcohol inside a Starbucks. San Jose Police arrested Ramineh Behbehanian, 50, late Monday. A customer reported seeing the woman take two bottles of orange juice from her bag and place them in an open-air refrigerated display case at a Starbucks in San Jose around 3:45 p.m., Sgt. Jason Dwyer said Tuesday. When the customer told a store manager what...

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Wednesday: 1. OVER-THE-COUNTER MORNING-AFTER PILL APPROVED _ IF YOU'RE AT LEAST 15 The FDA will require cashiers to check the buyer's age. 2. OBAMA WEIGHS OPTIONS IN SYRIA He says supplying weapons and ammunition to Syrian rebels is on the table _ but not unilateral action. 3. WHAT THE FEDS FOUND IN SUSPICIOUS LETTERS SUSPECT'S TRASH An affidavit says authorities found a dust mask and other items...

A Kansas high school principal who barred a member of the Air Force from escorting his sister to prom has apologized to him in an attempt to quell a firestorm that's been fueled by a YouTube video of the debacle and the girl's heartfelt letter to the newspaper. A policy change allowing exceptions to the age limitation will be presented at Monday's upcoming school board meeting, Deputy Superintendent Paul Larkin said Tuesday. Current policy in the district located in the southwest Kansas community...

The U.S. military's highest court has reversed a discharged Marine's criminal conviction for slitting his wrists in a case that raised questions about whether suicidal service members should be prosecuted. The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces ruled in a 3-2 decision released late Monday that a military judge shouldn't have accepted Pvt. Lazzaric Caldwell's guilty plea in 2010 to a charge of "wrongful self-injury without intent to avoid service" because his plea offer was technically insufficient....

A dozen Cleveland police supervisors face internal discipline charges stemming from a chase that saw officers fire 137 shots and kill a fleeing driver and his passenger, the city's police chief said Tuesday. The supervisors failed to take control of the 19-mile chase that began outside police headquarters and wound through neighborhoods before ending in a barrage of gunfire, Chief Michael McGrath said. An internal police review showed that both officers and supervisors broke department policies....

Monster Beverage is suing San Francisco's city attorney over demands that the company reduce the amount of caffeine in its energy drinks and stop marketing to minors. The company, based in Corona, Calif., says it's being unfairly singled out by City Attorney Dennis Herrera, who late last year had asked Monster to produce documentation showing that its drinks are safe. Since then, Monster says Herrera has asked it to reformulate its drinks and change its labels and marketing materials. Herrera...

Rhode Island appears poised to become the nation's 10th state to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry after a legislative panel voted Tuesday to forward same-sex marriage legislation to the full House for a final _ and largely procedural _ vote. The outcome of Thursday's House vote is not in doubt, as the House overwhelmingly passed an earlier version of the bill in January. The Senate passed the bill by a comfortable margin last week, but it had to return to the House because of small changes...

Ever since Superstorm Sandy devastated parts of the Jersey shore last October, officials have planned for a new system of protective sand dunes along the entirety of the 127-mile coast. And also since the day of the storm, some homeowners have refused to sign easements giving federal and state officials permission to do the work. Their stated reasons have been fears that boardwalks, bathrooms, snack stands or amusement rides might be built nearby. On Tuesday, Gov. Chris Christie rejected those...

State-appointed managers will take over the El Paso Independent School District after the U.S. Department of Justice said it won't oppose ousting the locally elected school board in the wake of a testing scandal at several of high schools. Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams named the new board of managers in December, saying the replacements were needed to regain the public trust. Williams said he plans to attend the official swearing-in ceremony and the board's first meeting next Tuesday....

A government watchdog has criticized an official's decision to grant a Central California American Indian tribe federal recognition, which gave it the right to federal benefits and a reservation where it could pursue a casino. The U.S. Department of Interior's Office of Inspector General said in a report released Tuesday that it found no discernible process followed by then-Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk to recognize the Tejon Indian Tribe in 2011 over at least one other...

Everyone got stood up at one Southern California high school's prom. The dance itself was a no-show. KABC-TV Los Angeles reports ( http://bit.ly/18lwRRb ) dozens of tuxedo-clad and corsage-wearing teens from Bloomington High School traveled 40 miles to Santa Anita Park on Saturday, only to discover they hadn't been told that the date of the big night had changed. Instead of the enchanting evening they were expecting, students were served chicken strips in a hastily arranged small hall where...

An Army major and his wife disciplined their three foster children over a span of several years by withholding food and water and assaulting them severely enough to cause broken bones, a federal indictment released Tuesday charged. John and Carolyn Jackson of Mount Holly made an initial court appearance and were detained Tuesday pending a bail hearing Thursday. They face 17 counts including endangerment, assault and conspiracy. John Jackson surrendered after his wife was arrested at their home,...

An Oregon cleaning worker was killed when he fell into a running blender at a meat-processing plant, the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office said. Deputy Nate Thompson identified the worker as Hugo Avalos-Chanon, 41, of Portland. He worked for DCS Sanitation Management, a cleaning company that has a contract with Interstate Meat Distributors. Paramedics and sheriff's deputies were called around 11:45 p.m. Friday, after Avalos-Chanon was found entangled in the machinery. Another worker had hit an...

Maryland's governor said Tuesday that changes are needed at a Baltimore jail, including a revamped process for hiring corrections officers, after 13 female officers were among 25 people indicted in an alleged contraband-smuggling conspiracy. Gov. Martin O'Malley called the allegations arising from last week's federal indictment ugly and shocking after court papers claimed the ring also involved sex between inmates and guards that led to four female officers becoming pregnant by a jailhouse gang...

A man charged with stabbing three people at an Albuquerque Catholic church because he thought a choir leader was a Mason vandalized a Masonic lodge hours before his attack, police said. Lawrence Capener, 24, told police that he tagged the Sandoval No. 76 Masonic Lodge in Rio Rancho with spray paint on Sunday, authorities said. Police later found red and blue spray paint on signs, outside walls and a door. Investigators said he also left the message, "I hope you guess who I am." Capener is...

A Houston man who admitted shooting his daughter outside a Texas courthouse was convicted Tuesday of capital murder for the death of a 79-year-old bystander. Bartholomew Granger, 42, testified in his own defense that he didn't shoot Minnie Ray Sebolt last March when he opened fire on his daughter outside the Jefferson County Courthouse in downtown Beaumont. Granger said he was angry with his daughter for testifying against him in a sex assault case. The daughter and her mother were among three...

A Kansas doctor charged with operating a pill mill out of his Manhattan clinic that was popular among police officers and Fort Riley soldiers made a brief court appearance Tuesday and waived his right to a preliminary hearing. Federal authorities say Michael P. Schuster issued prescriptions for painkillers and antidepressants after putting patients through cursory examinations. They say several patients overdosed, including an unspecified number of soldiers and soldiers' family members. The 53-year-old...

The daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro will be allowed to travel to Philadelphia to accept an award for her gay rights advocacy, officials said Tuesday, reversing a previous decision to reject her visa request. Mariela Castro will attend the Equality Forum's annual conference on civil rights for lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender people, according to Malcolm Lazin, the advocacy group's executive director. Lazin, who had blasted the State Department's travel denial last week, said organizers...

A Colorado gun accessories manufacturer that vowed to leave the state because of a new gun control law says it is now making some items out-of-state. Erie-based Magpul revealed the move in a Facebook posting late Monday in response to a customer question. The posting said PMAG magazines, which can hold 10 to 30 rounds, are being made outside of Colorado for the first time. Sights are also being made elsewhere. Boulder's Daily Camera ( http://bit.ly/Zy85wI ) reports that the company plans to...

The Roman Catholic archbishop of Cincinnati expressed sadness and offered prayers Tuesday for a wounded student, his family and those in the school community in the aftermath of a classroom suicide attempt. The student remained hospitalized in critical condition as classes resumed at La Salle High School, an all-male Catholic school west of Cincinnati. Police said the 17-year-old student used a .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun that was usually kept in a family safe in his home. It wasn't clear...

A second body was found Tuesday at a rugged site in the Santa Monica Mountains where a small plane crashed and burned after a midair collision with another small plane that managed to make a belly landing on a golf course, authorities said. The discovery was made as investigators examined the crash site and firefighters stood by to make sure the fire did not rekindle in advance of predicted windy conditions, said Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Tony Imbrenda. The plane went down...

The former neighborhood watch leader charged with fatally shooting a Florida teenager told a judge Tuesday that he agrees with his defense attorneys' decision not to seek an immunity hearing under the state's "Stand Your Ground" self-defense law. Under questioning from Circuit Judge Debra Nelson, George Zimmerman repeatedly said "yes" to a series of questions asking if he was aware he was giving up the right to a hearing before his second-degree murder trial in June. A judge would have sole discretion...

New Mexico investigators are looking for more victims of an unlicensed tooth doctor found operating as a "mobile dentist" out of a sedan around Santa Fe. Authorities are asking all victims of a man known as "El Dentista" to file a report. Santa Fe police say they want to build a strong case against Eliver Kestler, also known as Eliver Lopez. The 36-year-old was arrested April 20 following a tip from a former customer. Investigators discovered Kestler with a portable drill machine and other dental...

A Somali national was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for killing the mother of his child and three other people in North Dakota two years ago. Omar Mohamed Kalmio, 28, declined to comment following the 30-minute sentencing hearing, the Minot Daily News reported ( http://bit.ly/ZxYxSA ). Judge Douglas Mattson sentenced Kalmio to four consecutive terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Kalmio was convicted of fatally shooting 19-year-old Sabrina Zephier on Jan. 28, 2011,...

Syria's U.N. ambassador said Tuesday that the use of chemical weapons is not only "a red line" but "a blood line" that cannot be tolerated and again demanded a U.N. investigation of an alleged chemical weapons attack in Aleppo that it blames on rebels. Bashar Ja'afari said at a news conference that his government has bodies and other proof that chemical weapons were used in Khan al-Assad in Aleppo on March 19 and it wants this incident investigated first. The rebels blame the government for the...

Bodies tensed and noses twitching, the dogs sniff the hunting ground before them: a lower Manhattan alley, grimy, dim and perfect for rats. With a terse command _ "Now!" _ the chase is on. Circling, bounding over and pawing at a mound of garbage bags, the four dogs quickly have rodents on the run. "Come on ... I mean, `tally ho!' says one of their owners, Susan Friedenberg. In a whirl of barks, pants and wagging tails, dogs tunnel among the bags and bolt down the alley as their quarry tries to...

About 400 water customers around a small community in the north Georgia mountains have been told not to drink their tap water following a break-in at a treatment plant. Chatsworth Water Works manager Steve Smith says someone changed the settings for how chlorine and fluoride feed into the system. He says about 10 to 15 residents near the Carters Lake Water Treatment Plant in Murray County have no water at all. The FBI, Georgia Bureau of Investigation and a sheriff's department are investigating...

Superstorm Sandy released 11 billion gallons of sewage from East Coast treatment plants into bodies of water from Washington, D.C., to Connecticut, according to a report released Tuesday by a science journalism group. Princeton, N.J.-based Climate Central said that future sewage leaks are a major risk because rising sea levels can make coastal flooding more severe. The group, which compiled data from state agencies and treatment plant operators, did not look at the specific environmental or public...

Two sisters in Northern California facing charges that they endangered infants' lives by binding them too tightly in swaddling blankets have pleaded not guilty. The Oakland Tribune ( http://bit.ly/11T42tt0 ) reports that Nazila and Lida Sharaf entered their pleas Monday in Alameda County Superior Court. The sisters have been released from custody after posting $340,000 bail each. They are each charged with three counts of felony child abuse and neglect and four counts of misdemeanor child abuse...

The New York City medical examiner's office says its workers are now sifting soil for possible human remains at a site near the World Trade Center where a plane part was found last week. Personnel from the fire and police departments also were at the scene Tuesday. The aircraft part was discovered last Wednesday, wedged between an apartment building and a mosque. In 2010, the mosque prompted national debate about Islam and freedom of speech because it's located just blocks from ground zero....

A New Hampshire man credited with saving the life of a 12-year-old Maine girl being mauled by her family's pit bulls says the two dogs were trying to "tear the girl apart." Adam Horr, of Dover, N.H., was visiting friends in Lebanon on Saturday when he heard screams. He knew immediately it was "something bad," so he sprinted 75 yards through some woods that separate the properties. The 41-year-old Horr tells The Portland Press Herald ( http://bit.ly/ZTnc3t ) he didn't have time to be scared....

A New Jersey second-grade teacher will appeal his firing for insubordination and inappropriate behavior, including urinating in class, his lawyer says. The Record newspaper ( http://bit.ly/Yj144i ) reports Ron Tuitt released a statement in which he denied sending students to flush bottles of his urine. He has taught in Paterson's schools since 1996. State Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf approved removing Tuitt's tenure protection and firing him on April 18. The state found the teacher...

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today: 1. DEATH TOLL EXPECTED TO SOAR IN BANGLADESH One estimate said as many as 1,400 may be found dead in the collapsed building as emergency workers dig toward the ground floor. 2. POWERFUL EXPLOSION IN SYRIA The blast in the capital of Damascus killed 13 people and wounded dozens a day after Syria's prime minister escaped an assassination attempt. 3. THE HIDDEN JOLT IN SNACK FOOD Food makers...

One lawyer won acquittal for a Saudi man charged with carrying three firecracker-like devices on a plane, arguing he was a victim of hysteria over airport security after the Sept. 11 attacks. Another has managed to avert death sentences for some of the highest-profile criminals of our time, including the Unabomber and the gunman whose rampage injured former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Together, they are staring down what may become their biggest challenge so far: how to defend the man authorities...

"It is disturbing. We're concerned about whether they have been adequately evaluated." _ Michael Taylor, FDA's deputy commissioner of foods in an interview after the Food and Drug Administration said it will investigate the safety of foods boasting added caffeine for an energy boost. ___ "I have roughly 30 men in my platoon. As a leader, I didn't want to tell my soldiers that they needed to go to air assault school, if I am not air assault qualified." _ Sgt. 1st Class Greg Robinson after becoming...

Two small airplanes collided in midair over the Southern California mountains Monday, sending one crashing into a rocky ridge and killing its pilot while the second was able to maneuver a belly-flop landing on a nearby golf course, officials said. Rescuers searched through the wreckage of the plane that crashed and sparked a fire in rocky terrain in Calabasas and found the body of one person believed to be the only one aboard, Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said. Firefighters...

The FBI has begun examining the relationship between Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen and the chief executive of a nutritional supplements manufacturer that is the subject of a federal investigation, two people with knowledge of the review said Monday. Federal authorities began questioning people close to the McDonnells as an outgrowth of a securities probe of Virginia-based Star Scientific Inc., said the two people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because their roles in...

NBA player Jason Collins may have shocked the sports world Monday by announcing he is gay, but he did not shock U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III. Collins shared his decision to come out with the Massachusetts Democrat in a phone conversation earlier this month. That's when Collins told Kennedy, his roommate at Stanford University more than a decade ago, that Kennedy helped inspire his decision to make history. Collins writes in an article posted on Sports Illustrated's website that he realized he must...

A region of oak-studded hills in California, where big-city dwellers come to get away from crime, was on lockdown Monday, two days after a mysterious intruder stabbed an 8-year-old girl to death at home before being spotted by her 12-year-old brother. With the suspect still on the loose, some of the kids in this enclave nestled in the Sierra Nevada foothills were hunkering down after school at James Barci's ranch. "Nobody is staying alone," said Barci, a truck driver and parent volunteer at...

A Mississippi man's house is uninhabitable after investigators searched it but failed to find evidence of the deadly poison ricin, a lawyer said Monday, arguing that the government should repair the home. Kevin Curtis was once charged in the mailing of poisoned letters to President Barack Obama, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker and a Mississippi judge, but the charges were later dropped. The investigation shifted last week to another man who had a falling out with Curtis, and that suspect appeared in court...

Two small airplanes collided in midair over the Southern California mountains Monday, sending one crashing into a rocky ridge and killing its pilot while the second was able to maneuver a belly-flop landing on a nearby golf course, officials said. Rescuers searched through the wreckage of the plane that crashed and sparked a fire in rocky terrain in Calabasas and found the body of one person believed to be the only one aboard, Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said. Firefighters...

A camp ranger whose truck was taken by Christopher Dorner filed a lawsuit Monday for the $1 million reward offered for information leading to the capture of the rogue ex-cop believed to have committed suicide after killing four others during a rampage and manhunt. Rick Heltebrake filed a breach-of-contract suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court claiming his call to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department after Dorner ordered him and his dog out of the truck and fled on Feb. 12 directly...

Arizona cities and counties that hold community gun buyback events will have to sell the surrendered weapons instead of destroying them under a bill Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law Monday. The bill was championed by Republicans in the GOP-controlled Legislature who argued that municipalities were skirting a 2010 law that was tightened last year and requires police to sell seized weapons to federally licensed dealers. They argued that destroying property turned over to the government is a waste...

Two people close to a federal investigation of a nutritional supplements manufacturer say the FBI is examining the relationship the company and its chief executive have with Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife. The people asked not to be identified because their roles in the case preclude them from speaking publicly. They said Monday that the FBI began questioning people close to the McDonnells as an outgrowth of a securities probe of Virginia-based Star Scientific Inc. They said questions...

A man who told authorities months ago that he wanted to be killed by police entered a suburban Salt Lake City police station Monday and pointed a gun at an officer and a records clerk, prompting another officer to open fire on him, wounding the man in the arm. The shooting at about 8:30 a.m. in the heart of West Valley City caused panic at a bustling train and bus stop nearby, with people taking cover as they heard gunshots and saw officers storm outside with their weapons drawn. No one else...

It looks like Spider-Man does have sticky fingers. Los Angeles police were searching Monday for a man in a Spider-Man costume who authorities say snatched $6,000 from a tour company office on Hollywood Boulevard. Hollywood's Walk of Fame area is popular with street performers who dress as movie characters and try to earn tips by posing for photos with tourists. Officer Chris No tells the Los Angeles Times ( http://lat.ms/ZZl2LE ) that several street performers were questioned. No one has been...

Police in Alabama are asking for the public's help in finding the gunman who fatally shot a woman who was holding her 10-day old son. Birmingham Police Sgt. Johnny Williams says the victim, identified as 24-year-old Sherri Williams, was holding her baby and standing in the doorway of an apartment in the Gate City neighborhood when shots rang out Monday afternoon. Officials say two men at a nearby store got into a fight. One of the men chased the other down the street and fired a gun as he ran....

Lawrence Capener was shaking hands with his fellow churchgoers at Sunday Mass, exchanging the traditional peace offerings when people next to him noticed something strange _ his hands were quite sweaty and clammy. Then, as the choir began singing a hymn to wrap up Mass, the man bolted from his pew, ran to the choir area and started stabbing the choir leader and others, witnesses said. Parishioners screamed and ran for cover and others, including the church flutist, tried to subdue him. Police...

A baby girl was abandoned and found crying in the sand at a Hawaii beach soon after she was born, human services officials said Monday. The full-term, 8-pound newborn was "abandoned immediately after birth," state Department of Human Services Director Patricia McManaman said. A woman parked at Sandy Beach in east Honolulu sometime between 11 p.m. Sunday and midnight heard several people screaming, police spokeswoman Michelle Yu said. A few minutes later the screaming stopped and the woman heard...

Sgt. 1st Class Greg Robinson has become the first amputee to complete Army air assault school, a course so grueling his prosthetic leg broke twice over the 10 days spent rappelling down ropes, navigating obstacle courses and completing strenuous road marches. Each year thousands of soldiers are physically and mentally tested at the Fort Campbell school. Instructors said Robinson accomplished everything other participants did and trainers cut him no slack even though he lost part of his right leg...

Two billboards in which images of Native Americans are used to make a gun rights argument are causing a stir with some Colorado residents who say the image is offensive and insensitive. The billboards in this northern Colorado city show three men dressed in traditional Native American attire and the words "Turn in your arms. The government will take care of you." Matt Wells, an account executive with Lamar Advertising in Denver, said Monday that a group of local residents purchased the space....

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Tuesday: 1. WHAT'S NEXT FOR BANGLADESH FACTORY WORKERS Some survivors of the collapse pledge to never work in the garment industry again, but many will return. The choices are just too few. 2. SYRIA'S PRIME MINISTER NARROWLY SURVIVES ASSASINATION ATTEMPT The bombing killed several other people and highlights an accelerating campaign targeting government officials. 3. WHERE TO GET A CAFFEINE JOLT...

Police in India have arrested a man who allowed his 9-year-old son to drive his Ferrari. Mohammed Nisham was arrested on charges of endangering the life of a child and allowing a minor to drive, said Inspector Biju Kumar. He was released after posting bail of 5,000 rupees ($92), Kumar said. Nisham's wife filmed the boy driving the sports car on his 9th birthday two weeks ago with his 5-year-old brother in the passenger seat. The video was widely watched on YouTube and created an outrage across...

Preparations for a major Red River flood may be all for naught. The National Weather Service on Monday lowered the expected crest forecast in Fargo and Moorhead, Minn., to 35.5 feet on Wednesday. That's down from the 37-foot prediction issued Sunday. A 35.5-foot crest would be the ninth-highest, but would cause little damage after recent efforts to build permanent levees and buy out homes in low-lying areas. Residents have spent the last week building clay levees and sandbag dikes to protect...

Attorneys for the Colorado theater shooting suspect suggested in a court filing Monday that they might be considering entering a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity over their client's objections. They raised that possibility in a document that outlines their dilemma over how to give plea advice to James Holmes, who could be executed if he's convicted of more than 160 counts of murder and attempted murder. Holmes' lawyers say overlapping elements of Colorado laws on insanity pleas and the...

A gay teacher who said she was fired by an Ohio Catholic school after her mother's published obituary included the name of her partner is fighting to get her job back. Carla Hale said she was told she was being let go because her relationship is against teachings of the church. She plans to file a complaint this week with the city of Columbus, which prohibits firings based on sexual orientation, her attorney said Monday. She already filed a grievance that is now in the hands of a union representing...

The U.S. Coast Guard and Navy continue to search a remote area in the middle of the Pacific Ocean for a British man who fell overboard from a troubled sailboat. United Kingdom officials reported to the U.S. Coast Guard in Hawaii on Saturday night that 38-year-old Luke Stinson fell from the vessel. Coast Guard Petty Officer Eric Chandler says a woman remained aboard and was later rescued. The Navy diverted warship USS Peleliu to help search for Stinson. The search continued Monday, with Navy helicopters...

A judge set bail Monday at $460,000 cash for a 28-year-old man who investigators allege was a Las Vegas Strip pimp who threatened and beat a woman when she tried to quit working as his prostitute _ including putting a wet towel over her face and suffocating her in an experience she told police was like being "water boarded." Arman Izadi won't post bail and intends to fight the 20 felony charges filed against him, his attorney said outside court. The charges include kidnapping, pandering, living...

A judge says a western Pennsylvania sheriff accused of threatening to cut a political campaign worker's hands off and shoot an online news reporter should go to trial. Judge Michael L. Gerheim heard nearly five hours of testimony Monday before agreeing most of the 11 charges against Beaver County Sheriff George David should go to trial. A grand jury report says David delivered expletive-fueled rants and uttered a racial slur to his victims. It says he threatened to cut off and eat a campaign...

The high-profile murder trial of a Philadelphia abortion provider sparked courtroom debate Monday over when life ends, a tweak of the politically charged question of when life begins. Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 72, faces capital murder charges in the deaths of four aborted babies, described by prosecutors as viable, born alive and then killed at his busy West Philadelphia clinic. In closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney Ed Cameron called Gosnell's operation an assembly line where a stream...

After a former suburban Chicago water official was convicted Monday for lying about secretly mixing carcinogen-tainted well water into the village's drinking supply, the sense of bitterness and betrayal among residents remained. Speaking through her tears shortly after the verdict, Crestwood resident Tricia Krause, who was credited with first raising the alarm about the water quality, said village officials had displayed shocking callousness. "What did the citizens of Crestwood and my family...

A Houston man accused in a shooting rampage outside a courthouse admitted Monday that he opened fire on his daughter for testifying against him in a sex assault case but denied killing a bystander. Closing arguments are scheduled for Tuesday, and jurors will then begin deciding whether to convict Bartholomew Granger, 42, in the death of 79-year-old Minnie Ray Sebolt. "I didn't kill her," Granger testified Monday. "I didn't have any more bullets. How could I have killed her?" Granger faces life...

Several friends and acquaintances of a petite 25-year-old gas station clerk who went missing while working the night shift have been ruled out in her disappearance, which western Michigan investigators are treating as an abduction, the local police chief said Monday. Police have frustratingly little evidence as they search for Jessica Heeringa, who disappeared Friday night shortly before the young mother was set to close an Exxon Mobil gas station in Norton Shores. The station didn't have...

A long-awaited bankruptcy hearing began Monday in which a St. Louis-based coal company insists it must significantly cut thousands of retirees' health care and pension benefits or risk liquidation _ a claim that its miners union strongly rejects. Patriot Coal Corp.'s proposed benefits cuts have been the most contentious aspect of its bankruptcy case since it filed for Chapter 11 protection last summer, when it estimated it would have to spend $1.6 billion to cover retirees' health care costs....

The rusted metal aircraft part believed to be from one of the hijacked jetliners that slammed into the World Trade Center in the Sept. 11 attacks came from a wing, not landing gear, police said Monday. The 5-foot piece is a trailing edge flap support structure, police said. It is located closer to the body of the plane and helps secure wing flaps that move in and out and aid in regulating plane speed. Investigators initially thought it was part of the landing gear because both pieces have similar-looking...

A day care worker charged with the abduction and rape of a 5-year-old girl who was found barely clothed and shivering in a chilly playground has been indicted by a grand jury. Nineteen-year-old Christina Regusters was the only person indicted by the grand jury on Monday in the Jan. 14 kidnapping. She is due in court for her formal arraignment on May 20. Regusters worked at an after-school care program attended by the girl and took the girl out of her classroom by posing as her mother, police...

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Monday that he was able to tweak a deal to privatize the city's parking meters that has proven to be a national embarrassment even as he acknowledged that the city is stuck for the next 71 years with a contract he inherited and despises. "We cannot make this bad deal go away and make it into a good one," the mayor said at a City Hall news conference of the $1.15 billion, 75-year deal reached in 2008 by predecessor Richard M. Daley that led to Chicago having...

A woman was convicted Monday of drugging her estranged husband, cutting off his penis and tossing it in the garbage disposal. Jurors found Catherine Kieu guilty of torture and aggravated mayhem for the July 11, 2011, attack. Sentencing was scheduled for June 28. Kieu faces a maximum sentence of life in prison with possibility of parole, the Orange County district attorney's office said. "This woman went to extreme lengths to destroy this man's manhood by placing it in the garbage disposal,"...

Ex-U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick of Detroit and six other former Congress members are presiding over hearings on the existence of extraterrestrials. The 30 hours of congressional-style hearings kicked off Monday and are scheduled to run through Friday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Those testifying hope to prove that aliens contact Earth _ and that the government is trying to keep it secret. Kilpatrick tells The Detroit News ( http://bit.ly/Y8HUMc ) she's been researching...

A Virginia man accused of throwing pipe bombs at Montana troopers during a highway chase last fall was to go on trial Monday on seven counts of attempting to kill a law-enforcement officer. A multistate manhunt for Laurence Alan Stewart II began Oct. 30 after Fredericksburg, Va., police said Stewart detonated pipe bombs at the home of his ex-fiancee and at two residences linked to Virginia deputies. Nobody was injured in those explosions. Authorities spotted Stewart Nov. 1 in central Montana....

Jury selection began Monday in the trial of an Ohio man charged with murder in the shooting of a man authorities said identified his assailant by blinking his eyes while paralyzed and hooked up to a ventilator. Ricardo Woods is charged with shooting David Chandler in the head and neck in Cincinnati on Oct. 28, 2010. Chandler could communicate only with his eyes before dying about two weeks later. The case has drawn national attention over prosecutors' plans to show jurors a videotaped police...

A Virginia man who pleaded guilty to three charges in a shooting that wounded a security guard inside the Washington headquarters of a conservative Christian lobbying group awaits sentencing in mid-summer. A judge on Monday scheduled a July 15 sentencing for Floyd Corkins II, who prosecutors say planned a mass shooting at the Family Research Council in August. Prosecutors have recommended a 45-year prison sentence. Corkins pleaded guilty in February to interstate transportation of a firearm,...

Dr. Kermit Gosnell is on trial, charged with murder, in the deaths of a female patient and four babies prosecutors say were born alive at the abortion clinic he ran. A look at the facts in the case: ___ THE INVESTIGATION In 2010, federal agents who were raiding Gosnell's clinic in search of drug violations instead stumbled upon "deplorable and unsanitary" conditions, including blood on the floor and parts of aborted fetuses in jars. State regulators shut down the Women's Medical Society clinic...

One World Trade Center already is New York's tallest building. And when the last pieces of its spire eventually rise to the roof, the 104-floor skyscraper that replaces the fallen twin towers will be just feet from becoming the highest in the Western Hemisphere. Officials had hoped that would happen Monday, but the weather did not cooperate and it was postponed due to high winds. The event will be rescheduled when conditions permit. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says the spire...

Two billboards in which images of Native Americans are used to make a gun rights argument are causing a stir with some residents who say the image is offensive and insensitive. The billboards in this northern Colorado city show three men dressed in traditional Native American attire and the words "Turn in your arms. The government will take care of you." Matt Wells, an account executive with Lamar Advertising in Denver, said Monday a group of local residents purchased the space. "They have asked...

Superstorm Sandy, a hybrid of a hurricane and two cold-weather systems, struck six months ago on Oct. 29, concentrating most of its fury on New Jersey, New York and Connecticut and becoming one of the most expensive storms in history. Six months later, the region is still recovering and the scope of the storm has come into sharper focus. Figures are as of Friday. ___ DEATHS The National Hurricane Center attributes 72 deaths in the United States directly to Sandy and 87 more indirectly, from...

Dozens of fired Los Angeles police officers are taking up the chief's offer to re-examine their dismissals since a deadly rampage by Christopher Dorner, who claimed that he was wrongly expelled from the force. The Los Angeles Times ( http://lat.ms/Y7E2uY ) reports 40 former officers have requested case reviews in the two months since Dorner killed four people before apparently committing suicide in a mountain cabin. Dorner claimed his 2009 firing was prompted by racism. Chief Charlie Beck vowed...

An Ohio girl is recovering after getting a critical kidney transplant _ with the organ donated by her former kindergarten teacher. Nicole Miller, an 8-year-old first-grader at Mansfield Christian School, got the kidney last week from Wendy Killian, who was her kindergarten teacher last year. "See you soon, sweet girl," Killian told Nicole just before they both taken into the pre-operation area last week, The Mansfield News Journal reported. Nicole suffered from a genetic disorder that caused...

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today: 1. GIVING UP HOPE FOR MORE BANGLADESH SURVIVORS Hydraulic cranes and heavy equipment were brought in to recover bodies from the collapse that has killed at least 380 people. 2. BOSTON SUSPECTS' MOTHER SAYS SHE'S NO TERRORIST Zubeidat Tsarnaeva tells the AP she found a deeper spirituality, calling charges against her sons "lies and hypocrisy." 3. SYRIAN PREMIER ESCAPES ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT...

Until Rubert Kerl's wife left him two months before the couple's 35th wedding anniversary, the soybean and corn farmer thought his dating days were over. Then, sullen and down 20 pounds fretting over the breakup, Kerl, of Mazomanie, Wis., happened to see a notice in his local paper about a group for single farmers seeking a social life. "You got to do something," he remembers telling himself. The ad was his ticket to meeting an unattached farm girl. "It was love at first sight," Kerl, 75, says...

"I just remember seeing him hurdle over the pews, hurdle over people and run towards us and I thought, `Oh my God, this is not good.'" _ Brenda Baca King, the pianist for the St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church choir in Albuquerque, N.M., where a man stabbed four people during Sunday mass. ___ "The building has minor damages. There is nothing serious." _ Mohammed Sohel Rana, the owner of a Bangladesh building that collapsed, reacting to inspectors' recommendations that the building be closed a...