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Since the days of Mark Twain, the San Francisco Bar Pilots have had it good. Thanks to outsized political clout and highly specialized training, this elite cadre, currently numbering 56 ship captains, has enjoyed monopoly control over the San Francisco Bay since 1850. State law requires a bar pilot to guide every large vessel _ be it a luxury liner, a billionaire's yacht, aircraft carrier or cargo ship _ in, out and around the San Francisco Bay. Most of the ships are docked at the Port of Oakland....

The tallest completed buildings in the United States, as measured from the lowest public entrance to the highest architectural element, not including antennas. After it is finished, One World Trade Center may take over the top spot, but only if you count its rooftop spire, which reaches to 1,776 feet. 1. Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower), Chicago, 1974: 1,451 feet. 2. Trump International Hotel and Tower, Chicago, 2009: 1,389 feet. 3. Empire State Building, New York, 1931: 1,250 feet. 4. Bank...

The hunger and pain weren't the worst of Victoria Grover's ordeal as she shivered alone for four days with a broken leg and no food in Utah's rugged wilderness. The toughest challenge was facing the "incredible" boredom and severe cold that came as nighttime temperatures dropped to the low 30s in the high desert, she said. A veteran outdoor enthusiast, the 59-year-old had set out on a 6-mile-long day hike Tuesday in the Dixie National Forest, but became stranded after breaking her leg during...

A hiker who endured four days with a broken leg and no food and shelter in the remote southern Utah high desert says her faith and medical background helped her pull through the ordeal. Victoria Grover, 59, a physician assistant from Wade, Maine, was recovering in a Utah hospital after being rescued Saturday in a rugged section of Dixie National Forest, north of the town of Escalante. Grover set out on a short day hike Tuesday from Hell's Backbone Road, and broke her leg on the return hike while...

The Coast Guard says one of its crews rescued five adults and a 13-year-old boy from the water after their 32-foot vessel sank south of Perdido Beach. Coast Guard officials said in a news release that crews responded after receiving a mayday call at about 1:15 p.m. Sunday from the vessel's owner that it was sinking. A Coast Guard cutter was launched from Mobile, Ala., about 50 miles to the northwest, while a 45-foot-response boat was dispatched from Pensacola, Fla. The small boat crew was first...

Authorities say a 70-year-old Mississippi oncologist is accused of hiring two men to kill the lawyer who represented his ex-wife when they divorced in the 1990s. Greenwood city police told the Greenwood Commonwealth ( http://bit.ly/KkGz9W ) that Dr. Arnold Smith of Greenwood and William Paul Muller, a 54-year-old brick mason from Morgan City, were arrested Sunday and held without bond on a charge of conspiracy to kill attorney Lee Abraham. Police said 23-year-old Keaira Byrd and 25-year-old...

Before she disappeared, Susan Powell told friends and co-workers her husband had become moody and controlling, and she feared he could harm her. The insight into Susan Powell's family problems were revealed in emails provided to The Salt Lake Tribune, which published them on Sunday ( http://bit.ly/JKHVQ9 ). Nine emails were provided to the newspaper after Susan Powell disappeared in December 2009. But at the request of the provider, the newspaper held back on publishing them until now. The newspaper...

The University of South Alabama on Sunday night lifted a campus lockdown that it had imposed following an armed robbery at a college dorm hours earlier. University officials announced on their website that campus police had arrested one male suspect and were searching for another in the robbery at gunpoint of a student. The victim had invited the men to his room when they robbed him of $1,000 and a cell phone and fled, the statement said. A shot was fired but no one was apparently injured. Officials...

Police say two teenage girls who fell asleep while sunbathing on a rural Pennsylvania road have been struck by a car. The Beaver County Police Department tells WTAE-TV ( http://bit.ly/KoTXi9 ) that 13-year-olds Samantha Schermanhorn and Kaylie George were hit by the vehicle Sunday afternoon. Two of Samantha's cousins tell the station that their 19-year-old brother had stopped at a stop sign and made a turn before striking the girls with his car. Nicole and Nicholas Beck say the girls were conscious...

A coroner says preliminary autopsy results show that a southern Indiana woman whose remains were found in a New Albany man's backyard died from strangulation. Floyd County Coroner Leslie Knable tells The Courier-Journal of Louisville ( http://cjky.it/Jk77Y3 ) that an autopsy performed Saturday on 35-year-old Stephanie Marie Kirk did not reveal how long she had been dead. Police said Kirk went missing March 25 when she left a friend's New Albany home to meet a man at a bar. Her body was found...

The U.S. Navy is nearing a first-time agreement to curb electricity use at its sprawling San Diego-area bases if power runs short in Southern California this summer, a deal intended to diminish the threat of blackouts while the troubled San Onofre nuclear plant remains offline. The Navy is San Diego Gas & Electric's largest customer, and the utility has been working on an agreement under which the Navy would temporarily reduce its energy consumption if regional supplies get scarce. In exchange,...

Last year's hurricanes and flooding not only engulfed homes and carried away roads and bridges in hard-hit areas of the country, it dispersed aggressive invasive species as well. In Vermont, the floodwaters from Tropical Storm Irene and work afterward to dredge rivers and remove debris spread fragments of Japanese knotweed, a plant that threatens to take over flood plains wiped clean by the August storm. The overflowing Missouri and Mississippi rivers last year launched Asian carp into lakes...

When Sister Elaine Lachance devoted herself to a religious life straight out of high school in 1959, her religious order had more than a dozen convents in the U.S. with nearly 260 sisters. Today, the Good Shepherd Sisters of Quebec, based in Canada, has just five convents in Maine and Massachusetts with 56 sisters. The youngest is 64 years old, and it's been more than 20 years since a new member joined. Rather than leave the future of the convents to prayer and chance, Lachance has turned to...

Andrew Young first saw John Edwards speak at an oceanfront hotel in 1998. He was captivated by the U.S. Senate candidate's speech and told his future wife Edwards was going to be president someday _ and he was going to work for him. She rolled her eyes. Young wound up becoming one of Edwards' closest aides, so intoxicated by the power and money he claimed to be the father of Edwards' child to take the heat off of his boss. Young recalled telling his wife, Cheri, about the plan he said Edwards...

The Vermont House has passed a resolution thanking one of its members for the peanut M&Ms. Rep. Ken Atkins, a Winooski Democrat, has carried on a tradition since 1999 in which every time there's a pause in legislative action for a House roll call, he dumps a bunch of M&Ms into a glass jar on his desk and other House members gather around for a snack. The retired teacher says he likes a snack during House action, and he used to tell his students not to bring a snack to class without enough...

Thunderstorms will roll across the Plains on Sunday as weak areas of low pressure develop along a stationary front stretched from Colorado to the Carolinas. The greatest chance for rain and thunderstorms will be from central Oklahoma through western Illinois. This region will also see the greatest chance of severe thunderstorms, with damaging winds and frequent lightning expected in the region. Less intense thunderstorms and rain should be expected from northern Texas through the Mid-Atlantic...

Three crew members of a sailboat have been found dead and a fourth person is missing after their boat ran into trouble during a yacht race off the coasts of California and Mexico. Coast Guard Petty Officer Henry Dunphy says rescuers are searching late Saturday for the crew member after finding the bodies and debris from the boat near the Coronado Islands in Mexico. He says the Coast Guard was investigating what may have happened to the boat. The 37-foot Aegean was participating in the 125-mile...

Peter Keller spent eight years carving his hole in the side of the mountain, camouflaging the rugged underground bunker with ferns and sticks and stocking it with a generator and ammunition boxes sealed in Ziploc bags. Suspected in the deaths of his wife, daughter and pets last weekend, he headed there prepared for the long haul with high-powered rifles, scope and body armor. Seattle-area tactical officers who slogged for hours over dangerously steep, muddy ground to find him were prepared too....

Some Southern Californians were shaken out of bed Saturday morning by a small earthquake that rattled homes across the Inland Empire region and caused buildings to sway in downtown Los Angeles. The magnitude 3.8 earthquake struck at 8:07 a.m. The U.S. Geological Survey said it was centered about two miles northwest of Devore, in San Bernardino County. The quake was downgraded from an initial magnitude of 4.1. "It felt like a sonic boom," said Letty Salgado, a server at Papa Tony's Diner in San...

John P. Moody, a longtime journalist who won praise for his coverage of organized labor and business issues, died Saturday. He was 95. Moody died of natural causes in Ridgewood, his son, John Moody, said. Known among colleagues for his frayed leather pocket notebook, which was crammed with the names and numbers of sources, John P. Moody worked for The Associated Press and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette during his nearly 30-year career. He reported on many of the most important labor industry stories,...

Police said Saturday that human remains found in a southern Indiana man's backyard have been identified as a woman who has been missing for about a month. New Albany police Maj. Keith Whitlow said the remains found in William "Clyde" Gibson's backyard Friday night are those of Stephanie Marie Kirk, a 35-year-old Charlestown woman. Kirk was last seen March 25, when she left a friend's home in New Albany to meet a man at a bar. Medical examiners in Jefferson County, Ky., used dental records and...

Using a hammer as a weapon, a "complete stranger" with no significant criminal history allegedly chose a family at random and attacked them in their home, killing a woman and her daughter, in a brutal crime that left investigators both baffled and aghast. Bryan Clay, 22, was arrested Friday in the April 15 rape and bludgeoning deaths of 38-year-old Ignacia Martinez and 10-year-old Karla Martinez. He had no connection to the family of five, Lt. Ray Steiber said Saturday. "This was a complete...

Authorities say an inmate in Georgia gave birth to a child in her jail cell and the baby later died at a hospital. Clayton County sheriff's spokesman Capt. Brian Crisp said Saturday the birth is under investigation. He says authorities are not releasing any more information about the birth or the woman. Sheriff Kem Kimbrough tells WSB-TV that the mother and baby were taken to a hospital, where the child died. Kimbrough says his office is looking into whether jail staff did anything wrong. Representatives...

The wife of the police chief in a central Florida community accidentally ran over a family friend's 22-month-old son in a parking lot, authorities said. Pamela Bodenheimer, 51, was backing up from a parking spot Friday night at Titusville High School when she drove over Brady Hutto. She told police she did not see the boy. No charges have been filed. Bodenheimer's daughter and the boy's sister are teammates on the Auburndale Bloodhounds softball team. The game was postponed after the tragedy....

People across Alabama are remembering the horror of a deadly twister outbreak a year ago that left more than 250 people dead. Memorials have been held in the college town of Tuscaloosa and smaller communities still struggling to rebuild since April 27, 2011. Empty lots and debris still remain in many areas lain to waste after 62 tornadoes tore through the state.

Emboldened by signals that the U.S. Supreme Court may uphold parts of Arizona's immigration law, legislators and activists across the country say they are gearing up to push for similar get-tough measures in their states. "We're getting our national network ready to run with the ball, and saturate state legislatures with versions of the law," said William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration. "We believe we can pass it in most states." That goal may be a stretch, but lawmakers...

A man who was a poster child for victimized children has been sentenced to at least 25 years in prison for raping and choking a 10-year-old girl. Adam Croote _ whose own childhood was so wrenching that he was invited to the White House at age 7 as a symbol of the plight of missing children _ was sentenced Friday, The Times Union reported ( http://bit.ly/JB6Lyf ). Croote, 23, pleaded guilty in March to attacking a child he was babysitting. The girl's family knew Croote was a registered sex offender...

A southern New Jersey teacher who oversees a classroom where a father says his autistic son was verbally abused by adults has been placed on paid leave, according to district officials. The father, Stuart Chaifetz, posted clips on YouTube days ago of secretly recorded audio that caught one adult calling his autistic 10-year-old son "a bastard." A lawyer for the teacher, Kelly Altenburg, has denied that she was in the classroom when the abusive remarks were made and said an investigation by the...

Her name means sweet, but this girl is tough. Nine-year-old Dulce Cabrera took a stray bullet to the foot Thursday night after getting caught in the crossfire of a gunfight near her New York City home. But the second-grader tells the New York Daily News ( http://nydn.us/IrK96D ) she didn't shed a tear. She says, "I didn't cry for nothing." Dulce told the newspaper Friday that she didn't even feel the wound at first, but then saw her sock filling with blood. Somehow, the bullet passed through...

A polar bear dance party in Miami is aimed at raising awareness about the need to protect the Arctic Ocean. The dancers are expected to dress as polar bears Saturday afternoon. The dance party will raise awareness of plans to start drilling this summer in the Arctic's Beaufort and Chukchi seas, both home to polar bears. The dance is being held by the Sierra Club, Alaska Wilderness League, Center for Biological Diversity, Oceana, Endangered Species Coalition, and Natural Resources Defense Council....

FBI agent Harry Trombitas took bank robberies seriously, but not always the people who committed them. As a lead agent handling violent crime in the 1990s, Trombitas grew frustrated trying to figure out how to draw attention to the enormous number of bank robberies in those days _ more than a 100 a year in central Ohio, and five robberies in a single day on at least two occasions. Trying to cut through the clutter of numerous news releases and catch people's attention, Trombitas began writing...

As government engineers work to keep the nation's fourth-busiest seaport from losing its competitive edge, they are also planning what amounts to a massive science project to ensure fish in the harbor can still breathe. When the Savannah harbor is deepened to allow for supersized cargo ships, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wants to install a dozen machines that function like bubblers in a home aquarium to compensate for an expected drop in dissolved oxygen. The 20-foot-tall steel cones suck...

The U.S. Supreme Court is considering the fate of Arizona's get-tough immigration law. If key parts of it are upheld, other states may be urged to follow suit. Some thoughts from lawmakers across the country: ___ "It's a state problem that needs to be taken care of. ... We have flocks of illegal aliens that are being attracted to Maryland as if it is a magnet pulling them here." _ Republican Delegate Neil Parrott of Washington County, Md. ___ "The federal government is not doing its part ......

Weather Underground Forecast for Saturday, April 28, 2012. Thunderstorm activity was expected to spread from the Plains to the Eastern Valleys on Saturday, as a low pressure system slid eastward through the nation. The system was stretching from the Northern Plains and over the Mid-Mississippi River Valley, creating an anticipated warm front that would extend from the Upper Mississippi River Valley and up the Ohio River Valley, into the Mid-Atlantic States. This system would obtain moisture...

"It's too bad common sense policy has to be dictated in this manner. New conduct rules are necessary to preventing more shenanigans from happening in the future, and whether these are the best, and most cost effective, rules to stop future misconduct remains to be seen." _ Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, after the Secret Service tightened conduct rules following an embarrassing prostitution scandal. ___ "I just feel like to have a plane fly that low over the Hudson, right past New York City, and...

Authorities on Friday surrounded an elaborate, underground bunker believed to be that of a gun-toting survivalist suspected of killing his wife and daughter nearly a week ago and then holing up in the woods of Washington state. They pumped tear gas into the structure in the Cascade foothills east of Seattle and heard movement inside, but the dozens of officers were not entering the bunker because they believed its occupant was heavily armed, and that it might be booby-trapped. Sheriff's officials...

A dolphin wandered into a narrow channel in a coastal wetlands on Friday, circling in shallow waters as crowds grew along the banks, TV helicopters flew overhead and marine animal experts considered how to return it to the ocean. The 7-foot-long, black-and-white common dolphin was spotted in a channel of the Bolsa Chica wetlands. The adult dolphin was swimming in tight circles near a road. A swimmer and two lifeguards on paddleboards entered the water to test the dolphin's reaction and it would...

At least seven homes and a hog farm were destroyed early Friday after authorities said rare nighttime tornadoes ripped through sparsely populated counties on the southeastern Colorado plains. State officials say no deaths have been reported, only minor injuries from the twisters reported in Prowers, Kiowa and Bent counties. Preliminary findings indicate five tornadoes touched down. Officials in the Prowers County city of Lamar said deputies and state troopers spotted a fast and large tornado...

Immigration officials say they will no longer immediately detain suspected illegal immigrants who are arrested only on minor traffic violations and have no criminal history. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez said Friday that immigration agents will now consider detaining people arrested on minor traffic offenses _ provided they have no criminal history _ only if they are convicted of these offenses. The change responds to recommendations from a task force that reviewed...

Most of the victims of last year's epic tornado outbreak in Alabama had at least one thing in common: They knew the storm was coming. A year after the onslaught of dozens of twisters killed at least 250 people in Alabama and more elsewhere in the South, federal researchers are completing a study of who died and where they were when it happened. Among the conclusions so far: Nearly half of the people who died had been advised to take shelter. Indeed, most of them did. But many of the tornadoes...

The search for a 6-year-old Arizona girl who disappeared from her family's home has extended to Mexico, authorities said Friday. U.S. Marshals have been in touch with Mexican law enforcement officials who are checking hotels, bus terminals and other businesses as they help look for Isabel Mercedes Celis, according to Tucson police. A photo of the first-grader is being circulated in Mexico as well. Police began looking at the possibility that Isabel could have been taken there because of Tucson's...

Seeking to shake off the disgrace of a prostitution scandal, the Secret Service late Friday tightened conduct rules for its agents to prohibit them from drinking excessively, visiting disreputable establishments while traveling or bringing foreigners to their hotel rooms. The new behavior policies apply to Secret Service agents even when they are off duty while traveling, barring them from drinking alcohol within 10 hours of working, according to a memorandum describing the changes obtained by...

A terminal at Newark Liberty International Airport was shut down for over an hour Friday after officials discovered that a baby hadn't been properly screened, Transportation Security Administration officials said. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport, described the incident as a security breach that occurred at around 1:15 p.m. at a security checkpoint. Terminal C was evacuated and passengers had to go through security screening again. TSA spokeswoman Lisa...

An adult film producer was convicted Friday of violating federal obscenity laws by selling movies depicting bestiality and extreme fetishes. The verdict ends a long-running legal saga that saw two mistrials, including one in which sexually explicit material was found on a personal website of the chief justice of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, who was overseeing the case. Ira Isaacs, 60, was found guilty of five counts, including mailing obscene matter, his attorney Roger Diamond said....

Prosecutors on Friday filed murder charges and said they intend to seek the death penalty against two men accused of kidnapping a Montana teacher whose body was discovered in North Dakota two months after she disappeared. Lester Van Waters Jr., 48, and Michael Keith Spell, 22, are accused of grabbing Sherry Arnold off a street in Sidney, Mont., on Jan. 7 while she was on a pre-dawn run. Waters and Spell _ who came from Parachute, Colo., looking for work in the booming Bakken oil fields _ were...

Oil long has been king in Alaska, but the state's Republican governor is having trouble finding support for a tax break he believes is critical to ensuring it remains so. With a stunning defeat in the state Legislature this week, Gov. Sean Parnell has failed twice since last year to reduce production taxes on oil companies, a strategy he believes is crucial to bringing in new companies and ensuring those already here invest more and boost North Slope production. That would ensure Alaska's financial...

A Republican senator has lifted his hold on the appointment of a former Obama aide to a top Pentagon position after the administration said it would consider sales of new fighter jets to Taiwan. Mark Lippert was confirmed Thursday as assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs after Sen. John Cornyn lifted his opposition. Cornyn's office released a letter Friday from the White House legislative director saying the administration would decide "on a near-term course of...

The wife of a Florida millionaire let two attackers into her hotel room, pointed them to her sleeping husband and gave them a pillow to muffle his screams as they attacked him with dumbbells, one of the attackers testified Friday. And when the beating was over, she wanted to make sure that they had also sliced his eyes with a knife, the witness said. Alejandro Garcia, who has already been convicted and is cooperating with federal prosecutors, testified for a third day at the murder trial of the...

Backcountry pro snowboarder Jeremy Jones says he's seen the effects of climate change up close after 18 years of heading to Alaska for deep winter powder. "Our season ends a week earlier than it used to. The glacier we use to land on, we can't anymore," Jones said. It's a big part of why Jones formed Protect Our Winters in 2007 to unite snowboarders and skiers to save what they love. Coming off a shortened ski season with weak snowfall in much of Colorado, Utah and the Northeast, there's a sense...

The Secret Service circulated "enhanced standards of conduct" on Friday from Director Mark Sullivan in response to the prostitution scandal in Colombia. The document, obtained by The Associated Press, instructed employees to "consider your conduct through the lens of the past several weeks." Highlights of the guidelines: _Standards of conduct briefings for all protective visits and events. _Briefings by the State Department in the region for Secret Service personnel upon their arrival about...

Don't panic yet. The government reported Friday that the economy got off to a tepid start this year, but that doesn't foreshadow a repeat of the near-standstill that happened in 2011. "The economy is firmly on a growth trajectory," said Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at California State University's Smith School of Business. "The first-quarter slowdown will be temporary." Still, the January-March report was discouraging. Economists had expected gross domestic product _ the broadest gauge...

Maine's blunt-speaking governor is again creating a ruckus with his offhanded remarks _ this time by calling state government middle managers "about as corrupt as can be." At a town hall-style meeting in Newport on Thursday night, Republican Gov. Paul LePage was asked why there are so many fees associated with getting a cosmetologist license. In response, the governor said state government is too big and too costly and that the state workforce is part of the problem. LePage told the crowd that...

Cute, but potentially dangerous "sippy" cups and defective components that could render a fire sprinkler system useless are among a list of consumer products recalled this week. Other recalled products include jackets with waistband drawstring issues, computers that pose a fire hazard, and knives with a faulty folding mechanism. Here's a closer look at the recalled products: `SIPPY' CUPS DETAILS: Target Home Bunny Sippy Cup with handles on both sides in pink and blue, female and male. Each contains...

In shootings not previously reported by American authorities, two U.S. soldiers were wounded in an attack by two Afghan police officers, extending a worrying pattern of violent clashes between supposed allies. The two Americans were shot Wednesday by the Afghans near Kandahar city, and the shooters were quickly killed by U.S. troops, according to a U.S. defense official. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an incident that, by policy, the coalition military command in Kabul...

A Baltimore judge has denied bail for a man accused of killing a North Carolina teenager who was missing for months before her body was found in a Maryland river. Prosecutors said Friday that Michael Johnson mentioned in emails and texts that he would flee the country if charged. As a result, Judge John Addison Howard ordered Johnson held without bail. Johnson has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of 16-year-old Phylicia Barnes. He is the ex-boyfriend of Barnes' half-sister....

Two Minnesota men with suspected ties to white supremacist groups amassed several weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition as part of a plan to attack the government, minorities and others, according to a federal affidavit unsealed this week. Samuel James Johnson, 31, of Austin, also tried to recruit others to his cause and actively scouted for a training compound in Illinois and Minnesota, the affidavit said. Joseph Benjamin Thomas, 42, of Mendota Heights, told an undercover FBI agent that...

It has become a familiar but frustrating drill for farmers in the Northeast. With temperatures expected to fall below freezing, they spent Friday preparing orchard heaters, irrigation systems and frost alarms to protect fruit crops that blossomed early and are particularly vulnerable to the elements. While the predicted low early Saturday is not unusual for late April, farmers say fruit crops are as many as three weeks ahead of schedule due to a March warm spell. That has led to some sleepless...

Online retailer Amazon.com reached an agreement with Texas officials Friday to settle a sales tax dispute by expanding operations in the state and starting to collect sales taxes. The deal comes less than a year after Amazon shut down a distribution center in Irving to protest a $269 million tax bill sent by Texas Comptroller Susan Combs in 2010. Combs and Amazon said in a joint statement that the settlement calls for the company to bring at least 2,500 jobs and $200 million in capital investments....

President Barack Obama has named a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to serve as his senior policy adviser for Native American affairs. Obama on Friday announced the appointment of Jodi Gillette to advise him on Native American issues on the White House Domestic Policy Council. Gillette previously worked on Indian issues at the Interior Department. Obama says Gillette has been a key member of his administration's efforts in Indian Country. He says she'll continue to ensure that Native American...

The small-town bookkeeper dazzled friends and co-workers with invitations to her immaculate horse ranch and home, where she displayed trophies hauled back from world championship exhibitions and visitors in cowboy hats arrived to buy some of the best-bred horses in the nation. "She has a trophy case that you wouldn't believe _ actually a room," said Stephanie Terranova, who worked with Rita Crundwell for 15 years at city hall and attended her parties and auctions. "You wouldn't believe the different...

Bedbugs. The biting pests that infest hotels appear to be the source of red marks on a Minnesota woman that prompted health officials to quarantine a jet in Chicago for fear they were dealing with something much more serious: monkeypox. On Friday, the woman's son explained how one comment got misunderstood and one thing led to another until the situation began to resemble a scene from a science fiction movie. Roger Sievers said the confusion began when his mother, 50-year-old Lise Sievers,...

In an April 26 story about a federal indictment of civilian Navy engineer Ralph M. Mariano in an alleged bribery and fraud plot, The Associated Press erroneously reported one of the accusations against him by omitting the word "not." Mariano is accused of threatening to damage a company's relationship with the Navy if it did not follow his instructions for making payments to other firms. He is not accused of making the threats if it did follow his instructions.

When civil rights activist Ray Robinson arrived at Wounded Knee in April 1973 to stand alongside Native Americans in their fight against social injustice, he excitedly called his wife back home and told her, "This could be the spark that lights the prairie fire." "No, it's not. Come home. Please come home," his wife, Cheryl Buswell-Robinson, recalled begging of him. The black activist and follower of Martin Luther King Jr. never made it home to Bogue Chitto, Ala. He was declared dead, but his...

An attorney for a suicidal animal owner's widow who is seeking the return of exotic animals that survived an October release said she has adequate cages for them at her eastern Ohio farm, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press. Three leopards, two primates and a bear survived the release of dozens of wild creatures in Zanesville. They have been under a state-issued quarantine at the Columbus zoo. One leopard was euthanized after it was struck by a door at the zoo. Attorney Robert...

A Kentucky woman is suing a dentist, accusing him of dropping a small screwdriver down her throat that migrated to her digestive tract and later required surgery to remove. The lawsuit was filed Thursday in Fayette Circuit Court in Lexington by 71-year-old Lena David of Nicholasville. David claims Dr. W.B. Galbreath told her to try to regurgitate the screwdriver and then sent her for X-rays when that did not work. Galbreath did not return a message left at his office Friday by The Associated...

Workers at a blown oil well in eastern Wyoming have capped an eruption of potentially explosive natural gas by pumping mud into the well. The plugging operation began about 9:30 Friday morning. By 11 a.m. the flow of gas had ceased, although mud continued to be pumped underground. The newly drilled well owned by Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy blew out Tuesday afternoon. Potentially explosive methane gas roared from the ground at the site five miles northeast of the town of Douglas. An...

A checked bag containing PVC pipes and several wires prompted authorities to briefly clear out a Minneapolis airport terminal Friday, and its owner told police it was the second time in three years his device had forced an airport evacuation, an official said. The evacuation came after screeners at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport's Humphrey terminal spotted the items in a bag about 5:30 a.m. Humphrey, which handles less than 10 percent of the airport's passenger volume, was cleared...

Even if three Indiana girls were just kidding around and used emoticons and LOLs when they discussed killing classmates on Facebook, their talk still could be considered cyberbullying if it inflicted emotional harm, experts say. The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the eighth-graders this week, claiming the Griffith Public Schools district in northern Indiana violated the girls' civil rights when it expelled them on the basis of a personal off-campus...

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed a Norwegian general and adviser to international envoy Kofi Annan to head the new U.N. monitoring mission in Syria. U.N. deputy spokesman Eduardo del Buey on Friday announced the appointment of Maj. Gen. Robert Mood, who will also serve as chief U.N. military observer in Syria. Last Saturday, the Security Council authorized up to 300 unarmed observers to try to end the 13-month conflict in Syria. Mood has held senior military posts in Norway and internationally,...

A debt-laden motivational speaker who appealed to a stranger to kill him was grimly determined to die, the convicted killer says in his first interview about the case. In a piece set to air Saturday on CBS' "48 Hours Mystery," Kenneth Minor says he couldn't believe what he was hearing when Jeffrey Locker approached him on an East Harlem street in July 2009 and said he'd pay to die in a seeming robbery so his family could collect life insurance money. Locker said, "`If you don't do it, someone...

In an April 26 story about a group of transit workers winning a Powerball jackpot, The Associated Press erroneously attributed details about who won the lottery. Information about the winners came from a spokeswoman for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, not state lottery officials.

An autopsy shows that a Navy pilot who killed three people and himself at a condominium in a San Diego suburb was drunk at the time. The San Diego County medical examiner released the report Thursday saying that 25-year-old John Robert Reeves had a blood-alcohol content of .16 _ twice the legal limit for driving. Authorities say Reeves, his roommate and others had partied in San Diego on New Year's Eve and returned to their condo in Coronado at about 2 a.m. They say Reeves then shot his roommate,...

A few unwanted, invasive sea lampreys from the Great Lakes have been shipped to England for use in a traditional pie for Queen Elizabeth II. The Detroit Free Press reports ( http://on.freep.com/IdmZkP ) the City of Gloucester, which has given the pie as a gift to the monarch since the Middle Ages, requested the eel-like creatures from the Great Lakes Fishery Commission because they're a protected species in England. The pie is for June's Diamond Jubilee, the 60th anniversary of the queen's ascent...

____ This Week in The Civil War, for week of Sunday, April 29: Union march toward Corinth, Virginia skirmish. In late April of 1862, more than 100,000 Union soldiers under the command of Maj. Gen. Henry Halleck march out from Tennessee for Corinth, Miss., intent on wresting away from Confederate forces that key railroad junction for the South. The journey into northern Mississippi means crossing thick forests and rugged country as many of Halleck's men come down with dysentery and typhoid _ common...

The 16 sets of twins in the Class of 2014 at one Connecticut high school have a lot of people seeing double, so much so that it could break the world record held by another school in the state. Parents and officials at Staples High School in Westport tell The Advocate of Stamford ( http://bit.ly/IcswVQ ) that they plan to submit documentation to Guinness World Records seeking the record for most twins in the same academic year at the same school. The Guinness website says the current record...

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today (times EDT): 1. Seeking trademark protection for the term "GI Bill" At 12:35 p.m., Obama aims for wider protections for veterans and military families swindled or misled by schools seeking their federal education benefits. 2. Student-loan relief facing a pass-fail vote At noon, Republican leaders are ready to try pushing legislation through the House holding down interest rates on federal...

A Massachusetts bishop says he stands by his decision to ask a Catholic college to withdraw its invitation for U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy's widow to speak at commencement. Bishop Robert McManus of Worcester (WUS'-tur) last month asked Anna Maria College to rescind its invitation to Victoria Kennedy because of concerns over her position on some social issues that counter Catholic teachings, including abortion and gay marriage. Catholic Democrats and Faithful America on Wednesday delivered a 20,000-signature...

Authorities say a prisoner is back in custody after he was caught by airline workers while trying to escape at Phoenix's airport. Police say 22-year-old John Riebesel was being extradited from Detroit when he managed to get away from two Yavapai County sheriff's deputies at Sky Harbor International Airport Thursday evening. KSAZ-TV reports ( http://bit.ly/IlZQxt ) Riebesel found his way onto the tarmac, but was spotted by a US Airways employee. Other US Airways employees came to the aid of...

New media and the stories shaped by online culture and social networks now have a place in the Newseum, a Washington museum devoted to the history of news. On Friday, the Newseum is opening its 2,500-square-foot HP New Media Gallery to show visitors that new media is all about participation. Visiting the gallery is like walking into an Internet portal with video walls, touch screens, games and scrolling Twitter feeds. Visitors can post pictures or comments and build their own news homepages....

Weather Underground Forecast for Friday, April 27, 2012. Precipitation and thunderstorms in the West will wind down on Friday as the disturbances of the region push into the Plains. The southern storm of the West will bring an end to the intense heat in the Southern Plains, while frontal boundaries exiting the Rockies move into the Plains as a strengthening warm front. This disturbance will bring moderate rain and thunderstorms to areas from the Upper Midwest through the southern Ohio and Tennessee...

Ahead of a meeting with Chinese leaders, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is urging the Asian nation to let its currency strengthen and move forward with economic reforms. The treasury secretary said Thursday that the Obama administration welcomes recent changes to China's exchange rate system but believes the Chinese renminbi needs to appreciate further against the dollar. "It will provide China the independence and flexibility to respond to future changes in growth and inflation," Geithner...

Edison International's chairman and CEO is offering no hint as to when the idled San Onofre nuclear plant might come back online. The Los Angeles Times ( http://lat.ms/IfKFpm ) says Ted Craver briefly addressed the equipment problems at the company's annual shareholders meeting Thursday in San Gabriel. Craver says excessive wear has been found in less than one percent of the plant's nearly 39,000 steam generator tubes. He says once the cause of the wear is known, the affected tubes will be removed...

One of the highlights of the school year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology only lasts a few seconds but has a big impact. Residents of an MIT dorm dropped an upright piano from their roof Thursday to celebrate the last day students can drop classes without having them appear on their college transcript. About 200 onlookers watched as the piano crashed into a second piano, a baby grand, positioned on the ground six stories below for a better smash. People scrambled for souvenir pieces...

"For the president to make a campaign issue and then to travel to three battleground states and go to three large college campuses on taxpayers money to try to make this some political issue is pathetic. And his campaign ought to be reimbursing the Treasury for the cost of this trip." _ House Speaker John Boehner as Republicans and Democrats exchange charges over how to pay for a bill keeping student loan interest rates low. ___ "It sort of defies logic. The idea that this is the first and only...

Civil rights leaders and relatives of Trayvon Martin and a slain California teenager joined together at a Los Angeles rally Thursday, urging justice and tolerance and called for action to stop the violence. A photo of Martin wearing a hooded sweatshirt sat at the podium at the West Angeles Church of God in Christ with the word "Justice" written in red below his face. Martin was wearing a hoodie when he was shot on Feb. 26. "There are Trayvons all over this country," the Rev. Al Sharpton told...

A Texas man condemned for a robbery in which three people were shot, one fatally, apologized to a woman who survived the 2002 attack and family members of the slain man before receiving a lethal injection Thursday. Beunka Adams said he was a stupid kid in a man's body at the time of the crime, which started at a convenience store southeast of Dallas and ended in a remote area several miles away. "Everything that happened that night was wrong," Adams, 29, said, as he stared at the death chamber...

Brittany Killgore was hoping to unwind for three days after filing for divorce from her Marine husband serving in Afghanistan. Prosecutors believe things quickly went wrong when she met another Marine for a night out. "She sent a text saying, `Help,'" Patrick Espinoza, a deputy district attorney in San Diego County, said Thursday. "She was missing from that point on." Authorities said Killgore's body was found in brush near Lake Skinner on April 17, hours after paramedics were called to a San...