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A panel of the nation's Catholic bishops said Thursday that their flock "must have the courage not to obey unjust laws" and called for Catholic political leaders, clergy and laity to pray, fast and speak out for religious liberty during a two-week period that ends on Independence Day.

"What we ...

ALASKA

KODIAK — Two Coast Guard members were fatally shot at a communications station on an island off Alaska, officials said Thursday.

Officials said it remained unclear if the deaths at the Coast Guard station on Kodiak Island were a double homicide or murder-suicide. Capt. Jesse Moore said it was ...

In the days following Lt. Col. James H. "Jimmy" Doolittle's daring raid on Tokyo and five other Japanese cities, no one was talking — not even President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Speaking to reporters on April 21, 1942, three days after the mission, an almost playful Roosevelt still wouldn't confirm news ...

For those who lived through it, Hollywood's most recent depiction of the Doolittle raid completely bombed.

The 2001 flick "Pearl Harbor," directed by Michael Bay, focuses heavily on the April 18, 1942, mission during the latter half of the movie. Alec Baldwin portrayed raid leader Lt. Col. James H. "Jimmy" ...

Edward Saylor still vividly remembers the Chinese boy who helped save his life. In the days after his plane crashed into the waters just off China's coast, Mr. Saylor, now 92, and four other Doolittle Tokyo Raiders were desperate and hungry — but they had survived a daring mission that ...

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — Neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman made his first court appearance Thursday on a second-degree murder charge in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

During the brief appearance, Zimmerman stood up straight, looked straight ahead and wore a gray prison jumpsuit. He spoke only to answer "Yes, ...

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — A JetBlue Airways pilot accused of disrupting a Las Vegas-bound flight when he left the cockpit screaming about religion and terrorists has been indicted.

Court documents posted Thursday show Clayton F. Osbon has been indicted on one count of interference of a flight crew. It's the ...

Perhaps you’ve heard about this sort of thing. The government, for your own good, is going to require you to buy certain things. No, I’m not talking about the Health Care Mandate. In Wisconsin they have a NAIS Mandate. Mandatory premiss registration, animal ID, etc. But, they are so generous. They’ll allow you to write off 25% of the forced costs from your tax burden.

Gee… So it still is going to cost you 75%. Since it is a government mandate it will be over priced because the vendors have a lock on the market. You know how these things go. Using some rough numbers, what should have cost $10 per animal is going to cost $20 but you’ll be able to deduct $5 making it so you’re only paying 50% more than you would have not spent had you been willing to spend it if it wasn’t a mandate. Confused?

But it is a mandate and you wouldn’t be paying it at all except that it is a mandate. So now you’re out $15 per animals. Oh, and did you know, surely you did as a farmer, that you’re only making or losing $5 a head? So now, with the government mandate, for your own good, you stand to lose $20 per animal instead of losing $5 per head.

Oh, one last detail, if you don’t get any profit then you don’t get to deduct that 25% of the cost of the mandated program which means you’re losing another $5 per animal for a total of $25 each. Oh, well, I guess you’ll just have to make it up in volume.

Remember: government is here to help you.

Among the bills [Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker] will be signing is SB396, which authorizes the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture to hire an independent agent to administer the livestock premises registration program and create an income and franchise tax credit for producers to cover their costs of radio frequency identification tags.

Under the bill, an income and franchise tax credit for 25 percent of the amount that a taxpayer paid in the taxable year for radio frequency identification tags for the taxpayer’s livestock located in this state and 25 percent of the amount that a taxpayer paid in the taxable year for equipment used in this state to read radio frequency identification tags on livestock. If the amount of the credit exceeds a taxpayer’s tax liability, the taxpayer does not receive a refund, but, instead, may carry forward the amount of any unused credit to subsequent taxable years.
-Wisconsin Ag Connection

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — After an extraordinary public campaign to make an arrest in the shooting of an unarmed black teen, a Florida prosecutor came back with a murder charge in the case that has galvanized the nation for weeks.

But prosecutors face steep hurdles to win a second-degree murder ...

HARTFORD, Conn. — After years of failed attempts to repeal the death penalty, Connecticut lawmakers in both the House and the Senate have passed legislation that abolishes the punishment for all future cases.

As expected, members of the House voted 86-62 in favor of the bill after a floor debate ...

SAN FRANCISCO — A University of California task force said Wednesday that UC Davis police should not have used pepper spray on student demonstrators in an incident that prompted national outrage and calls for the chancellor's resignation after online videos of the confrontation went viral.

The decision by officers to ...

CORCORAN, Calif. — A prison panel denied parole Wednesday to mass murderer Charles Manson in his 12th and probably final bid for freedom.

Manson, now a graybearded 77-year-old, did not attend the hearing where the parole board ruled that he had shown no efforts to rehabilitate himself and would not ...

Phrases such as "generationally great" permeate the Washington Capitals' organization. Don't try to talk to owner Ted Leonsis or general manager George McPhee about the window to win a Stanley Cup shutting any time soon, even though this core of Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin and Mike Green has ...

SEATTLE — Striving to reduce the trash it sends to landfills, Seattle has banned foam takeout containers and plastic bags, told residents they must recycle cardboard and compost food scraps, and set up a registry for people to opt out of getting phonebooks.

Some city officials think the city can ...

LANSING, MICH. — Rusty Bongard keeps a 1976 photo of motorcycle lobbyist Jim Rhoades sitting on the steps of the Michigan statehouse in Lansing, holding a sign that reads "Helmet Laws Suck."

Now 35 years after that picture was snapped, Mr. Bongard, a spokesman for the biker advocacy and safety ...

A Florida prosecutor charged George Zimmerman with second-degree murder Wednesday in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin after weeks of protests demanding his arrest.

Florida special prosecutor Angela Corey said at a news conference in Jacksonville that Mr. Zimmerman, 28, was arrested Wednesday after turning himself in to authorities. She ...

KANSAS

TOPEKA — A Kansas judge declared a mistrial in a murder trial Wednesday after a newspaper reporter tweeted a photo that included the grainy profile of a juror.

The Shawnee County District Attorney's Office said it plans to reschedule Austin Tabor's trial for June or July in the wake ...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman is being charged with second-degree murder in the shooting of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed black teenager whose death ignited nationwide protests.

Special prosecutor Angela Corey says that the 28-year-old Zimmerman is in custody. She wouldn't disclose Zimmerman's whereabouts for his safety, but ...

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Eight Planned Parenthood organizations sued Texas on Wednesday for excluding them from participating in a program that provides contraception and checkups to women, saying the new rule violates their constitutional rights to freedom of speech and association.

The groups, none of which provide abortions, contend in the ...

SANFORD, Fla. — After weeks of mounting tension and protests across the U.S., a special prosecutor has decided to bring charges against neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, a law enforcement official said Wednesday.

The official, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of ...