Illegal Immigration

Snowplow driver, wife charged in Vt. teacher's death

ST. JOHNSBURY, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont snowplow driver and his wife lured a beloved prep school teacher from her home by pretending their vehicle had broken down and then beat and strangled her before stripping her body naked and throwing it into the Connecticut River, court documents say.

The ...

Federal fire crews taking over Colo. wildfire

CONIFER, Colo. (AP) — Federal fire crews are planning to take the offensive in containing a 7-square-mile blaze that may have claimed two lives and destroyed dozens of homes in the mountains southwest of Denver.

Authorities on Wednesday will try to determine if a prescribed burn in tinder dry conditions ...

Saudi diplomat kidnapped in southern Yemen

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A Saudi diplomat was kidnapped on his way to work Wednesday in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden, a Yemeni security official said.

It was the first kidnapping of a Saudi diplomat in this impoverished country, where abductions are frequent and where armed tribesmen and ...

Supporters of Fla. shooter fearful of speaking out

Trayvon Martin's supporters pack churches, swarm rallies and wear hooded sweat shirts in solidarity while friends and family of George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot the unarmed teen to death, remain largely out of sight. The few that have defended Zimmerman did so reluctantly, most fearing public backlash.

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Friends in Gulf fishing tragedy; only 1 survives

HOUSTON (AP) — For hours after their boat sank, Ken Henderson and Ed Coen treaded water in the Gulf of Mexico, talking about life and death while struggling to survive. For more than 30 hours, it worked.

Then Henderson was forced to make a decision that would save his life, ...

JetBlue passengers recount fears during captain's breakdown

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Passengers aboard an early morning flight bound from New York to Las Vegas first noticed something wrong when the plane's top pilot came out of the cockpit, didn't close the door and tried to force his way into an occupied restroom.

The JetBlue captain's co-workers tried ...

American Scene: NYPD officer convicted of assaulting teacher

NEW YORK — An off-duty police officer was convicted Tuesday of grabbing a schoolteacher off a street and sexually assaulting her, and jurors have been told to keep deliberating on some unresolved counts, including rape.

The jurors found Michael Pena guilty of criminal sex act and some counts of predatory ...

Passengers restrain ranting JetBlue pilot

LAS VEGAS — Passengers onboard a JetBlue flight bound for Las Vegas on Tuesday tackled and restrained the plane's captain after he was locked out of the cockpit by crew members, screamed 'they're going to take us down' and ranted about al Qaeda and a possible bomb onboard, passengers said.

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Papers reveal plans of foes of gay marriage

Gay-rights groups are trumpeting the disclosure of internal strategic and financial documents written three years ago by their most formidable opponent in the gay-marriage battle.

One of the National Organization of Marriage's strategic plans was to "drive a wedge between gays and blacks - two key Democratic constituencies," over the ...

Judge tosses militia conspiracy charges

DETROIT | A federal judge dismissed the most serious charges Tuesday against seven members of a Michigan militia who were rounded up as homegrown extremists accused of plotting war against the U.S. The judge said their expressed hatred of law enforcement didn't amount to conspiracy against the government.

The decision ...

American Scene: NYPD officer convicted of assaulting teacher

NEW YORK — An off-duty police officer was convicted Tuesday of grabbing a schoolteacher off a street and sexually assaulting her, and jurors have been told to keep deliberating on some unresolved counts, including rape.

The jurors found Michael Pena guilty of criminal sex act and some counts of predatory ...

No new coal plants under draft EPA rules

The Environmental Protection Agency Tuesday proposed greenhouse-gas regulations that effectively would prohibit the construction of new coal-fired power plants.

The rules, released in draft form and expected to be finalized later this year, would require new coal facilities to use expensive carbon-capture technology, which is still being developed and is ...

Photos will be required for SAT, ACT tests

MINEOLA, N.Y. — The millions of students who take the SAT or ACT each year will have to submit photos of themselves when they sign up for the college entrance exams, under a host of new security measures announced Tuesday in the aftermath of a major cheating scandal on Long ...

Virginia man injured in gun accident gets new face

BALTIMORE — After 15 years of wearing a mask and living as a recluse, a 37-year-old Virginia man disfigured in a gun accident got a new face, nose, teeth and jaw in what University of Maryland physicians say is the most extensive face transplant ever performed.

Richard Lee Norris of ...

Trayvon Martin's parents go to Capitol Hill

WASHINGTON — Trayvon Martin's parents went before a congressional panel and thanked those who turned their 17-year-old son's death into a rallying cry against racial profiling.

Martin's parents spoke briefly Tuesday at a Capitol Hill forum that began with a moment of silence for their son, who was shot and ...

Ex-doc dumps abortion files in Kan. recycling bin

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — More than 1,000 private abortion records from a defunct clinic have been found discarded in a recycling bin outside an elementary school near Kansas City, Kan., prompting a police investigation and outrage from people on both sides of the abortion debate.

The patient records found ...

Critical charges dropped against Michigan militia

DETROIT — A federal judge dismissed the most serious charges Tuesday against seven members of a Michigan militia who were rounded up as homegrown extremists accused of plotting war against the U.S., saying their expressed hatred of law enforcement didn't amount to conspiracy against the government.

The decision is an ...

Conservative justices question insurance mandate

WASHINGTON — Conservative justices on Tuesday sharply questioned whether the government can force Americans to carry health insurance, wondering in arguments over President Barack Obama's health care overhaul if Congress might next force people to buy broccoli or burial insurance.

"If the government can do that, what else can it" ...

Tighter security for SAT, ACT in wake of cheating

MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — Students taking college entrance exams this fall will have to submit photo IDs with their applications — a key security upgrade following a widespread cheating scandal at a number of high schools on New York's Long Island, a prosecutor and testing officials announced Tuesday.

The security ...

Wind drives fast wildfire west of Denver

CONIFER, Colo. — State forest officials had conducted a prescribed burn last week in the same area where a wind-driven wildfire has destroyed at least 15 homes and left one person dead, authorities said Tuesday.

Ryan Lockwood, a spokesman for the Colorado State Forest Service, said his agency conducted the ...

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