New York City proposes raising age for cigarette purchases to age 21

Odd News

VIETNAM POLICE SEIZE 53 KING COBRAS FROM CAR: HANOI, Vietnam (AP) - Vietnamese police say they have seized 53 king cobras from a car in Hanoi and arrested the driver.

Bill jeopardizes tax-free online shopping

Teen arrested in T-shirt flap back in class

Campbell ends touring career, to release new album

Flight delays pile up amid FAA cuts

Boston bombing suspect charged

Bomb suspect had 2 outbursts at mosque

Nation news briefs

NH KILLER APOLOGIZES TO MACHETE VICTIM'S FAMILY : MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - A man convicted of hacking a woman to death with a machete and maiming her daughter during a home invasion has ordered his lawyers not to argue for a reduced sentence, and said in a statement Monday that he doesn't deserve or expect forgiveness.

Students fight bill that would raise class fees

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Proposed legislation that would raise fees for high-demand courses during summer and winter sessions at California community colleges is meeting opposition from students and faculty.

SoCal fire forces evacuation of 200 homes east of Los Angeles

MONROVIA (AP) - Authorities lifted evacuation orders for some residents Saturday night as firefighters made advances on a brush fire in foothills east of Los Angeles, officials said.

Despite Brown decree retirees in some state jobs

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Data reviewed by The Sacramento Bee shows that more than two dozen departments are still using retired executives to fill some of the highest-paying positions in state government, the newspaper reported Sunday.

Bombing suspects planned more attacks

BOSTON (AP) - As churches paused to mourn the dead and console the survivors of the Boston Marathon bombing Sunday, the city's police commissioner said the two suspects had such a large cache of weapons that they were probably planning other attacks. The surviving suspect remained hospitalized and unable to speak with a gunshot wound to the throat.

Prayer and waiting in Texas town rocked by blast from fertilizer plant

WEST, Texas (AP) - The First Baptist Church in the tiny Texas town where a fertilizer plant exploded is still off-limits, so the Rev. John Crowder put folding chairs in a hay pasture and improvised a pulpit on a truck flatbed. At the elementary school, an official carted extra desks and chairs into the only public school campus that's left.

NATION NEWS BRIEFS

• FBI: ILL. MAN TRIED TO JOIN AL-QAIDA-LINKED GROUP: CHICAGO (AP) - An Illinois teenager who was friends with a man charged last year with trying to bomb a Chicago bar was arrested at an airport on his way to try to join a terrorist group in war-torn Syria, the FBI said Saturday.

1 SEAL dead, 7 sailors hurt in training accident

More time needed to indict Tsarnaev

Treasury told of IRS probe in June 2012

Marine, dog reunited in surprise ceremony at Iowa State Capitol

Navy pilot earns degree in combat zone

Dark clouds hang over air shows after budget cuts hit military services

Colorado sheriffs sue over gun rules

Alaska volcano shoots ash 15,000 feet into the air

OJ's ex-lawyer contradicts his testimony on guns

Nearly 50 injured as commuter trains collide

Nation news briefs

TRAVIS SUES TO BLOCK DWI PATROL CAR VIDEO RELEASE: AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Country music star Randy Travis has filed a lawsuit to prevent the release of patrol car video of his 2012 drunken-driving arrest in North Texas.

Feds propose overhaul for child care centers

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) - Federal health officials proposed Thursday to overhaul 500,000 child care centers across the country, beefing up safety standards including background and fingerprint checks for employees and requiring states to better monitor the facilities.

Judge lets Ariz. license policy stand

Mom in NM chases down her child’s abductor; man arrested

Man accused of killing ex-girlfriend's embryo with a pill