Photos scrutinized in Alaska bear mauling probe

Teen pot use linked to later declines in IQ

Man killed while trying to create Bigfoot sighting

KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) - A man dressed in a military-style "ghillie" suit and apparently trying to provoke reports of a Bigfoot sighting in northwest Montana was struck by two cars and killed, authorities said. The man was standing in the right-hand lane of U.S. Highway 93 south of Kalispell on Sunday night when he was hit by the first car, according to ...

GOP convention protests in Tampa muted, small in stark contrast to 2008

Nation news briefs

MEXICAN PRESIDENT-ELECT STEPS INTO US MURDER CASE: McALLEN, Texas (AP) - Mexico's president-elect asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to evaluate the murder case of a Mexican woman who was sentenced to 99 years in prison for the death of a Texas boy.

Utah NBC affiliate won't air TV show about gay couple

Family of alleged school shooter "horrified"

GOP: Show will go on in spite of Tropical Storm Isaac’s threat

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Tuesday's brunch with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and House Speaker John Boehner has been moved indoors. Schedules were rearranged to fill an open Monday evening. Sandbags were in place outside the hotel housing the 800-strong California delegation.

To hero-astronaut Neil Armstrong moonwalk 'just' a job

CINCINNATI (AP) - Neil Armstrong made "one giant leap for mankind" with a small step onto the moon.

Lawmakers want Ariz. border fence started

PHOENIX (AP) - Members of the Arizona Legislature's border security advisory committee want the state to begin building a mile of fencing along the border with Mexico even though it has raised only a fraction of the needed money.

American Taliban seeks group prayer in prison

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - An American-born Taliban fighter imprisoned in Indiana will try to convince a federal judge that his religious freedom trumps security concerns in a closely watched trial that will examine how far prisons can go to ensure security in the age of terrorism.

Despite Isaac's soaking, Keys residents laid back as South braces for hurricane

KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) - Tropical Storm Isaac barely stirred Florida Keys residents from their fabled nonchalance Sunday, while the Gulf Coast braced for the possibility that the sprawling storm will strengthen into a dangerous hurricane by the time it makes landfall there.

Romney touches 'birther' issue he avoided before while making a joke

Civilians hurt in Empire State gunfire incident highlight dangers of crime scenes

Nation news briefs

OBAMA CAMPAIGN FORCED TO FIND NEW VENUE FOR VISIT: CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) - President Barack Obama was forced to find another venue for a Virginia campaign event next week after the University of Virginia declined a request to use the campus.

Former TWA Flight 800 investigators want new probe of crash

Russia could stand in way of Obama's nuke weapon cuts

FBI uses drones for surveillance

WASHINGTON (AP) - The FBI uses drones for surveillance of stationary subjects, and the privacy implications of such operations are "worthy of debate," FBI Director Robert Mueller said Wednesday. He said the law enforcement agency very seldom uses drones now, but is developing guidelines that will shape how unmanned aerial vehicles are to be used. There will be a number of issues regarding drones "as they become more omnipresent, not the least of which is ...

Compromise eyed on border security

Nation news briefs

FATHER SENTENCED FOR BINDING KIDS OUTSIDE WAL-MART: LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) - A suburban Chicago man was sentenced Wednesday to 30 months in prison for binding and blindfolding two of his children a year ago in a Wal-Mart parking lot in eastern Kansas.

Prison for woman who buried mom in yard

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A woman who quit her job to care for her elderly mother felt at a loss to support herself when the older woman died so she buried her in the yard of their Florida home and lived off her mother's Social Security checks for 14 years, her lawyers and federal authorities say.

IRS playing $70M in employee bonuses

Deen says she used slur but doesn't tolerate hate

As the West burns, feds cut funding for fire prevention

FBI digging at ex-home of famed NY mobster

IRS worker: No political bias against tea party

Feds fire, demote employees over killing, rape

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) - Federal probation officers in upstate New York have been fired or demoted after a man they were monitoring was charged with slipping out of his electronic bracelet, raping a 10-year-old girl and killing her mother during a carjacking at a New York mall. The changes at the federal probation office in Syracuse were detailed in a letter from U.S. courts administrators to Rep. Dan Maffei, who had written to the courts ...

Odd News

DRIVER SAYS HE WAS SPEEDING SO HE COULD DRY CAR: BLACK DIAMOND, Alberta (AP) - He was drying off his freshly washed car.

18 mayors want Congress to limit use of food stamps to buy soda

USFS may not refill Incline Lake after all

RENO, Nev. (AP) - The U.S. Forest Service is leaning toward abandoning plans to restore a small lake overlooking Lake Tahoe to the way it was when the rich and famous vacationed at the private enclave a half century ago and instead let it return to a natural wetland. The federal government bought Incline Lake for $43.5 million in a land deal five years ago with the intention of repairing a small dam built in ...