Health care options for young, healthy & broke

WASHINGTON (AP) - They're young, healthy and flat broke - and now the government says they have to buy thousands of dollars' worth of medical insurance. What should tapped-out twentysomethings do?

Wildland firefighters win federal health benefits

Episcopal Church approves same-sex blessing

Nation news briefs

TEXAS SWITCHES TO 1-DRUG EXECUTION DUE TO SHORTAGE: DALLAS (AP) - Texas, the nation's most active death penalty state, announced Tuesday that it would become the latest to switch to single-drug executions amid a drug shortage that has left states scrambling for acceptable alternatives.

Strip club sues 'Octomom' for cancelled shows

NYC rally: The Million Big Gulp March

New York may go smaller with 300-square-foot apartment units

Firefighters gain ground but struggle in Idaho

4 suspects linked to Fast and Furious

Obama: Tax cuts for families under $250K

Nation news briefs

AT&T DROPS LEGAL FIGHT OVER MASS. MAN'S $1M BILL: IPSWICH, Mass. (AP) - AT&T Inc. says it's dropping its legal fight against a Massachusetts businessman whose company was on the hook for a fraudulent million-dollar phone bill.

Mom questions how daughter shot during hug

NY man nears 3 millionth mile in beloved '66 Volvo

More public schools splitting up boys, girls; national count up to at least 500 schools

MIDDLETON, Idaho (AP) - Robin Gilbert didn't set out to confront gender stereotypes when she split up the boys and girls at her elementary school in rural southwestern Idaho.

Studies nix report of arsenic-loving bacteria

NEW YORK (AP) - It was a provocative finding: strange bacteria in a California lake that thrived on something completely unexpected - arsenic. What it suggested is that life, a very different kind of life, could possibly exist on some other planet.

Tornado death toll lowered to 24

Gay Fla. teen charged for her underage girlfriend

Pentagon wants $450M for Guantanamo

Texas judge: Lesbian couple can't cohabitate

Nation news briefs

POLICE DEFEND OFFICER WHO SHOT NY COLLEGE STUDENT: MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) - The president of a New York police union defended an officer who accidentally killed a Hofstra University student during a standoff with an armed intruder, saying Tuesday the only person responsible for the woman's death was the gunman who held her hostage.

IRS official to take the 5th at House hearing

Huge tornado hits Oklahoma City suburb, kills 51

MOORE, Okla. (AP) - A monstrous tornado at least a half-mile wide roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds up to 200 mph. At least 51 people were killed, and officials said the death toll was expected to rise.

Side Briefs

ANGRY MOB PELTS MAN THOUGHT TO BE SEX ATTACKER: DENVER (AP) - Residents angry that police had not warned them about sex assaults of children took matters into their own hands, chasing down a man they thought was the attacker, pelting him with rocks and leaving him with a bloody face in Colorado, authorities said Monday.

Volcano's ash prompts flight cancellations

Kentucky teen dies with dog lead on neck

Kentucky teen dies with dog lead on neck

Should wunderkinds drop out of high school?

Cardinal skips event over Irish PM's role

More Obama aides knew of IRS audit

1 SEAL dead, 7 sailors hurt in training accident

More time needed to indict Tsarnaev