Texas school bars Bible banners at football games

Nation news briefs

SHUT UP! SPEECH JAMMER AMONG 2012 IG NOBEL WINNERS: BOSTON (AP) - For anyone who's ever been tired of listening to someone drone on and on and on, two Japanese researchers have the answer.

Another sign economy has bottomed out

Modesto ranks as fifth poorest city in nation

Chick-fil-A makes another statement on controversy, triggers more reaction

Anti-jihad 'savage' ads going up in New York subway

Golden Gate Bridge dropping human toll takers in early 2013

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Drivers using San Francisco's historic Golden Gate Bridge will finally see the anticipated change from human toll-takers to an all-electronic toll system in early 2013, officials said. The system will switch to electronic tolling in February instead of this month as previously announced, Bridge spokeswoman Mary Currie said Tuesday. "It's where the industry is ...

Riders stuck 300 feet high after ride malfunction

BUENA PARK. (AP) - The Windseeker attraction at Southern California's Knott's Berry Farm has broken down, leaving about 20 riders who expected a three-minute thrill dangling 300 feet over the amusement park for nearly two hours. Buena Park police say the ride, which lifts fun-seekers high over the park with their legs dangling and spins them in a circle, broke down at ...

Coloradoan wins $7 million in popcorn lung lawsuit

DENVER (AP) - A suburban Denver man who was diagnosed with "popcorn lung," possibly from inhaling the artificial butter smell of the microwave popcorn he regularly ate, has won a $7.2 million verdict against various food companies. Wayne Watson's attorney, Ken McClain, said a federal jury granted the award Wednesday against Gilster-Mary Lee Corp., The Kroger Co. and Dillon Companies Inc. after ...

Prosecutor: Dad killed girl over toilet training

DETROIT (AP) - A Detroit man was so obsessed over toilet training that he fatally beat his 2-year-old daughter for having an accident, a prosecutor said Wednesday in an opening statement to jurors at the man's first-degree murder trial. D'Andre Lane also is charged with child abuse in the Dec. 2 disappearance of Bianca Jones, whose body has never been found. Lane ...

Bay Area briefs

SAN FRANCISCO MOVES TO PROVIDE GREEN POWER: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Supervisors have given initial approval to a five-year deal with Shell Energy North America that gives San Francisco residents the option of getting 100 percent of their power from renewable sources.

Bakersfield hockey team mocks opposing Stockton’s bankruptcy

BAKERSFIELD (AP) - A hockey game promotion poking fun at America's largest bankrupt city has caused a tiff between fans in the San Joaquin Valley. The Condors, a Bakersfield minor league hockey team, advertised its game against Stockton Thunder on Dec. 27 as "Our City Isn't Bankrupt Night." The team promised to ...

Obama boosted by upbeat housing reports, new polls in bid for 2nd term

FBI asked to keep data on anti-Sikh hate crimes

SD prison tobacco ban curbs religion rights

servative students to stage 'immigrant game'

ConAUSTIN, Texas (AP) - A conservative student group announced Monday they will play a "Catch an Illegal Immigrant Game" this week on the University of Texas at Austin, drawing condemnation from Democrats and a threat of expulsion from campus officials.

Cheney sisters spar on same-sex marriage

Prospectors in Pacific Northwest seek fortune in legal pot

Police sergeants charged with armed robbery

DETROIT (AP) - Two off-duty police sergeants robbed a man believed to have stolen a cellphone belonging to the teenage daughter of one of the officers, prosecutors in Detroit said Monday. Detroit Sgt. David Pomeroy and Sgt. Michael Notoriano, who works in the Detroit suburb of St. Clair Shores, are both charged with armed robbery, among other charges. Notoriano's 16-year-old daughter and a friend bicycled to a Detroit gas station on July 20. Dwayne Weathington, ...

Obama: Help people enroll by mail, in person

Methodist jury convicts pastor for gay wedding

SPRING CITY, Pa. (AP) - A United Methodist pastor was convicted Monday of breaking church law by officiating his son's same-sex wedding and could be defrocked after a high-profile trial that has rekindled debate over the denomination's policy on gay marriage.

3 airlifted, dozens treated after school leak

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A carbon monoxide leak Monday forced the evacuation of a remote Utah elementary school and sent more than 40 students and staff to medical facilities in Utah and Colorado, including two adults who were still hospitalized into the night, officials said.

Girlfriend says Zimmerman pointed shotgun at her

APOPKA, Fla. (AP) - George Zimmerman was charged with assault Monday after his girlfriend called deputies to the home where they were living and claimed he pointed a shotgun at her during an argument, authorities said.

Network of all-boys public schools growing

NEW YORK (AP) - Once seen as sexist and outdated, the all-male educational model had been resurrected to serve New York City's poorest boys, a group feared to be more likely to go to prison than college.

Teacher killings bring risks to light

NEW YORK (AP) - When a 16-year-old student slammed a metal trash can onto Philip Raimondo's head, it did more than break open the history teacher's scalp, knock him out and send him bleeding to the floor.

People asked to share stories of JFK legacy

BOSTON (AP) - There's no shortage of places for people to share memories of where they were 50 years ago when they found out John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. But a new website debuting Monday aims to take the focus from past to future by asking people of all ages - even those who weren't alive when Kennedy died - to share their thoughts about how he has inspired them.

Death toll now 5 after tornadoes hit Illinois

WASHINGTON, Ill. (AP) - Dozens of tornadoes and intense thunderstorms swept across the Midwest on Sunday, causing extensive damage in several central Illinois communities, killing at least five people, injuring dozens more and prompting officials at Chicago's Soldier Field to evacuate the stands and delay the Bears game.

Police: Vt. dad slow to get treatment for kids

STRAFFORD, Vt. (AP) - A Vermont man was charged with child cruelty after he walked his two sons more than a mile to a friend's home after a car crash, delaying medical treatment for injuries including broken bones, state police said.

2 killed, 20 injured in Colorado mining accident on Sunday

OURAY, Colo. (AP) - Two workers were killed and 20 others were injured Sunday in a mining accident near the southwestern Colorado town of Ouray.

Social worker arrested after child cuffed to porch

MONROE, N.C. (AP) - A North Carolina social worker is under arrest after a foster child was found cuffed by the ankle to her front porch with a dead chicken hanging from around his neck.