News Bites

CRIME

Modesto housing recovery underway: Prices rose in all major US cities in May

NY couple, 85, to remarry 48 years after their divorce

Justice Dept: Fast & Furious report distorted

Is your problem gluten? Or faddish eating?

Illegal immigrants offered college courses, status aside at UCLA campus

LOS ANGELES (AP) - As some states make it tougher for illegal immigrants to attend college, a new program is pledging to do the opposite.

Dems move to formally back gay marriage

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Democratic Party is moving to include support for gay marriage in the official party platform for the first time, a Democratic official said Monday, marking a key milestone for advocates of same-sex unions.

Suspect charges: Murder, attempted murder

CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) - James Holmes appeared just as dazed as he did in his first court hearing after the deadly Colorado movie theater massacre.

Obama could be descended from African slave

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A team of genealogists has found evidence that President Barack Obama could be a descendent of an African slave - but not through the lineage of his black father, the most likely route researchers had followed and exhausted.

Beach booze bans spreading across US

FOLLY BEACH, S.C. (AP) - Sitting in the sun, watching the waves roll in and popping the top on a cold one would seem to be as much a part of the American summer as hot dogs and cookouts.

Couple says racism forced wedding relocation

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - A Mississippi couple says the church where they planned to get married turned them away because they are black.

Colo. theater lacked security, unlike some peers

DENVER (AP) - The Colorado movie theater complex that was the scene of a gunman's massacre this month didn't have any uniformed security guards on duty the night of the shooting, even though other theaters operated by the same company did provide such protection for the busy premiere of the Batman film "The Dark Knight Rises."

1970s NY graffiti artists still have urge to tag

NEW YORK (AP) - In torn jeans and saddled with a black backpack, Andrew Witten glances up and down the street for police. The 51-year-old then whips out a black marker scribbles "Zephyr" on a wall covered with movie posters. He admires his work for a few seconds before his tattooed arms reach for his daughter, holding her hand as he briskly walks away.

NJ troopers charged in 100-mph escort of high speed luxury vehicles on turnpike

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Two state troopers charged Friday with records-tampering turned a state highway into a "virtual speedway" when they gave a caravan of luxury cars a high-speed escort, taping over their own license plates to conceal their involvement, the attorney general said.

Explorers find sunken German U-boat from WWII off Mass.

Tests link deadly ricin to Obama letter suspect

Obama defends counterterrorism effort

Nation news briefs

NYC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ADOPTS ALL-VEGETARIAN MENU: NEW YORK (AP) - A New York City elementary school has adopted an all-vegetarian menu, serving kids tofu wraps and veggie chili.

Legal tiff settled over Chicago parking meters

US assessing reported Syrian chemical use

Army amputee completes air assault school

Man arrested for letting son, 9, drive Ferrari

Pro-gun Native American billboard draws criticism

Nation news briefs

SOME LOSING JOBS AMID ALLEGED NEV. PATIENT DUMPING: CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - Two staff members who violated discharge policies at a Las Vegas psychiatric hospital were fired Monday and three others are being disciplined following an investigation into busing patients to other states, the governor's office and agency officials said Monday.

Lawyer: Former ricin suspect's home is unlivable

1st female Iraq war resister to be court-martialed

Abortion trial stirs debate on when life ends

Boston suspect's defense team gets major boost