Even police shocked by gore in face-mauling attack in Miami that left man in critical condition

Va. girl is youngest ever in National Spelling Bee

Radioactive bluefin tuna crossed the Pacific to US

Witness says naked attacker was chewing man's face

MIAMI (AP) - A witness says a naked man chewing on the face of another naked man on a downtown highway ramp kept eating and growled at a police officer who fatally shot him to make him stop. Larry Vega told WSVN-TV in Miami (http://bit.ly/L6kwWt) that he was riding his bicycle Saturday afternoon off the MacArthur Causeway that connects downtown Miami with ...

Nation news briefs

VALLEJO POLICE SHOOT, KILL SUSPECT IN CAR CHASE: VALLEJO (AP) - Vallejo police say an officer shot and killed a man after he pulled what appeared to be a gun - but was actually a metal wallet - from his waistband.

New approach tested for hard-to-treat hypertension

Experts: Remedial college classes need fixing, mostly bloating student loan costs

Almost half of new vets seek disability

America's newest veterans are filing for disability benefits at a historic rate, claiming to be the most medically and mentally troubled generation of former troops the nation has ever seen.

Woman shot by homeowner in his home in the dark will face trespassing charge

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) - A 21-year-old woman who was shot in the hip by a Colorado homeowner after police said she drunkenly wandered into a house now faces a felony trespassing charge, prosecutors said.

Nation nation briefs

• SENATOR ASKS AIRLINES TO DROP SEAT FEE FOR KIDS: NEW YORK (AP) - Sen. Charles Schumer is urging airlines to allow families with young children to sit together without paying extra.

Descendant: Capones paved way for Nevada gambling, not Bugsy

RENO, Nev. (AP) - Move over Bugsy Siegel. A descendant of Al and Ralph Capone says in a new book that the two gangsters played a much bigger role in creating Nevada's gambling empire.

Gay students graduate openly at military academies

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Gay students at America's military service academies are wrapping up the first year when they no longer had to hide their sexual orientation, benefiting from the end of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that used to bar them from seemingly ordinary activities like taking their partners openly to graduation events.

Driving season begins as does griping about gas

NEW YORK (AP) - It's Memorial Day weekend and our national obsession with the price of gasoline is in focus once again.

Dragon makes history with space station docking

Calif. defies order to turn over execution drug

Jupiter-bound craft runs into problem

School superintendent carried gun to school

GOP weighs short-term debt limit hike

Ex-cop killed after firing at courthouse

WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) - A retired police officer armed with an assault weapon and a handgun fired up to two dozen shots at a U.S. courthouse in West Virginia on Wednesday before police returned fire and killed him, authorities said.

Expert: Mom, baby deaths put TB back on the radar

LAS VEGAS (AP) - The winning battle against tuberculosis in the United States may, ironically, be part of the reason why the disease wasn't detected in a young Las Vegas mother and her baby until it was too late, experts said.

Charity to pay military death benefits

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration, scrambling to tamp down a controversy over suspended death benefits for the families of fallen troops, announced Wednesday that a charity would pick up the costs of the payments during the government shutdown.

Judge sued for returning teen to sex offender

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - An anti-abortion group has sued a Texas judge who ordered a 15-year-old girl to keep living with her grandmother, even though she claimed the woman's convicted sex-offender boyfriend was making aggressive advances and that the couple was trying to force her to terminate a pregnancy.

Menu offers something new: Silence

NEW YORK (AP) - Quiet, please. Your dinner will now be served.

News from around the nation

2 HURT WHEN BALLOON HITS POWER LINE IN NEW MEXICO: RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) - A balloon flying in Albuquerque's International Balloon Fiesta hit a power line as it tried to land Wednesday, sending two men to the hospital with burns and injuries from a 40-foot fall, officials said.