CASE OF GUN RIGHTS ADVOCATE GOES TO GRAND JURY: NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Nashville judge has rejected claims that police had no right to arrest a man who walked around downtown last month wearing a bullet-proof vest and carrying an assault rifle.

Leonard Embody said at a hearing Tuesday it was not illegal for him to carry the AR-15, which was in a case made of moldable plastic that exactly fit the weapon's outline with a magazine and silencer attached. Once the case was open, police found the weapon was unloaded and there was no magazine, but there was a silencer.

But Metro Nashville Police Commander Jason Reinbold said he had no way of knowing whether Embody's weapon was loaded or what his intentions were when police dispatchers began receiving calls from panicked citizens on July 29. Embody is charged with possession of a silencer. A judge has sent the case to a grand jury.

INJURED IN DAVID HASSELHOFF SIGN THEFT: SHELTON, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut police say a convenience store clerk has been critically injured trying to stop the theft of two signs featuring images of actor David Hasselhoff.

Authorities say the 36-year-old clerk at a Cumberland Farms in Shelton saw a man put the signs into an SUV shortly after 1 a.m. Tuesday. Police say the worker was struck and dragged by the SUV and landed on his head.

Police say the clerk is hospitalized in critical condition, and authorities are looking for the suspects. The employee's name hasn't been released.

Hasselhoff starred in the TV shows "Baywatch" and "Knight Rider." The signs featuring him advertise iced coffee. Cumberland Farms officials say more than 500 of them have been stolen from stores in several states in recent months.

SEN. CRUZ SAYS HE'LL RENOUNCE CANADIAN CITIZENSHIP: HOUSTON (AP) — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz has released his birth certificate showing he was born in Canada but says he will renounce citizenship from that country.

The tea party-backed Texas Republican has been mentioned as a possible 2016 presidential candidate — even though only natural-born U.S. citizens can hold the office.

Cruz says he was a U.S. citizen at birth because his mother is American. But releasing his birth certificate prompted suggestions he may hold dual U.S.-Canadian citizenship.

In Houston on Tuesday, Cruz said he'd "of course" renounce being Canadian. He added: "I believe it makes sense for me to be only an American."

Cruz called questions about his birth part of the "silly season in politics." Still, some conservatives long questioned President Barack Obama's citizenship because of his Kenyan father.

COLO. FAMILY EVICTED AFTER MOTHER KILLED BY GUNMAN: DENVER (AP) — Federal housing officials are condemning a decision by the Denver Housing Authority to evict the relatives of a mother killed by a rampaging gunman three days after her slaying, saying there is room for compassion in federal law.

Housing and Urban Development spokesman Jerry Brown said Tuesday that his agency and the Denver Housing Authority are working to try to provide housing assistance to the mother and autistic son of 47-year-old Sandra Roskilly after they were locked out of their subsidized housing.

Brown said federal lease agreements for subsidized housing with communities limit the ability of residents to turn over property to other people, but the rules aren't carved in stone.

"Our rules and guidelines are just that, and we would hope people would use compassion. They have discretion, which is why the city has a board to administer it. There was no notification on our end of an eviction, and we didn't have a say in it," he said.

Police said 31-year-old Daniel Abeyta, a neighbor, killed Roskilly and shot a second woman in her leg on Friday. Abeyta is hospitalized and could be charged with first-degree murder.

The housing authority said it was forced to lock out 70-year-old Doris Kessler under federal law because Roskilly was the head of the household and Kessler wasn't allowed to be on the lease because she lived there as a live-in aide. It also said Roskilly died without a will, requiring the unit to be locked until a public administrator could determine who should inherit Roskilly's belongings.