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FERTILITY CLINICS HELP MORE GAY COUPLES HAVE KIDS: BOSTON (AP) — Fertility clinics have put a new twist on how to make babies: A "two-mom" approach that lets female same-sex couples share the biological role. One woman's eggs are mixed in a lab dish with donor sperm, then implanted in the other woman, who carries the pregnancy.

A New York doctor described 18 of these cases Tuesday at a fertility conference in Boston that featured other research on ways to help same-sex couples have children. Dr. Alan Copperman is medical director of Reproductive Medicine Associates, a New York City clinic that does the "two-mom" approach.

A New York couple — Sarah Marshall, 40, a recruiter for law firms, and Maggie Leigh Marshall, 35, a real estate broker — used it to have their daughter, Graham, now 18 months old. Maggie's eggs were used to make embryos that were implanted in Sarah, and both women are listed as parents on the birth certificate.

"It allowed us both to participate," Sarah Marshall said. "I had to mentally and psychologically give up the idea of, is she going to look like me or my family. But from the time I started carrying her up to now, she is definitely mine."

Maggie Marshall said she had no interest in being pregnant, but "Sarah really wanted to have the experience. We also thought it would be a great way to bond with a kid that ultimately would look a lot like me."

It wasn't cheap — the couple spent nearly $100,000 on multiple failed attempts before the last one worked. A single in vitro fertilization attempt can run $15,000 to more than $20,000, depending on how much embryo testing is done and whether some embryos are frozen to allow multiple attempts from one batch.

One Canadian study suggests that more lesbian couples have been seeking fertility services in Ontario since same-sex marriage was legalized in the province a decade ago. Some doctors think interest also is up in the U.S. For male couples, many clinics offer egg donors and surrogate moms, using one or both men's sperm.

UTAH WOMAN SURVIVES AFTER CAR HIT BY 2 TRAINS: WOODS CROSS, Utah (AP) — A 29-year-old Utah woman is remarkably alive after her car was hit not once, but twice, by trains.

Woods Cross detective Adam Osoro says the woman was fleeing from officers at speeds up to 100 miles per hour Sunday when she drove under the crossing arms and smashed into the side of a train.

Her car came to rest on the other set of tracks. Officers tried breaking the window to get her out but had to jump out of the way before another train rammed into her car less than one minute after the first collision.

The woman suffered only broken bones.

DRY ICE BLASTS AT LA AIRPORT NOT TERRORISM: LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police said Tuesday they don't believe two dry ice explosions this week in restricted areas at Los Angeles International Airport were an act of terror, and they're pursuing the theory that the blasts were the work of a disgruntled employee.

The bombs were made by putting dry ice in 20-ounce plastic bottles and could have caused serious injury to anyone in close proximity, though no one was hurt, said Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Michael Downing, who heads the department's counter-terrorism and special operations bureau. Police are treating them as seriously as if they were pipe bombs.

MAN'S PARTIALLY EATEN BODY FOUND IN DETROIT HOME: DETROIT (AP) — An autopsy shows that a Detroit man who police say was partly devoured by an animal in his home died of natural causes.

The Detroit Free Press reports part of the man's leg was chewed off. The badly decomposed body was found by relatives Monday afternoon on the city's northwest side.

Sgt. Michael Woody says investigators aren't sure if a dog or another animal gnawed on the remains.

Thousands of stray dogs reportedly roam Detroit's streets, living in vacant houses and buildings. But raccoons, opossums and other wild creatures are finding refuge in the city which has lost more than one million people since the 1950s.

EVANGELIST BILLY GRAHAM TURNS 95 NEXT MONTH: NEW YORK (AP) — A major celebration is planned next month for the 95th birthday of the Rev. Billy Graham.

Graham's son Franklin said Tuesday that between 600 and 700 people have been invited to the Nov. 7, party in Asheville, N.C. The Rev. Franklin Graham says among the invitees are President Bill Clinton, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and real estate mogul Donald Trump. The elder Graham will attend, but won't give a speech.

Known as "America's pastor," Billy Graham rarely leaves his home in Montreat, outside of Asheville. Franklin says his father has round-the-clock care, but still thinks and speaks very clearly.

 

OHIO TEEN PLEADS GUILTY IN KILLINGS OF 2 BROTHERS: TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — An 18-year-old admitted Tuesday that he killed two teenage brothers inside a mobile home they shared with their mothers in northwest Ohio after an argument.

Michael Fay pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated murder in a Putnam County court and faces up to life in prison when he's sentenced next month.

Fay and the brothers had gotten into an argument and he left the trailer just after midnight May 9, stopping at a fast-food restaurant and then at a storage unit owned by his mother where he retrieved a gun, said Todd Schroeder, an assistant county prosecutor. Both mothers were at work.

Fay returned to the mobile home and shot 14-year-old Blaine Romes in the head while he was sleeping on a couch and then shot Blake Romes, 17, in his bedroom, Schroeder said.

Fay fired the first shot when he heard a train coming down a track directly behind the trailer, Schroeder said. "He waited for the whistle blow," he said, apparently to mask the sound of the gunshot.