2 fires north of LA persist after long fire week
SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (AP) -- A pair of persistent wildfires continued to burn in the hills and mountains around Interstate 5 north of Los Angeles on Saturday, although authorities were slowly getting the upper hand....

Last-minute fortune seekers buy Powerball tickets
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- It's all about the odds....

Up to 60 injured after car drives into Va. parade
DAMASCUS, Va. (AP) -- An elderly driver plowed into dozens of hikers marching in a Saturday parade in a small Virginia mountain town and investigators were looking into whether he suffered a medical emergency before the accident....

Official: Broken rail eyed in Conn. train crash
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) -- The commuter train derailment and collision that left dozens injured outside New York City was not the result of foul play, officials said Saturday, but a fractured section of rail is being studied to determine if it is connected to the accident....

Authorities: Hofstra student was killed by police
MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) -- A New York college student being held by an armed home intruder was shot and killed by a Nassau County police officer who had responded to a report of a home invasion at an off-campus home, police said Saturday....

FBI searches apartment in ricin letter case
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) -- Authorities in hazardous materials suits searched a downtown Spokane apartment Saturday, investigating the recent discovery of a pair of letters containing the deadly poison ricin....

Parking fees fight at Calif. state beaches heat up
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Sunbathers flocking to Southern California beaches are used to feeding the meter or paying a parking attendant. Not so along the less developed north coast where it's customary to ditch cars on the shoulder of Highway 1 to surf, swim or picnic....

Victims: Marines failed to safeguard water supply
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (AP) -- A simple test could have alerted officials that the drinking water at Camp Lejeune was contaminated, long before authorities determined that as many as a million Marines and their families were exposed to a witch's brew of cancer-causing chemicals....

Will Boy Scouts accept gay youth? Vote is imminent
With its ranks deeply divided, the Boy Scouts of America is asking its local leaders from across the country to decide whether its contentious membership policy should be overhauled so that openly gay boys can participate in Scout units....

Police call fatal NYC shooting a hate crime
NEW YORK (AP) -- A gunman used homophobic slurs before firing a fatal shot point-blank into a man's face on a Manhattan street alive with a weekend midnight crowd, a killing New York's police commissioner called an "anti-gay" hate crime....