U.S. National News

Astronauts take spacewalk No. 3 after suit snag

In this image made from video and released by NASA, astronaut Robert Satcher Jr. is seen preparing to work on a high-pressure tank on the International Space Station. The third and final spacewalk of space shuttle Atlantis' mission will conclude Monday, 23, 2009, at 1 p.m. EST. Satcher will be joined outside by Randolph Bresnik, the father of a new baby girl. The two will hook up a fresh oxygen tank and science experiments at the International Space Station. (AP Photo/NASA)
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A pair of astronauts stepped out on the third and final spacewalk of their shuttle mission Monday, helping to install an enormous oxygen tank at the International Space Station.

  • Freight trucks, center, breeze through a congested border check point using a Free and Secure Trade Lane, or FAST Lane, in Laredo, Texas, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009. The FAST Lane is part of the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, or C-TPAT. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
    Program to help truckers attracts drug smugglers AP - Mon Nov 23, 6:22 AM ET

    LAREDO, Texas - A U.S. program that offers trusted trucking companies speedy passage across American borders has begun attracting just the sort of customers who place a premium on avoiding inspections: Mexican drug smugglers.

  • This combination of undated photos shows, from left: Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, Waleed bin Attash, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi and Ramzi Binalshibh. The five men facing trial in the Sept. 11 attacks will plead not guilty so that they can air their criticisms of U.S. foreign policy, the lawyer for one of the defendants said Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009. (AP Photos)
    Lawyer: 9/11 defendants want platform for views AP - Mon Nov 23, 5:57 AM ET

    NEW YORK - The five men facing trial in the Sept. 11 attacks will plead not guilty so that they can air their criticisms of U.S. foreign policy, the lawyer for one of the defendants said.

  • FILE - In this Nov. 22, 2006 file photo, travelers arrive for their flights at LaGuardia Airport in New York. Fewer people are expected to fly this holiday season, but travelers shouldn't expect a full reprieve from the horrid flight delays of Thanksgivings past, especially if they need to land anywhere near New York City. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)
    Holidays will again test NYC air travel bottleneck AP - Mon Nov 23, 7:54 AM ET

    NEW YORK - Fewer people are expected to fly this holiday season, but travelers shouldn't expect a full reprieve from the horrid flight delays of Thanksgivings past, especially if they need to land anywhere near New York City.

  • In this image taken from video Friday, Nov. 20, 2009 and provided by Harpo Productions Inc., talk-show host Oprah Winfrey announces during a live broadcast of 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' in Chicago that her daytime television show, the foundation of a multibillion-dollar media empire, will end its run in 2011 after 25 seasons on the air. (AP Photo/Harpo Productions, Inc.) MANDATORY CREDIT, NO SALES
    To millions, Oprah's not a megastar, just a BFF AP - Mon Nov 23, 7:32 AM ET

    NEW YORK - Like any wife who knows her husband well, Nancy Martus knows what will annoy her man. Like when she utters the phrase, "Oprah says..."

  • This Oct. 13, 2009 photo shows Bill Johnson standing in front of a biomass-fired boiler at Flambeau River Papers LLC in Park Falls, Wis. Johnson is president of Renewable Densified Fuels and son of William Johnson, CEO of Flambeau River Papers. Executives with the company are building a refinery that will convert waste wood to diesel fuel and waxes while providing heat for the paper mill. It is one of many new alternative energy ventures that will use biomass from forests in the Great Lakes region. (AP Photo/John Flesher)
    Bio-fuel growth raises concerns about forests AP - Mon Nov 23, 4:50 AM ET

    PARK FALLS, Wis. - Forests are a treasure trove of limbs and bark that can be made into alternative fuels and some worry the increasing trend of using that logging debris will make those materials too scarce, harming the woodlands.

  • SF area officer, passenger injured during arrest AP - Sun Nov 22, 11:15 PM ET

    OAKLAND, Calif. - A train passenger's video of an arrest shows heavy-duty glass shattering and showering down on a San Francisco area transit police officer and an unruly passenger in an incident that injured both men.

  • FILE - In this Nov. 16, 2009 file photo, Dr. Conrad Murray, a physician for the late pop star Michael Jackson, appears at a child support hearing at Clark County Family Court in Las Vegas. Edward Chernoff, a lawyer for Murray, says the doctor is returning to work at his Houston clinic on Monday Nov. 23, 2009. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken, Pool, File)
    Attorney: Jackson's doctor returning to work AP - Mon Nov 23, 4:01 AM ET

    HOUSTON - Michael Jackson's doctor is expected to return to work at his Houston medical clinic for the first time since before the pop star's death.

  • In this photo from Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009, olives ready to be mechanically harvested for olive oil are shown at California Olive Ranch in Artois. In the distance are the new hedgerow-style plantings that allow for mechanical harvesting. Olives can be picked and crushed inside of 90 minutes. In 10 years California officials say the 12,500 acres of olives for oil planted in hedgerow style will grow to 100,000 acres. (AP Photo/Tracie Cone)
    New olive planting method prompts Calif. oil boom AP - Mon Nov 23, 3:46 AM ET

    ARTOIS, Calif. - An oil boom is under way in California's agricultural heartland, as evolving tastes and a trend toward healthy fare have transformed a profession as old as civilization: olive production for the extra virgin market.

  • FILE - In this May 8, 2007 file photo, Dr. Jay Chapman holds a human skull from Nepal that has been hand decorated with silver at his home in Napa, Calif. The man considered the father of lethal injection in the United States says he never gave much thought to how many fatal drugs should be used in the process, only that it worked efficiently. Dr. Chapman, now semiretired in California, said Ohio's decision to adopt a one-drug protocol, the first such system in the country, fits that goal. (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)
    Lethal injection creator fine with 1 drug in Ohio AP - Sun Nov 22, 4:25 PM ET

    COLUMBUS, Ohio - The man considered the father of lethal injection in the United States said it doesn't matter whether three fatal drugs are used or one — as his home state of Ohio has proposed — as long as the drug works efficiently.

  • Graphic shows percentage of women 40 years and older having a mammogram by race and cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates per 100,000 population
    Mammogram guidelines spark debate over health bill AP - Sun Nov 22, 3:41 PM ET

    WASHINGTON - Lawmakers broke along party lines on a new aspect of the health care debate Sunday as a former National Institutes of Health chief urged women to ignore guidelines that delay the start of breast cancer screenings.

  • Victim ID'd in fatal NYC subway seat stabbing AP - Sun Nov 22, 5:19 PM ET

    NEW YORK - A subway passenger stabbed to death in front of horrified straphangers has been identified as 36-year-old Dwight Johnson of Brooklyn.

  • University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) student Kendall Brown and other UCLA students and supporters protest as the UC Board of Regents votes to approve a 32 percent tuition hike next year on November 19 in Los Angeles, California.(AFP/Getty Images/File/David Mcnew)
    Demonstration at UC Santa Cruz ends peacefully AP - Sun Nov 22, 5:21 PM ET

    SANTA CRUZ, Calif. - Officials at the University of California, Santa Cruz say dozens of protesters who were occupying the university's main administrative building have ended their protest.

  • In this Nov. 14, 2009 photo, a customer purchases a newspaper in Palo Alto, Calif. While U.S. newspapers are losing subscribers at a staggering rate, a few dailies stand out because their circulation is rising. But they aren't necessarily selling more copies. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
    Newspaper circulation may be worse than it looks AP - Sun Nov 22, 3:43 PM ET

    SAN FRANCISCO - While U.S. newspapers are losing subscribers at a staggering rate, a few dailies stand out because their circulation is rising. But they aren't necessarily selling more copies.

  • Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev. smiles during a health care reform news conference, Thursday, November 19, 2009, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke)
    Schumer: Dems ready to go-it-alone on health care AP - Mon Nov 23, 8:23 AM ET

    WASHINGTON - A leading Senate Democrat said Monday his party is determined to push through a health care overhaul bill with or without Republican support because the "system is broken."

  • Actress Kristen Stewart, star of the new film "The Twilight Saga: New Moon", poses at the film's Los Angeles premiere November 16, 2009. REUTERS/Fred Prouser
    'New Moon' wolfs down $140.7M in opening weekend AP - Mon Nov 23, 4:14 AM ET

    LOS ANGELES - "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" gobbled up $140.7 million the first three days the vampire romance was in theaters, while gaining $258.8 million worldwide, according to studio estimates.

Crimes and Trials News

  • Lawyer: 9/11 defendants want platform for views AP - Mon Nov 23, 5:57 AM ET

    NEW YORK - The five men facing trial in the Sept. 11 attacks will plead not guilty so that they can air their criticisms of U.S. foreign policy, the lawyer for one of the defendants said.

  • Transgender murderer renews electrolysis request AP - Mon Nov 23, 5:35 AM ET

    BOSTON - A convicted murderer serving a life sentence goes before a judge to ask for electrolysis treatments as she seeks a taxpayer-funded sex-change operation.

  • FILE - This 2000 file picture provided by the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences shows Nidal Malik Hasan when was a medical student at the F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. The Army psychiatrist charged with killing 13 people at Fort Hood will be confined until his military trial, initially staying in a hospital where he is recovering from gunshot wounds, his attorney said Saturday Nov. 21, 2009. (AP Photo/Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, file)
    Fort Hood suspect ordered held until court-martial AP - Sun Nov 22, 3:58 AM ET

    FORT WORTH, Texas - The Army psychiatrist charged with killing 13 people at Fort Hood will be confined until his military trial, initially staying in a hospital where he is recovering from gunshot wounds, his attorney said Saturday.