Archive By Section - Signal AP
Black smoke: Still no pope
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Cardinals remained divided over who should be pope on Wednesday after three rounds of voting, an indication that disagreements remain about the direction of the Catholic church following the upheaval unleashed by Pope Benedict XVI's surprise resignation.
LA schools settle claims over lewd 'tasting games'
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Los Angeles school district will pay millions of dollars to settle claims and lawsuits filed by students and families from an elementary school where a third-grade teacher was accused of spoon-feeding children semen in what he called "tasting games," lawyers in the cases said Tuesday.
Cluster of fatal teen car crashes belies US trend
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) - Derrek Lee Hager had just dropped off his girlfriend in the Texas Panhandle and was headed with four other friends to a nearby town to continue enjoying their spring break.
Mars rover shows planet could have supported life
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Drilling into a rock near its landing spot, the Curiosity rover has answered a key question about Mars: The red planet long ago harbored some of the ingredients needed for primitive life to thrive.
UC, CSU foundations remain obscure despite new law
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Under a law that took effect last year, the public has the right to access the records of private foundations that are affiliated with University of California and California State University campuses and examine how they spend the hundreds of millions of dollars they raise.
Border security expo begins amid fed spending cuts
PHOENIX (AP) - Paul Roselle is hoping to sell the U.S. Border Patrol on his company's high-tech mobile surveillance system mounted inside a nondescript white truck to better monitor movement of criminals and illegal crossers who are constantly changing their routes to avoid detection.
Man convicted in deadly Craigslist plot in Ohio
AKRON, Ohio (AP) - A self-styled street preacher accused of teaming up with a high school student in a deadly plot to lure men with Craigslist job offers and then rob them was found guilty Tuesday of aggravated murder and could face the death penalty.
US braces for another bad fire year
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Despite the slowest start to a wildfire season in a decade, the head of the U.S. Forest Service says his agency is preparing for another busy year, but with fewer firefighters.
Richard Burton's ex, theater producer, dies at 83
NEW YORK (AP) - The woman Richard Burton left to marry Elizabeth Taylor has died. Theater producer and nightclub founder Sybil Christopher was 83.
Man, woman sought for shoplifting, beating guard
WEST COVINA, Calif. (AP) - Southern California authorities are searching for a man and a woman who had two children in tow when they allegedly shoplifted at a West Covina department store and beat up a security guard to avoid getting caught.
Coalition forms to defend Calif. environmental law
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Labor and environmental groups on Tuesday joined some of the more liberal Democrats in the state Legislature in announcing a coalition to oppose reforms sought by Gov. Jerry Brown to the California Environmental Quality Act.
So. California Better Business Bureau expelled
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Better Business Bureau said Tuesday that it expelled a Southern California chapter after an investigation into an apparent pay-to-play scandal.
Black smoke from chapel chimney: No pope yet
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Black smoke has poured from the Sistine Chapel chimney, signaling that cardinals have failed to elect a pope on their first try.
Senate panel OKs Dems gun background check bill
WASHINGTON (AP) - A divided Senate Judiciary Committee approved a Democratic bill Tuesday expanding required federal background checks to nearly all gun purchases, giving President Barack Obama an early victory on curbing gun violence in a fight that still faces difficult odds.
Missouri golfer survives fall into Illinois course sinkhole
ST. LOUIS (AP) - Suddenly being swallowed up by the earth on a golf course's fairway drove a wedge between Mark Mihal and a stellar round.
Articles by Section - Signal AP
Judges grill Arizona lawyer over anti-abortion law
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Two federal appeals court judges expressed skepticism about an Arizona law that disqualified Planned Parenthood and other health providers that perform abortions from receiving public funds for other medical services.
Military doctor sues Boy Scouts alleging abuse
SAN DIEGO (AP) - An Army doctor filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Boy Scouts of America and its affiliates, alleging he was abused as a teenager by his troop's leader who had known proclivities toward child molestation.
Timing of Prop. 8 ruling complicates Fresno rally
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - The fact that no one knows when the Supreme Court will hand down its decision in a legal challenge to California's same-sex marriage ban is causing problems for gay marriage supporters in Fresno.
Homes burned near Colo. Springs could approach 100
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - The number of houses destroyed by a wildfire near Colorado Springs could grow to around 100, and authorities fear it's possible that some people who stayed behind might have died.
Bus driver dies after crash with truck
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Authorities say a bus driver has died after her bus and a flatbed truck collided in downtown Los Angeles and the truck plowed into a convenience store.
Banning wildfire 30 percent contained
BANNING, Calif. (AP) - A Southern California wildfire that's burned nearly 4 ½ square miles of forest is still growing but so is the fireline to contain it.
Snowden says he's not hiding from justice
HONG KONG (AP) - The former CIA employee who leaked top-secret information about U.S. surveillance programs said in a new interview in Hong Kong on Wednesday that he is not attempting to hide from justice here but hopes to use the city as a base to reveal wrongdoing.
Congress briefed on US surveillance programs
WASHINGTON (AP) - Dogged by fear and confusion about sweeping spy programs, intelligence officials sought to convince House lawmakers in an unusual briefing Tuesday that the government's years-long collection of phone records and Internet usage is necessary for protecting Americans - and does not trample on their privacy rights.
Pope confirms 'gay lobby' at work at Vatican
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Francis lamented that a "gay lobby" was at work at the Vatican in private remarks to the leadership of a key Latin American church group - a stunning acknowledgment that appears to confirm earlier reports about corruption and dysfunction in the Holy See.
Castro pleads not guilty in Ohio kidnappings
CLEVELAND (AP) - A man accused of holding three women captive in his Cleveland home for about a decade pleaded not guilty Wednesday to hundreds of charges, including rape and kidnapping.
Santa Monica gunman was mentally evaluated
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A Santa Monica gunman who killed five people last week was hospitalized for psychiatric evaluation in 2006 after police found bomb-making materials at his home.
Grandma, 72, shoots at intruder, misses in Calif.
STANTON, Calif. (AP) - A 72-year-old Southern California grandmother who shot at - and narrowly missed - a man trying to break into her home said Tuesday she was shocked at the attention her action was getting but does not regret defending herself and her husband, an 85-year-old World War II veteran who uses a wheelchair.
90-year-old lobsterman survives sinking off Maine
HARPSWELL, Maine (AP) - A 90-year-old lobsterman is eager to get back on the water after surviving the sinking of his boat by swimming to a nearby island through the cold waters of the Gulf of Maine.
Calif. judge overturns jury death sentence
STOCKTON, Calif. (AP) - A San Joaquin County judge has overturned a jury's decision to send a man to death row in the slaying of his prison cellmate - the second time he was convicted of killing a cellmate.
