DETROIT (AP) - It's been called one of medicine's "open secrets" - allowing patients to refuse treatment by a doctor or nurse of another race.
GOLDEN, Colo. (AP) - A Colorado teenager told a 911 dispatcher last fall that he kidnapped and killed a missing suburban Denver school girl and hid her remains in a crawl space at his mother's home, according to a recording played by a prosecutor in court Friday.
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - The former acting president of Southern Vermont College who apparently committed suicide after learning of embezzlement allegations against him cared deeply for the students and helped make the school a better place, college President Karen Gross said Friday.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - The company that operates a medical helicopter that crash-landed outside an Oklahoma City nursing home early Friday, killing two people onboard and critically injuring a third, had just recently undergone an exhaustive accreditation process, officials said.
YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) - Washington Gov. Jay Inslee says six underground radioactive waste tanks at the nation's most contaminated nuclear site are leaking.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Jermaine Jackson has a new, brighter surname - Jacksun. A Los Angeles judge approved the change to singer's name Friday. The 58-year-old, who shared lead singing duties with his younger brother Michael in the Jackson 5, did not appear in court. He sought the name change for "artistic reasons" and says it has nothing to do with a recent rift in his family over the care of Michael Jackson's children ...
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon on Friday grounded its fleet of F-35 fighter jets after discovering a cracked engine blade in one plane.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - The towering giant sequoias at Yosemite National Park would go unprotected from visitors who might trample their shallow roots. At Cape Cod National Seashore, large sections of the Great Beach would close to keep eggs from being destroyed if natural resource managers are cut.
BRUSSELS (AP) - Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and his NATO counterparts are considering leaving 8,000 to 12,000 troops in Afghanistan after 2014, but a dispute arose Friday between the U.S. and German defense officials over whether that contingent would be an international force or an American one.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Justice Department has joined a lawsuit against disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong that alleges the former, seven-time Tour de France champion concealed his use of performance-enhancing drugs and defrauded his long-time sponsor, the U.S. Postal Service, Armstrong's lawyers said Friday.
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Police searched Friday for a Range Rover with dark tinted windows and custom rims that set off a fiery crash on the Las Vegas Strip when someone in the luxury SUV opened fire on a Maserati driven by an aspiring rapper.
PHOENIX (AP) - A woman charged in the stabbing and shooting death of her Arizona lover traded barbs with a prosecutor under a withering cross-examination as she struggled to explain why she can recall precise details of her life from years earlier, yet can't remember crucial aspects of the murder case against her.
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - A car bomb exploded Thursday near Syria's ruling party headquarters in Damascus, killing at least 53 people and scattering mangled bodies among the blazing wreckage in one of the bloodiest days in the capital since the uprising began almost two years ago.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - A Haitian judge on Thursday summoned Jean-Claude Duvalier to appear in court after the former dictator defied an order to attend a hearing to determine whether he should again face charges for human rights abuses committed during the nearly 15 years of his brutal regime.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - You think the Academy Awards are boring? Try the nominations. They only last a few minutes, but it's generally a sleepy academy suit and a sleepy starlet droning a list of names at 5:30 in the morning.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Los Angeles politicians have struggled for more than five years to regulate medical marijuana, trying to balance the needs of the sick against neighborhood concerns that pot shops attract crime.
MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) - In what police are describing as a crime of opportunity, a wanted man with a criminal history dating nearly 15 years entered a front door that had been left open at a New York home near Hofstra University.
IDYLLWILD, Calif. (AP) - A rock climber is dead after falling 150 feet while scaling a rock face in the San Jacinto Wilderness near Idyllwild.
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.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - One of the tickets sold in Florida for the Powerball game Saturday evening matched all six numbers drawn, which were:
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - It's all about the odds.
DAMASCUS, Va. (AP) - An emergency official says about 50 to 60 people were injured after a car drove into a group of hikers at a parade in a small Virginia town.
Although we honor their memory and sacrifice every day, the month of May brings a special time each year when the law enforcement community comes together with family members, friends, dignitaries, community leaders , elected officials, and the community to recognize and remember our fallen heroes in special memorial ceremonies locally and throughout the Nation.
MODESTO (AP) - Officials say 17 bodies have been removed from a Modesto funeral home after complaints the home was taking too long to cremate the bodies.
REDLANDS, Calif. (AP) - Redlands police are looking for a man who pulled over a school bus, flashed a badge and told the driver he was a police officer.
FAIRFIELD, Conn. (AP) - Officials described a devastating scene of shattered cars and other damage where two trains packed with rush-hour commuters collided in Connecticut, saying Saturday it's fortunate that no one was killed and that there weren't even more injuries.
Attention, bargain-hunters around the world: Japanese goods - from cars to televisions - are going on sale.
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.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - There are no reports of damage or injuries after a 4.3 magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of Northern California.
ELIZABETH, N.J. (AP) - Two cups of coffee ended life on the run for an Internet sensation known as Kai the hatchet-wielding hitchhiker.