U.S. National News

Wind keeps California fires raging on 2 fronts

A firefighter walks along a large hill backfire on a wildfire burn in Big Sur, Calif., Friday, July 4, 2008. The raging blaze near Big Sur was one of more than 1,700 wildfires, mostly ignited by lightning, that have scorched more then 770 square miles and destroyed 64 structures across northern and central California since June 20, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. (AP Photo/ Tony Avelar)
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AP - 2 hours, 20 minutes ago

BIG SUR, Calif. - A pair of out-of-control wildfires roared along California's central coast Friday, chewing through opposite ends of a parched forest and threatening a total of more than 4,500 homes.

  • A worker climbs aboard a super yacht at Trinity Boats in New Orleans, Tuesday, April 29, 2008. These days at New Orleans-based Trinity Yachts, the largest domestic builder, the biggest problems are having enough workers and enough time to handle the 24 custom contracts the company has for the luxury vessels. 'Nobody is buying these yachts because they need them,' said William S. Smith III, Trinity's vice president. 'They're buying them because they want them.' (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
    Smooth sailing for yacht builders despite economy AP - 23 minutes ago

    NEW ORLEANS - Fuel prices are soaring and credit markets tightening, but the super-rich are still lining up to pay tens of millions of dollars for mega yachts.

  • In an undated photo provided by Guernsey's, a New York City auction house, Rosa Parks' keepsake folio and a postcard from Martin Luther King Jr., are shown. Guernsey's has been asked by a Wayne County, Mich., probate court judge in Detroit to find a buyer, preferably a museum, university or other institution for thousands of Parks' personal items. Among them are her presidential and congressional medals, a postcard from Martin Luther King Jr., and the hat Parks is believed to have been wearing the day in December 1955 she refused to give up her seat to a white man on an Alabama bus, cementing her spot in civil rights history. (AP Photo/Guernsey's, ho)
    Auction house seeks to sell Rosa Parks collection AP - 1 hour, 45 minutes ago

    LANSING, Mich. - Arlan Ettinger will never forget the response he got when he took one of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks' hats to a meeting at the Apollo Theater in New York.

  • Paul Huey, an archaeologist for New York state, poses in front of a painting depicting Dr. Richard Shuckburg composing the lyrics to 'Yankee Doodle' in Rensselaer, N.Y., Monday, June 30, 2008. Huey believes he has narrowed down a date in June 1758 that Shuckburg, a British army physician, wrote the lyrics. As the story goes, Shuckburgh penned the lyrics at Fort Crailo, in Rensselaer, after being amused by the sloppy drill and appearance of New England militiamen. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
    NY researcher: `Yankee Doodle' turns 250 — maybe AP - 1 hour, 46 minutes ago

    ALBANY, N.Y. - Wish "Yankee Doodle" a happy 250th birthday. Maybe.

  • 4 people dead in Milwaukee shooting; no arrests AP - 2 hours, 58 minutes ago

    MILWAUKEE - At least one person fired a gun into a crowd in a street early Friday, killing four people and sending panicked revelers running for cover, police said.

  • Joey Chestnut is declared the winner of the annual hot dog eating contest, Friday July 4, 2008, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Joey Chestnut reclaimed the top spot at the annual hot dog eating contest in Coney Island on Friday after first tying with archrival Takeru Kobayashi with 59 hot dogs in a 10-minute chow-down and then beating him in a five-dog eat-off. (AP Photo/Ed Ou)
    Champ retains NYC hot-dog eating title in overtime AP - 2 hours, 49 minutes ago

    NEW YORK - Joey Chestnut achieved frankfurter immortality Friday, outdueling his celebrated Japanese rival in an epic hot-dog eating contest that pushed both of the gluttonous gladiators to the brink.

  • Spitzer call girl drops Girls Gone Wild lawsuit AP - 1 hour, 16 minutes ago

    MIAMI - The call girl involved in a scandal that brought down New York's former governor has dropped a lawsuit claiming "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis exploited her image and name on the Internet.

  • A man assists in carrying a large flag during a July 4th parade on Constitution avenue in Washington July 4, 2008. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas (UNITED STATES)
    U.S. marks Independence Day with fireworks, revelry AP - 1 hour, 4 minutes ago

    NEW YORK - Americans across the country mixed patriotism and plain old good fun to mark Independence Day on Friday, with solemn ceremony alternating with parades and hot-dog-eating hijinks.

  • In this Nov. 5, 1996 photo, Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., left, is congratulated by Sen. Lauch Faircloth, R-N.C., after Helms won his fifth term to the U.S. Senate by defeating Democrat Harvey Gantt in Raleigh, N.C. Helms has died at age 86, the Jesse Helms research center says. (AP Photo/Alan Marler, file)
    Jesse Helms quotes on life and politics AP - Fri Jul 4, 11:18 AM ET

    Some quotes of Jesse Helms, who died on the Fourth of July at age 86:

  • Guerrilla Gardener Angela Clubb works on a freeway off-ramp in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles, Thursday, June 26, 2008. Getting approval to beautify public property can be cumbersome, so guerrilla gardeners in cities worldwide take matters into their own dirt-caked hands. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
    Guerrilla gardeners dig in to beautify Los Angeles AP - Fri Jul 4, 3:20 PM ET

    LOS ANGELES - More than a dozen people, some wearing orange protective gear, pulled rakes and shovels from a dingy shopping cart and started working on a parched patch of land along a busy off-ramp of the Hollywood Freeway.

  • People attend Astroland park in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn Thursday, June 19, 2008 in New York. A developer who owns 11 acres of Coney Island wants to break ground next year on a $1.5 billion complex that includes high-rise hotels, retail stores, movie theaters, an indoor water park and New York's first new roller coaster since the now-landmarked Cyclone was built of wood 75 years ago. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
    Tension builds over Coney Island rebuilding plan AP - Fri Jul 4, 11:35 AM ET

    NEW YORK - The Fourth of July weekend has always been one of the most exciting times of the year for Coney Island: Crowds line the boardwalk to watch the hot-dog eating contest, visitors take terrifying roller coaster rides, and beachgoers frolic in the sand and surf.

  • Freed hostage and military contractors, Marc Gonzalves, center with cap, and Thomas Howes in flight suit to the right arrive at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas on Wednesday, July 2, 2008. The U.S. military contractors — Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell — were held for five years by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. They were part of 15 hostages rescued from the FARC rebels in Columbia. (AP PHOTO/San Antonio Express-News, Jerry Lara) MAGS OUT NO SALES SAN ANTONIO OUT
    Freed US hostages, families reuniting in Texas AP - Fri Jul 4, 5:07 AM ET

    FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas - Back on U.S. soil, three American hostages rescued from Colombia rebels are now in the process of reintegrating into a society they've been absent from for more than five years.

  • Crazy cat that frightened neighborhood mends ways AP - 1 hour, 59 minutes ago

    FAIRFIELD, Conn. - A combative cat named Lewis who frightened the neighbors and got his owner into legal trouble two years ago has done so well under house arrest that the case has now been scratched.

  • In this Jan. 24, 1996 file photo, a man dressed as Bozo, left, poses with Bozo creator, Larry Harmon, as they celebrate the character's 50th birthday during the National Association of Television Program Executives convention in Las Vegas. Harmon, who appeared as Bozo the Clown for decades and licensed the name to other Bozos around the world, died Thursday, July 3, 2008, at his home of congestive heart failure,according to his longtime publicist, Jerry Digney. He was 83. (AP Photo/Lennox McLendon, file)
    Larry Harmon, longtime Bozo the Clown, dead at 83 AP - Fri Jul 4, 12:36 PM ET

    LOS ANGELES - Larry Harmon wasn't the original Bozo the Clown, but he was the real one. Harmon, who portrayed the wing-haired clown for more than half a century, died Thursday of congestive heart failure, said his publicist, Jerry Digney. He was 83.

  • U.S. Attorney Tom Anderson, left, answers questions as Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell, right, looks on during a news conference, Thursday, July 3, 2008, in Burlington, Vt., where prosecutors announced that Michael Jacques of Randolph, Vt., faces federal kidnapping charges in the death of his niece, Brooke Bennett. (AP Photo/Alden Pellett)
    Pal in case of Vermont girl regrets involvement AP - Fri Jul 4, 5:12 PM ET

    When Kevin Grosenheider received a call early Monday from his friend, Raymond Gagnon, asking him to dispose of a safe, he decided to help him out.

  • A booking photo released July 3, 2008, by the Posen Police Department in Posen, Ill., shows Ricardo Gonzalez, 35, of Midlothian, Ill. Gonzalez was arrested after officials say a woman spotted him pushing a child's hands back into a cage at a gas station in Posen on Monday, June 30, 2008. Police say Gonzalez admitted he locked his girls, ages 2 and 5, in a cage to control them. He faces charges of misdemeanor child endangerment. (AP Photo/Posen Police Department)
    Father without baby sitter accused of caging kids AP - Fri Jul 4, 1:47 AM ET

    POSEN, Ill. - A suburban Chicago man locked his two young daughters in a wire cage hidden in the back of his pickup truck because he didn't have a baby sitter, officials said Thursday.

Crimes and Trials News

  • Assistant U.S. Attorney John Siegel walks down the steps from the federal courthouse in Cleveland, Thursday, July 3, 2008. A federal jury on Thursday convicted the former top accountant at the Cleveland Catholic Diocese of tax charges and acquitted him of more serious charges related to alleged kickbacks. Joseph H. Smith was convicted of six tax-related charges, including conspiracy to defraud the IRS, making a false tax return and obstructing an IRS investigation. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)
    Former top Cleveland church accountant convicted AP - Thu Jul 3, 8:19 PM ET

    CLEVELAND - A federal jury on Thursday convicted the former top accountant at the Cleveland Catholic Diocese of tax charges and acquitted him of more serious charges related to alleged kickbacks.

  • A screenshot of YouTube.com, taken on July 3, 2008. (www.youtube.com/Reuters)
    Court order on YouTube user data fans privacy fears Reuters - Thu Jul 3, 7:34 PM ET

    NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A U.S. judge's order to Google Inc to turn over YouTube user data to Viacom Inc sparked an outcry on Thursday from privacy advocates in the midst of a legal showdown over video piracy.

  • Former 100-meter world record holder Tim Montgomery looks back at the scoreboard after running in a 100 meters quarter-final heat at the U.S. Olympic team trials in Track and Field, in Sacramento, California, in this July 10, 2004 file photo. (Gary Hershorn/Reuters)
    Sprinter Montgomery pleads guilty to heroin charge Reuters - Thu Jul 3, 7:28 PM ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. sprinter Tim Montgomery, an Olympic gold medalist now banned from the sport, pleaded guilty on Thursday to distributing heroin.