Officials may evacuate New Orleans as Gustav nears
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- National Guard troops stand ready, batteries and water bottles are selling briskly, and one small-town mayor has spent a sleepless night worrying. The New Orleans area is skittishly watching as a storm marches across the Caribbean on the eve of Hurricane Katrina's third anniversary....

Ex-lawyer for Detroit mayor sues over unpaid fees
DETROIT (AP) -- A former lawyer for Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has filed a lawsuit against the mayor claiming he's owed about $80,000 in fees stemming from his work after Kilpatrick's text-message scandal surfaced....

Death for man who kidnapped, murdered Idaho boy
BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- In the end, killer pedophile Joseph Edward Duncan III couldn't - or wouldn't - offer a reason why he should live....

Man who sparked Obama threat probe due in court
CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) -- The Colorado man who authorities say made racist threats against Barack Obama is scheduled to be formally charged on state drug and weapons offenses....

Poll: California voters oppose ban on gay marriage
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- A majority of California voters oppose a ballot initiative to ban gay marriage, though they are evenly split on the practice itself, according to a poll released Wednesday....

Factory had tension between union, immigrants
LAUREL, Miss. (AP) -- Union bosses in this region of rural Mississippi have long grumbled that the largest factories here hire illegal immigrants, and that the immigrants were starting to get more overtime and supervisory positions....

4 inmates accused of helping with NM jailbreak
CLOVIS, N.M. (AP) -- Four jail inmates who authorities say helped eight others make a brazen escape were charged Wednesday, as officials kept up the search for the five prisoners who remain on the loose, including a convicted murderer....

SoCal jury gets case of ex-Marine in Iraq deaths
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) -- A federal jury on Wednesday began deliberating whether a former Marine squad leader committed manslaughter in Iraq, marking the first time in which civilians will decide whether the actions of a military service member during combat were criminal....

Arrest reopens mystery of missing Calif. couple
SAN MARINO, Calif. (AP) -- Linda Sohus was a towering blonde fantasy buff who liked to paint unicorns. Her husband, Jonathan, was a diminutive computer programmer working at a NASA lab who shared his wife's passion for science fiction....

One small hitch for FAA, one giant mess for fliers
CHICAGO (AP) -- When a computer system that distributes flight plans nationwide came rolling to a halt this week because of a software glitch, so did airplanes on tarmacs from Orlando to Chicago. The ensuing delays drove home just how easily an apparently isolated problem can trigger network-wide disarray in the country's aging air traffic control system....