AP - Hundreds of homes in the scenic community of Big Sur were threatened by a wildfire that already had burned 16 residences and was just 3 percent contained Wednesday.

AP - For more than two years, Neil Entwistle told the same story: He came home from running errands and found his wife and baby daughter cuddled in bed, dead from apparent gunshot wounds.

AP - It was swift and chaotic, witnesses said, as the plastics plant worker with a determined look opened fire, killing five co-workers then himself in rural western Kentucky.

AP - Reeling in a 45-pound grouper used to be just an average day on the water in the Florida Keys.

AP - Grundy County sheriff's deputy Shane Tate, a father of five, was making $10.50 an hour when he was gunned down in the line of duty.

AP - Angry politicians vowed to keep writing laws that condemn child rapists to death, despite a Supreme Court decision saying such punishment is unconstitutional.

AP - Dozens of state troopers and sheriff's deputies surrounded the town square in this tiny ranching hamlet as a grand jury opened its investigation into a polygamist sect accused of forcing underage girls into marriage and motherhood.

AP - Sonny Landham carved out a tough-guy reputation in a series of big-screen roles, from roughing up Sylvester Stallone to getting tossed out a window by Carl Weathers. He pulls no punches in his newest role: Libertarian challenger to a man known for political toughness, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

AP - This year's corn crop was Bill Talsma's lottery ticket — a potentially record-setting haul worth millions.

AP - An angry employee opened fire at a western Kentucky plastics plant after an argument early Wednesday, shooting a supervisor and four others before committing suicide, police and a company official said.

AP - Jurors deliberated a full day Tuesday without reaching a verdict in the case of three lawyers charged with defrauding clients in a $200 million diet drug settlement.

AP - U.S. consumers are the gloomiest they've been since the tail end of the last prolonged recession. Inflation, sinking home values and soaring gas prices have pushed confidence to the lowest level since 1992. Consumers' view of the economic future has never been lower, raising worries that already weak consumer spending could deteriorate further.