AP - U.S. Army Spc. Kendell Frederick lost his life while trying to become a citizen of the country he was fighting for. Now, his mother hopes a bill President Bush signed into law Thursday will make sure no other soldier dies the way her son did.

AP - As news spread of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to strike down the handgun ban in Washington, D.C., one thing was clear in Chicago: The city's own ban now faces a challenge as serious as any in its 26-year history.

AP - Environmental and animal rights groups are lining up to oppose a lawsuit that seeks to let American sport hunters again import hides of polar bears shot legally in Canada.

AP - As the verdicts were read, a woman who had accused Col. Samuel Lofton of rape darted from the courtroom.

AP - A British man convicted of shooting to death his 9-month-old baby and wife as they cuddled together in bed showed no reaction Thursday as he was sentenced to two life prison terms without the opportunity for parole.

AP - Strong Midwestern downpours may force residents to wait even longer to return to homes they evacuated due to fears of flooding, emergency management officials said Thursday.

AP - A lightning-sparked wildfire in the Los Padres National Forest that already burned 16 homes was moving closer Thursday to the scenic community of Big Sur, where it threatened 500 houses.

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

AP - When Mayor Jo Anne Smiley looks down Washington Street at the soggy fortress of sandbags protecting her town, she knows it's a view she will have to get used to.

AP - Leonid Hurwicz, who shared the Nobel Prize in economics last year for developing a theory that helps explain how buyers and sellers can maximize their gains, has died at age 90, a spokesman said Wednesday.