AP - Now that the multistate manhunt has ended, legal wrangling has begun over an ex-convict suspected in a killing spree that left eight people dead in Illinois and Missouri.

AP - Tropical Storm Bertha has formed in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa.

AP - 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.

AP - A judge declared a mistrial Thursday in the case of two lawyers charged with defrauding clients of $65 million in a diet-drug settlement after jurors said they could not reach a verdict.

AP - Historian James Heintze can tick off colorful accounts of how the nation has celebrated the Fourth of July over the years: In the 19th century, canons fired, church bells sounded and fireworks exploded.

AP - Federal prosecutors have filed kidnapping charges that carry the death penalty against a Vermont man whose 12-year-old niece was found dead near his home.

AP - A United Airlines jetliner was coming in for a landing at the Las Vegas airport in 2006 when the tower radioed that a smaller plane was still crossing the runway.

AP - The hedge fund cheat who faked his death before going on the lam told a Manhattan judge Thursday that he tried to kill himself with a drug overdose before he surrendered in Massachusetts.

AP - Starting next month, it will be "TGIT" for Utah state employees. As in: "Thank God It's Thursday."

AP - An explosive wildfire ravaged the hillsides above this scenic coastal community Thursday, leaving the popular tourist region mostly deserted ahead of the holiday weekend.

AP - Three American hostages rescued from leftist guerrillas in Colombia were back in the United States Thursday, more than five years after their plane went down in rebel-held jungle.