AP - Facing a free-speech uproar, the University of Texas backed down Thursday from punishing two students who refused to remove political signs from their dormitory window.

AP - A runaway train of a sell-off turned the anniversary of the stock market peak into one of the darkest days in Wall Street history Thursday, driving the Dow Jones industrials down a breathtaking 679 points and deepening a financial crisis that has defied all efforts to stop it.

AP - A bus overloaded with members of an Amish church group clipped a semitrailer Thursday, flipping the bus onto its side and sending 14 people to the hospital, including several children, authorities said.

AP - Arkansas plans to reverse course and allow unmarried or same-sex couples to take on foster children on a case-by-case basis, even as voters prepare to decide the issue in November, the state Department of Human Services said Thursday.

AP - The bodies of the brother of two Southern California congresswomen and his girlfriend have been recovered from the waters off Los Angeles, days after the couple disappeared during a boat trip, authorities said Thursday.

AP - A newspaper report Thursday said tens of thousands of eligible voters have been removed from rolls or blocked from registering in at least six swing states. Election officials lined up to defend their registration procedures and said they had done nothing wrong.

AP - The fatal shooting of a store employee and gun battle with police in a Knoxville shopping mall began as a complaint over a clothing purchase, authorities said Thursday.

AP - A man found dead this week after a gasoline-fueled blaze at his Kentucky house shot and killed his wife and daughter before turning the gun on himself, police said Thursday.