AP - A balloon slammed into power lines during Albuquerque's annual hot air balloon fiesta Friday, setting off an explosion that sent burning debris flying as the apparatus disintegrated, authorities and witnesses said. One man was killed and another was critically injured.

AP - Matthew Shepard's mother still mourns lost opportunities to battle hate crimes and promote a greater tolerance of gays in the 10 years since her 21-year-old son was beaten, tied to a wooden fence and left for dead in a frigid Wyoming pasture.

AP - When financial panic sweeps Bedford Falls in the 1946 movie "It's a Wonderful Life," the villain, Mr. Potter, moves to snap up the Bailey Savings & Loan, offering a fire-sale price of 50 cents on the dollar.

AP - Connecticut's Supreme Court ruled Friday that gay couples have the right to marry, making the state the third behind Massachusetts and California to legalize such unions through the courts. The ruling comes just weeks before Californians go to the polls on a historic gay-marriage ballot question, the first time the issue will be put before voters in a state where same-sex couples are legally wed.

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.