Can Tornado Alley become safer? Yes, within limits
In the wind-swept prairie called Tornado Alley, the scene is eerily familiar: Homes smashed to splinters. Trees and telephone poles snapped like twigs. Piles of bricks, overturned cars and dazed survivors sifting through rubble in search of a precious photo or heirloom. A town in ruins....
Woman feared Iowa kidnapping suspect's release
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -- The ex-girlfriend of a man suspected kidnapping two Iowa girls this week worried that he would harm her and her family before his impending release from prison in 2011, citing prior sexual and physical abuse and threats, according to court records released Friday....
Suspect in killing of officer found dead in cell
OGDEN, Utah (AP) -- A Utah Army veteran was found hanging dead Friday in his jail cell as he awaited trial on charges of killing a police officer and wounding five others during a raid that netted 13 pot plants and sparked a fierce debate about what happened that night....
Principal recounts storm hitting Okla. school
MOORE, Okla. (AP) -- The principal of the Oklahoma elementary school where seven children died in a tornado says her teachers did everything they could to save their lives....
Arias foreman: Sentencing decision unfair to jury
PHOENIX (AP) -- The jury foreman in Jodi Arias' trial says the panel just couldn't decide whether the killing of her boyfriend was enough to merit a death a sentence....
Feds look for temporary fix after I-5 collapse
MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) -- Federal officials were searching the country for a possible temporary replacement for a bridge that collapsed along the crucial Interstate 5 corridor, but Washington Gov. Jay Inslee cautioned Friday that major disruptions will last for weeks, if not months....
16 hurt in shuttle bus crash near Atlanta airport
COLLEGE PARK, Ga. (AP) -- Sixteen people were taken to the hospital Friday, at least two in serious condition, after they were hurt in a crash between a hotel shuttle bus and a tractor-trailer near Atlanta's airport, officials said....
Illinois judge charged with heroin, gun possession
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- A southwestern Illinois judge already under scrutiny after a colleague died of a cocaine overdose at his family's hunting lodge was charged Friday with possession of heroin and guns....
Students safe after armed man reported at school
THORNTON, Colo. (AP) -- All students at a Denver-area high school are safe after a report that a man with a rifle was seen near campus, police said Friday....
DA: Tenn. victims shot after drugs handed over
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- A former police officer, accused of killing two people during a robbery at an east Tennessee pharmacy, gunned down his victims after they complied with his demands for painkillers, a prosecutor said Friday....
Wis. farmers, firefighters partner on hazards maps
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Without even thinking, Joe Ortner rattles off a list of items on his family's dairy farm that could kill you: 1,000 gallons of diesel, 500 gallons of gas, cleaning chemicals in the milking parlor, oil and lubricant for repair work and a 6-foot-deep manure pond in which you could drown....
Arellano Felix drug cartel leader pleads guilty
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- The last of the brothers accused of creating an infamous Mexican drug cartel pleaded guilty Friday to helping send hundreds of millions of dollars in proceeds from the United States, marking one of the final milestones in an investigation that began nearly two decades ago....
'Unusual condition' seen before Conn. train wreck
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) -- The engineer of the commuter train that derailed last week in Connecticut observed an "unusual condition" on the track before the wreck, federal officials said Friday without explaining what the condition was, though they did say repair work was done last month in the area of the crash....
