AP - A sophomore high school student shot and killed one of her peers after an argument in a crowded hallway between classes, then walked to a nearby restaurant to call authorities and turn herself in, police said.

AP - Carrying signs reading 'Love not H8' and 'Did you cast a ballot or a stone?', a large crowd of gay-marriage supporters gathered outside a Mormon temple to protest the church's endorsement of a same-sex marriage ban in California.

AP - Dozens of high school students gathered before classes Thursday for a brief prayer service a day after authorities said one 15-year-old girl shot and killed another in a crowded hallway.

AP - Shivering, weak and injured in a snow cave, on a mountain he and two climbing companions had tried to conquer, Kelly James managed to reach his wife on his cell phone.

AP - Californians dropped to the ground, covered their heads and held onto the furniture Thursday for a mock 'Big One' — an earthquake drill billed as the largest in U.S. history and aimed at testing everyone from state leaders to students who donned fake blood to play victim.

AP - A white supremacist charged with plotting to kill President-elect Barack Obama and other black people wants his indictment dismissed, arguing that the federal grand jury that charged him had too many black members.

AP - Dozens of high school students gathered before classes Thursday for a brief memorial service a day after authorities said one 15-year-old girl shot and killed another in a crowded hallway.

AP - President George W. Bush said Thursday that faith changed his life long ago and has sustained him through the challenges of his presidency.

AP - Earth seems to have its first fuzzy photos of alien planets outside our solar system, images captured by two teams of astronomers. The pictures show four likely planets that appear as specks of white, nearly indecipherable except to the most eagle-eyed experts. All are trillions of miles away — three of them orbiting the same star, and the fourth circling a different star.

AP - Zealous guardians of his words and his likeness, the family of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is demanding a share of the proceeds from the sudden wave of T-shirts, posters and other merchandise depicting the civil rights leader alongside Barack Obama.

AP - From Southern California to Maine, the foundering economy, high fuel prices and poor fishing have driven boat owners to abandon perhaps thousands of vessels on the waterfront, where they are beginning to break up and sink, leaking oil and other pollutants.

AP - Firecrackers may have been the source of gunshot-like sounds that prompted a lockdown of a residence hall on Virginia Tech's campus Thursday, authorities said.

AP - A Wisconsin appeals court ruled Thursday that a man who killed a Catholic priest and two others in a church 23 years ago should be released from a mental hospital.

AP - A woman and two young children were rescued from the top of their SUV as floodwaters swept over the vehicle's roof on a coastal Oregon road.

AP - An exploding cartridge from a nail gun was the source of gunshot-like sounds that prompted a lockdown of a residence hall on Virginia Tech's campus Thursday, authorities said.

AP - Southern Californians dropped to the ground, covered their heads and held on to the furniture Thursday for a mock 'Big One' — an earthquake drill billed as the largest in U.S. history and aimed at testing everyone from state leaders to students who donned fake blood to play victim.

AP - A restaurant collapsed after an explosion on Thursday, trapping at least one person inside and injuring at least one other person, police said.

AP - One of two white supremacists charged with plotting to kill President-elect Barack Obama and dozens of other black people argued Thursday that a federal grand jury was racially stacked against him.

AP - A dirty brown haze sometimes more than a mile thick is darkening skies not only over vast areas of Asia, but also in the Middle East, southern Africa and the Amazon Basin, changing weather patterns around the world and threatening health and food supplies, the U.N. reported Thursday.

AP - An exploded cartridge from a nail gun produced sounds similar to gunfire near a Virginia Tech dormitory Thursday, briefly scaring a campus still scarred from mass shootings last year.

AP - Under pressure from the victim's family, the district attorney prosecuting the death of a black man who was run over and dragged about 70 feet has recused himself because he once represented one of the murder suspects.

AP - A lawsuit filed Thursday alleges that while a huge Chicago crowd celebrated the election of the first black U.S. president, some white city police officers committed hate crimes against a black family cheering Barack Obama's victory from home.

AP - An explosion flattened a restaurant and damaged an adjacent building Thursday, sparking a stubborn fire and sending at least six people to hospitals as crews prepared to search for anyone trapped in the rubble.

AP - An explosion laid waste to a restaurant and a shop Thursday in downtown Pueblo, killing one person, injuring at least six and forcing several blocks to evacuate. Crews pulled a survivor from the rubble more than four hours after the blast.

AP - Authorities are investigating after letters containing white powder were sent to Mormon temples in Utah and California.

AP - An explosion laid waste to a restaurant and a shop Thursday in downtown Pueblo, killing one person, injuring at least seven and forcing several blocks to evacuate. Crews pulled a survivor from the rubble more than four hours after the blast.

AP - A California gay rights activist filed a complaint Thursday accusing the Mormon church of failing to report the full value of the work it did to support the state's new ban on same-sex marriage.