AP - A California appeals court reversed a ruling that ordered Starbucks Corp. to pay millions in restitution to baristas who had to share their tips with shift supervisors.

AP - Arizona is ending its use of outdoor prison cells after an inmate died in triple-digit heat last month, the corrections department said Tuesday.

AP - Chanequa Campbell soared out of one of Brooklyn's most troubled neighborhoods, parlaying a stellar high school record into prestigious scholarships and a coveted spot at Harvard University. She spent four years seeing the world and making her voice heard in her new Cambridge home.

AP - Many residents of this largely rural yet fast-growing St. Louis suburb have made up their minds about a former Marine accused of strangling his wife and their two boys in their beds less than a month ago.

AP - Authorities say former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was three days late and $3,500 short on a May restitution payment ordered as part of the criminal case that drove him from office.

AP - The recession is sapping the life out of many businesses, from a big-box electronic retail chain to dozens of mom-and-pop stores. 'Going out of business' signs dot suburban strip malls and Main Street storefronts alike.

AP - Eighty-six-year-old Johnnie Leach leans on his cane as he sits in warm sunshine on the steps of the old slave cabin where he raised 13 children four decades ago.

AP - Illinois politicians running for office next year can say something virtually unheard of in the state's long, shady history: We put limits on the size of campaign contributions.

AP - Elizabeth Edwards is planning to open a furniture store near her North Carolina home.

AP - The federal government is exploring how to put Florida hurricane evacuees in foreclosed homes if a Katrina-like storm devastates the region and shelters, hotels and other housing options are full.

AP - President Barack Obama's administration, which is trying to avoid mass evictions of hurricane victims still living in federally supplied trailers along the Gulf Coast, will offer $50 million in new housing vouchers and sell trailers for as little as $1, an administration official said.

AP - The man accused of fatally shooting a late-term abortion provider in church has been ordered held without bail after a hearing where he questioned a judge about when he would hear from his public defender.

AP - Authorities in Arizona say a man has been accused of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman and broadcasting it live on the Internet.

AP - A New Jersey father who headed to Brazil to take custody of his son says he's frustrated by a judge's decision but will never give up fighting for his child.

AP - Former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes is going to ask voters to give him his old job back.

AP - Investors sent stocks sharply lower Wednesday after data on factory orders and the services industry came in below expectations.

AP - Princeton University's Public Safety Department says there's no gunman on the Ivy League campus.

AP - Audits of 194 Detroit public schools have revealed instances of funds being diverted to personal accounts, misappropriation of cash and other problems.

AP - It's the birthplace of some of the world's strongest storms, a nearly continuous band of colliding weather systems near the equator where the Air France jet vanished in the night.

AP - Police in Washington state say two people have been arrested in connection with the killing of an armored car guard during a robbery at a Wal-Mart.

AP - A few months ago, 10-year-old Hannah Powell-Auslam had the usual worries for a kid — homework and her softball team.

AP - A tough-talking former federal prosecutor is taking on an unpopular Democratic governor in New Jersey, a long-anticipated matchup that could reveal the length of President Barack Obama's coattails.

AP - A Texan is trying to put a former president under oath and find out what he knew and when he knew it. But the issue isn't national security, political skullduggery or a sex scandal.

AP - A man who burned a woman alive in the trunk of her car was executed on Wednesday in Ohio's first death by lethal injection since the state revised its protocol on the procedure.

AP - Wildlife officials say an oil tanker struck an endangered humpback whale and carried its carcass on its bow into Alaska's Port Valdez.

AP - A topless coffee shop that created controversy went up in flames early Wednesday, just hours after the owner talked with local officials about making the business more like a strip club.

AP - Police say a gun scare at Princeton University began when four teen boys found a toy gun on campus.

AP - The California state medical board has dropped its misconduct complaint against a transplant surgeon who was cleared of criminal charges that he tried to hasten a patient's death to harvest organs.

AP - Police in Washington state say a third person has been arrested in connection with the killing of an armored car guard during a robbery at a Wal-Mart.

AP - In a nation divided by abortion, Kansas has become perhaps the fiercest battleground — with mass protests, prosecutions, lawsuits and now a killing keeping the issue almost constantly in the public eye.

AP - The father of a soldier killed outside a suburban Little Rock recruiting center says the family had moved to Arkansas for peace and quiet after long military careers.

AP - Officials in a southern Illinois county say its sheriff — under indictment on marijuana trafficking — will not lose his job unless he's convicted or resigns.

AP - Former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes is asking voters to give him his old job back.

AP - It's been an agonizing 72 hours for a New Jersey father who rushed to Brazil earlier this week, hoping to bring home the son who has become the center of an ongoing custody dispute and debate over whether Brazilian courts or international law can determine what's best for the child.

AP - Lawyers for the man who calls himself Clark Rockefeller began their defense in his kidnapping trial Wednesday with the testimony of a forensic psychologist who said he is 'completely deluded' and not responsible for his actions.

AP - A church in Nebraska and a former employee who alleged she was fired for getting pregnant out of wedlock have apparently resolved their differences.

AP - A Bay Area transit police officer who was on a train station platform when his colleague fatally shot a man says his fellow officer thought the civilian was going for a gun.

AP - New Hampshire's governor has signed legislation making the state the sixth to allow gay marriage.

AP - San Quentin State Prison. Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The California State Fairgrounds.

AP - Four layers of bulletproof glass serve as windows at the clinic where Dr. Warren Hern performs abortions, a testament to the small fortune he's spent to protect himself and his staff against threats in the two decades since someone fired five shots into the building.

AP - A Bay Area transit police officer said right after fatally shooting a man on an Oakland train platform that he thought the man 'was going for a gun,' a fellow officer testified Wednesday.

AP - A judge is making it tougher for Drew Peterson to talk to the media from jail.

AP - Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (vee-yah-ry-GOH'-sah) says reports this week that he's dating another TV reporter will not be a factor in whether he decides to run for California governor.

AP - A southern Illinois sheriff charged with trafficking marijuana, including while on duty, will not lose his job unless he's convicted or resigns, county officials said Wednesday.

AP - The man who calls himself Clark Rockefeller was so delusional when he lost custody of his daughter that he continued to put a place setting out on the dinner table for her, a psychiatrist testified for the defense Wednesday at the man's kidnapping trial.

AP - New Hampshire became the sixth state to legalize gay marriage after the Senate and House passed key language on religious rights and Gov. John Lynch — who personally opposes gay marriage — signed the legislation Wednesday afternoon.

AP - Trying to make the best of a bad situation, federal officials might use foreclosed homes as temporary housing for hurricane evacuees in Florida as soon as this summer.

AP - A former Missouri congressman and tough-on-crime prosecutor rebuked by a judge earlier this year for convicting an innocent man is being accused by another inmate of courtroom misconduct.

AP - A mother pleaded not guilty Wednesday to aggravated murder and attempted murder after her two children plunged off a bridge into a frigid Oregon river.

AP - Police near Tacoma, Wash., say a fourth arrest has been made in the fatal shooting of an armored car guard at a Wal-Mart.

AP - Scott Roeder had $10 to his name.

AP - Under international law, it appears straightforward that a 9-year-old boy who has lived most of his life in Brazil should be returned to his father in New Jersey.

AP - It wasn't the brightest decision she'd ever made. She admits that. But if she'd had enough money to hire a lawyer she might not have lost six months of her life.

AP - An attorney for Scott Roeder has asked a judge to set bond for the suspect in Kansas abortion provider George Tiller's slaying.

AP - A judge limited Drew Peterson's ability to give media interviews Wednesday after the jailed ex-police officer phoned in wisecracks to a Chicago radio show last week.