AP - A dayslong absence by South Carolina's governor left fellow state leaders scratching their heads.

AP - Karen Lasch and her family recently pulled over their car near a glacier-fed creek in Mount Rainier National Park, piling out for a glimpse of the snowcapped peak in the distance.

AP - Southern Baptists are beginning their national assembly in Kentucky and are looking at ways to energize missionary efforts.

AP - A Michigan man says he was 'stunned' to learn DNA testing disproved his suspicion that he was kidnapped as a toddler in New York state in 1955.

AP - An Ohio family of five recently went undercover in the nation's capital to help foil a cyber 'terrorist attack.' Their attire wasn't very suspicious: Shorts, T-shirts and jackets tied around their waists.

AP - A spokesman for South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford says the Republican checked in with his staff and was surprised by the attention given to his secretive vacation.

AP - The Brazilian family of a boy at the center of an international custody battle said Tuesday the boy wants to remain in Brazil, where he feels safe and loved.

AP - A Michigan man who believed he was a toddler kidnapped in New York in 1955 said he was 'stunned' to learn DNA testing disproved his suspicion and that he's still seeking his true identity.

AP - The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department says it no longer has the staff or funds to continue analyzing its decades-long backlog of DNA evidence from thousands of rape and sexual assault cases.

AP - The Metro train operator who was driving the cars that barreled into a stopped train is being remembered as an employee who was proud of her job.

AP - Military officials are trying to locate the pilot of an F-16 that crashed at the Utah Test and Training Range west of Salt Lake City.

AP - Court documents in Oregon say a woman whose unborn son was cut from her body died following a violent struggle.

AP - The student Democratic club at conservative Liberty University can continue as a campus group — unofficially.

AP - The daughters of President Barack Obama have helped inaugurate something new in San Francisco.

AP - An off-duty Chicago police officer convicted of pummeling a female bartender half his size has been sentenced to two years probation and anger management classes.

AP - Lobsterman Greg Turner keeps a sandwich-board sign at the end of his driveway that advertises fresh lobster for sale from his garage, an attempt to claw for a few extra dollars by reaching buyers directly.

AP - The pastor of an evangelical megachurch has told Episcopalians splitting from their national church in a dispute about gay clergy that they need to love people but not the world's values.

AP - Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols is asking for a court-appointed lawyer to help him with a lawsuit complaining about the food he gets in prison.

AP - U.S. agents trying to stop contraband, arms and drug smuggling at the port of Los Angeles will soon get a new partner in their decades-old battle — an officer from Mexico.

AP - The Southern Baptist Convention's president says the denomination's vision for the future should include more giving to worldwide missions and an increased effort to attract minorities.

AP - Officials are identifying five of the victims killed in a subway train crash in Washington, D.C.

AP - Two Brazilian family members of a boy at the center of an international custody battle were in the United States on Tuesday to make their case that the boy is better off in Brazil than returning to New Jersey to live with his father.

AP - Sorting glass and other recyclables out of household trash will no longer be enough in San Francisco. Anything that can be composted also has to be separated.

AP - An off-duty Chicago police officer convicted of pummeling a female bartender half his size was sentenced Tuesday to two years probation and anger management classes for the videotaped attack that appeared worldwide on the Internet and cable news channels.

AP - Military officials say rescue crews are still trying to locate the pilot of an F-16 that crashed at the Utah Test and Training Range in the state's west desert.

AP - The president of a Canadian plastics plant and two partners have agreed to buy a kosher slaughterhouse in Iowa that was the site of a massive immigration raid last year, pending a bankruptcy hearing.

AP - Los Angeles County sheriff's homicide detectives on Tuesday asked the public's help in solving the 1976 rape and killing of the ex-wife of The Righteous Brothers singer Bill Medley.

AP - The woman at the controls of a transit train that plowed into another would have done anything to prevent the accident, friends and relatives said Tuesday, a day after the crash killed her and eight others.

AP - A Minnesota judge has ruled that a 13-year-old boy who fled the state to avoid chemotherapy must continue getting the treatment because it appears to be working.

AP - A 14-year-old New Jersey girl who posted nude pictures of herself on MySpace.com will have child pornography counts dropped.

AP - Two Muslim inmates held in a special unit at the federal prison in Terre Haute say they aren't allowed to pray in groups as often as their religion commands and have asked a federal judge to ease worship limits imposed by the Bureau of Prisons.

AP - A towering sculpture in the Maryland mountains depicting three New York City firefighters raising the U.S. flag at ground zero was financed by investor fraud, federal regulators say.

AP - Military officials say a pilot has died in an F-16 crash at the Utah Test and Training Range in the state's west desert.

AP - Gov. Sarah Palin has paid more than $8,100 to reimburse Alaska for the costs associated with 19 trips taken with her children.

AP - Lawmakers agreed unanimously Tuesday to snuff out new shops that sell pot-smoking paraphernalia in the heart of San Francisco's one-time hippie district.

AP - After a political mystery — 'Where in the World is South Carolina's Governor?' — Mark Sanford's aides said he was stunned by all the fuss over his five-day absence and would cut short a secretive hike along the Appalachian Trail.

AP - There's a secret buzzing around the rooftops and backyard gardens of New York.

AP - Gov. Sarah Palin has paid more than $8,100 to reimburse Alaska for the costs associated with nine trips taken with her children.

AP - A 'sweetheart' of a dog now in a California shelter may be really, really far from home. His microchip says the knee-high, light tan Saluki came from Saudi Arabia.