AP - University counselors should have discussed and addressed the mental health troubles the Virginia Tech gunman told them he was having before the massacre, victims' relatives said.

AP - A Texas judge says she did not deny a death row inmate the chance to make a last-second appeal and attacked his attorneys for spreading what she says was a misleading story that has put her career in jeopardy.

AP - Hurricane Bill has weakened slightly to a Category 3 storm as it roars over the open Atlantic.

AP - A Connecticut police department's surveillance video appears to contradict an officer's report of an incident that ends with police subduing a former state agency lawyer with stun guns.

AP - Hurricane Bill weakened slightly to a Category 3 storm early Thursday over the open Atlantic with top sustained winds of 125 mph. Forecasters said the storm could regain power in the next 24 hours, while dangerous waves and riptides were likely along most of the eastern U.S. coast over the weekend.

AP - The three homeless men stand before well-groomed Frank Kelly, 'America's Best Dressed Real Man' of 2007, according to Esquire Magazine. He's there to help them get work.

AP - A 16-year-old camp counselor in New York is being hailed as a hero for stopping a school bus carrying nine children after the driver collapsed behind the wheel and died.

AP - Residents began cleaning up Thursday after tornadoes and severe storms slammed a large part of the Midwest, tearing the roofs from buildings and overturning vehicles.

AP - The Army is investigating the crash of a Special Operations helicopter on Colorado's second-highest mountain that killed two people, injured one and left another missing.

AP - Two teenagers have been arrested in what Baltimore police say was a racially motivated attack on an elderly black fisherman.

AP - A criminal complaint says a 20-year-old Milwaukee man has admitted he 'freaked out' when he attacked the city's mayor.

AP - The release from prison Thursday of the only person ever convicted in the 1988 bombing that killed 270 people aboard a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland angered and outraged victims' relatives, who said they were left feeling wronged again.

AP - Bermuda was under a hurricane watch Thursday as Hurricane Bill approached, slightly weakened but with winds still near 120 mph, while dangerous waves and riptides were likely along most of the eastern U.S. coast over the weekend.

AP - Former New York Giant Plaxico Burress pleaded guilty Thursday to a weapons charge and agreed to a two-year prison term for accidentally shooting himself at a Manhattan nightclub.

AP - From heart-friendly margarines to sugary cereals that strengthen bones, once-demonized foods are being spiked with nutrients to give them a healthier glow — and consumers are biting, even on some that are little more than dressed-up junk food.

AP - Relatives of the three American hikers missing in Iran insist that the trio wasn't spying but was traveling along the country's border to soak in the culture.

AP - The Army has found the fourth soldier who was aboard a helicopter that crashed on Colorado's second-highest mountain, but officials didn't say if he is alive or injured.

AP - Four soldiers died after a Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a training mission on Colorado's second-highest mountain, the Army's Special Operations Command said Thursday.

AP - The world's oceans this summer are the warmest on record.

AP - A manager at an Oregon car dealership said he was fired because he insisted on being an honest salesman. The state supreme court disagreed Thursday.

AP - Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels has been hailed as a visionary and a leader on environmental issues, helping persuade nearly 1,000 mayors around the country to abide by the standards of the Kyoto Protocol on global warming.

AP - A man who wandered out of a Seattle park three weeks ago not knowing his name or how he got there has been identified by a newspaper reader as a former English teacher who taught in China.

AP - If the tide is high, the weather is warm, the clock is approaching midnight and the beach you're standing on is in Southern California, it's a given that romance is in the air — or the water. In these parts, it's a time for grunion love.

AP - Three American hikers detained in Iran are 'totally harmless' travelers who carefully planned a trip in Iraq but apparently accidentally ended up crossing the border, their relatives said Thursday.

AP - Someone who bought a Powerball ticket in South Carolina is $259.9 million richer.

AP - Crews surveyed holes in schools, churches and homes and cleared away toppled trees, downed power lines and shattered glass Thursday, the day after tornadoes and severe storms marched through the Midwest.

AP - A 12-year-old California boy is under arrest for allegedly setting his friend on fire twice.

AP - Vice President Joe Biden says despite recent 'political turmoil' the nation has never been closer to substantial health care reform.

AP - Bermuda was under a hurricane watch Thursday as Hurricane Bill approached, slightly weakened but with winds still near 120 mph, while dangerous waves and riptides were likely along most of the eastern U.S. coast over the weekend.

AP - Steve Kramer spent an hour and a half swimming in the ocean Sunday — in Maine. The water temperature was 72 degrees — more like Ocean City, Md., this time of year. And Ocean City's water temp hit 88 degrees this week, toasty even by Miami Beach standards.

AP - Milwaukee's mayor has bloody cuts on his face, smashed teeth and a fractured hand — but he's not exactly hurting politically. Ever since he confronted a metal-bar wielding man near the state fair, Tom Barrett has become a sort of urban folk hero, with T-shirts comparing him to Superman or saying 'Our Mayor Ain't No Cream Puff.'

AP - Bermuda issued a tropical storm warning Thursday as Hurricane Bill regained some of its muscle, while dangerous waves and riptides were likely along most of the eastern U.S. coast over the weekend.

AP - A second lawsuit has been filed against an exclusive Connecticut boarding school where a former dean has been charged with molesting three students.

AP - The U.S. Army is turning to an unlikely weapon in a fight against sprawl in Texas. An endangered songbird.

AP - Twelve years of military service left Donald Spradling highly trained in satellite imagery, nuclear engineering and foreign intelligence analysis. None of that made a difference to the University of Missouri.

AP - Major American Jewish groups say their relationship with Roman Catholic leaders is at risk because of a recent statement by U.S. bishops' on salvation and evangelizing.

AP - Police in Florida say a decorated officer was gunned down in the line of duty by a man who was once a police officer in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

AP - Latin pop singer Juanes considered canceling a Sept. 20 concert in Cuba because he received what he felt were threatening messages on his Twitter account, according to a police report.

AP - Kenneth Ireland recently got a good look at himself in a real mirror for the first time in more than 20 years, and realized just how much he had aged in prison.

AP - Usain Bolt startled the world again.

AP - Major Jewish groups and rabbis from the three largest branches of American Judaism said Thursday that their relationship with Roman Catholic leaders is at risk because of a recent U.S. bishops' statement on salvation.

AP - A judge rejected a challenge to a law letting the United States eavesdrop on overseas conversations Thursday, saying fears by Americans that their conversations will be monitored and their rights violated were 'purely subjective.'

AP - Scientists in California are using computer scans to help unwrap the mysteries of a more than 2,500-year-old mummy.

AP - The misconduct trial of a Texas judge who refused to keep her court open for lawyers trying to stop an execution that night ended Thursday with her attorneys insisting she did nothing wrong.

AP - Some stared at their televisions in disbelief. Others were too furious to process the news.

AP - The nation's secretary of commerce has approved a plan that would prohibit an expansion of commercial fishing in the Arctic, at least until more is known about the area.

AP - Hurricane Bill remained energized by warm Atlantic waters late Thursday, with forecasters predicting it would cause significant flooding along the Bermuda coastlines over the next two days.

AP - A new rule for college students: Don't sneeze on your roommate.

AP - An appeals court has reversed a federal judge's order that religious displays be removed from a Connecticut store that offers postal services.