HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) -- Robert Gary Jones was a pharmaceutical salesman on a business trip, looking forward to getting home to celebrate his daughter's third birthday. He was enjoying a moment to himself on this resort island, jogging on the beach and listening to his iPod....

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) -- The Pacific smelt, a small silvery fish that was a staple of Northwest American Indian tribes when the Lewis and Clark expedition arrived, is getting federal protection because it's been declining toward extinction due to global warming and other factors....

FORT JACKSON, S.C. (AP) -- New soldiers are grunting through the kind of stretches and twists found in "ab blaster" classes at suburban gyms as the Army revamps its basic training regimen for the first time in three decades....

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Several journalists described run-ins with New Orleans police Tuesday as they testified about allegations that city officers routinely arrest or threaten people who film them....

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- Family and friends of four women who have been missing since the 1970s have told police they recognize their loved ones in photos found in a serial killer's locker....

CLEVELAND (AP) -- A cancer patient who has emerged as the emblem of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul was stunned last month when she unsealed a handwritten letter from none other than the president himself....

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Southern Californians were jolted from their sleep before dawn Tuesday as a small but strongly felt earthquake struck beneath Los Angeles' eastern suburbs....

RENO, Nev. (AP) -- DNA taken from the young son of a man accused of killing a college student and raping two other women can be used as evidence in his upcoming trial to try to link the suspect to the crimes, a judge ruled....

WAYNE, N.J. (AP) -- The powerful nor'easter had moved out at sea, but flooding lingered Tuesday in many Northeast communities....

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- Environmentalists want the federal government to set aside more than 53 million acres in New Mexico, Arizona, California and Texas as critical habitat for the endangered jaguar....