SAN FRANCISCO A federal judge has scolded California officials for failing to provide the billions of dollars a court-appointed receiver says is needed to upgrade the state's prison health care system.

CHICAGO Federal prosecutors moved Monday to delay indefinitely the sentencing of convicted fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko, sending their strongest hint yet that he is ready to spill his political secrets.

LOS ANGELES The only hints of trouble in the big beige house on Como Lane were the newspapers in the driveway and the lack of any activity behind the front door.

AUSTIN, Texas Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick does business with a lobbyist, but can't say whom. Fellow Rep. Sid Miller finally disclosed his lobbyist dealings, but only after someone complained.

SANTA ANA, Calif. Ryan Hawks held a memorial service after his father and stepmother vanished at sea four years ago.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. New Jersey is powering up an ambitious plan to become a world leader in the use of wind-generated energy.

WILLIAMS, Calif. Quintin Watts had a lengthy criminal record, a history of substance abuse and a string of motor vehicle offenses. Even his mother says he wasn't a good driver.

VERACRUZ, Mexico Tropical Storm Marco was closing in on Mexico's coast early Tuesday and threatened to hit with near-hurricane strength winds later in the day.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. A woman was shot to death and her two school-age daughters fatally stabbed Monday in an apparent murder-suicide, officials said.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. An autopsy report for slain University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard is among numerous autopsy records missing from the Albany County coroner's office, the coroner said.

HOUSTON A woman who spent nearly three years in prison for her role in the nation's deadliest human smuggling attempt will return to prison for up to an additional four years, a judge ruled.

NEW YORK Mayor Michael Bloomberg's crusade to change term limits law so he can run again gets its first official test this week with a bill in the City Council, where it will compete with legislation intended to stop him.

SAN FRANCISCO The words "bride" and "groom" will reappear on all marriage license applications issued in California starting next month, state health officials said.

PHILADELPHIA Philadelphia's plan to test and license tour guides is on hold.

SAN DIEGO A mistrial was declared Monday after a jury could not decide whether to award damages to four firefighters who claimed they were sexually harassed after being forced to participate in a gay pride parade last year.

WILLIAMS, Calif. A bus driver with a string of motor vehicle offenses and a history of substance abuse was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence Monday, hours after his casino-bound charter bus ran into a ditch, killing eight people.

TOPEKA, Kan. Being the governor of Kansas didn't excuse Kathleen Sebelius from jury duty, but knowing a lot of attorneys did.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. The man accused of murdering 3-year-old Erica Green kicked her in the head but didn't mean to kill her, his attorney told a jury Monday in the case of a victim the city mourned for four years only knowing her as "Precious Doe."

LONG BEACH, Calif. A mother was convicted of second-degree murder Monday for driving her teenage son and his friends to a fatal fight with a rival gang.

JACKSON, Miss. Lawyers for a reputed Klansman argued Monday that prosecutors are citing an irrelevant civil case in their efforts to reverse his acquittal in the abductions of two black teenagers slain in 1964.

HOUSTON A Colombian right-wing paramilitary member has pleaded guilty in the U.S. to attempting to acquire anti-aircraft missiles, grenade launchers and other powerful weapons in exchange for $25 million worth of cocaine.

PHOENIX The man accused of leading the notorious Serial Shooter attacks two years ago watched with excitement as news reports logged his alleged killings and fear spread through neighborhoods across the Phoenix area, a prosecutor said Monday.

OMAHA, Neb. Zapping frozen meals in the microwave may be fast and easy, but it also can make you sick if it's not done properly.

MIAMI Evel Knievel never denied his scrapes with the law - the late motorcycle daredevil often reveled in them. But even he objected to a 1970s FBI investigation of whether he was involved in a string of beatings.

As of Monday, Oct. 6, 2008, at least 539 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. The department last updated its figures Monday at 10 a.m. EDT.

As of Monday, Oct. 6, 2008, at least 4,178 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

BOSTON Rep. Barney Frank said Monday that Republican criticism of Democrats over the nation's housing crisis is a veiled attack on the poor that's racially motivated.

SAN FRANCISCO Federal regulators on Monday sued political fundraiser Norman Hsu for allegedly operating a $60 million investment scam and using some proceeds to contribute to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and other prominent Democrats.

SMITHS GROVE, Ky. A sheriff's deputy accused of killing his ex-girlfriend in Kentucky taunted state police in an e-mail exchange Monday, threatening a county jailer and telling police he was going to "make them earn their money" in their search for him.

BISMARCK, N.D. Pigeons scattered and several hundred people watched Monday when a 450-foot section of a historic Missouri River bridge was blown up to make way for a new span.

GALVESTON, Texas Searchers found a body on an island near where Hurricane Ike barreled ashore last month, pushing the national death toll from the storm to 71.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. A former hospital executive was convicted Monday of buying the influence of a Rhode Island lawmaker, while his former colleague was found not guilty of similar charges.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden Two French scientists who discovered the AIDS virus and a German who defied convention in showing a viral cause for cervical cancer shared the Nobel Prize in medicine Monday for breakthroughs that have led to lifesaving drugs and a vaccine.

ATLANTA The woman credited with helping bring about the surrender of accused courthouse gunman Brian Nichols recounted at his murder trial Monday how she appealed to his religious beliefs during hours in captivity before persuading him to set her free.

SALT LAKE CITY The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Monday it is delaying a decision on whether to allow EnergySolutions Inc. to import the largest-ever amount of nuclear waste into the U.S., opening the window for Congress to block all foreign waste before the decision is made.

NEW YORK The Rev. Al Sharpton says he convened civil rights leaders after the Sean Bell police-shooting acquittals to come up with a way for all New Yorkers to express their outrage.

The uneven nature of microwave cooking can make it a dangerous way to prepare frozen raw foods. When not all of the food is heated to a safe temperature, pockets of bacteria can survive and sicken people.

LOS ANGELES A man who was paid $2.5 million to be a plaintiff in a major lawsuit kickback scheme was sentenced Monday to three months in prison.

The awarding of the Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday writes a postscript to a bitter scientific dispute in the 1980s over who deserved credit for discovering HIV and the resulting test to screen blood for it.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. With the economy crumbling and revenues plunging, the city may put off the Oct. 15 start of a blanket ban on smoking in casinos to avoid further losses.

MOBILE, Ala. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from an Alabama man who was sentenced to five years in prison when a judge wrongly thought the law required him to serve time.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. Evangelist Tony Alamo left Arizona for Arkansas under the watch of federal marshals Monday, preparing to answer to charges that he took children across state lines to engage in sexual activity.

COHOES, N.Y. The number of Americans whose electricity or gas has been shut off for nonpayment of their bills is up sharply in many parts of the country as people struggle to cope with higher prices and a shaky economy.

PHILADELPHIA The ex-headmistress of Oprah Winfrey's school for girls in South Africa sued the talk show host for defamation, claiming Winfrey falsely suggested she tried to cover up abuse at the school.

NEW YORK It wasn't the gruesome costumes or gory masks turning up at Lisa Bruno's front door that spooked her on Halloween. It was the pudge lurking beneath the costumes.

ATLANTA Georgia's top court ruled in favor of a transgender politician who was slapped with a lawsuit by two political opponents who claimed she misled voters by running as a woman.

FORT BRAGG, N.C. A military judge has refused to dismiss charges against a soldier from New York who is accused of killing two Army officers by detonating a bomb in Iraq.

MIAMI Fairgoers at a central Florida carnival caught a 2-year-old girl whose mother was forced to drop her after they were both stranded 30 feet off the ground on a ride.

McLEAN, Va. The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal from a former Florida professor once accused of being a top Palestinian terrorist.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. In an Oct. 3 story about the collision of an 18-wheeler and a prison van, The Associated Press, relying on information from the department of corrections, reported erroneously on the identity of one of the seven people killed. Department spokesman Brian Corbett issued a correction Monday stating that the crash victim was 52-year-old John Foye Sr., not his son, John Foye Jr., 20.