U.S. National News

Crews beat back wildfire in desert north of LA (AP)
Sat, 31 Jul 2010 17:50:54 GMT
Firefighters spray water on burning plants as flames race across the desert floor in Palmdale, Calif., Friday, July 30, 2010. (AP Photo/Mike Meadows)AP - Fire crews working through the night beat back flames and built containment lines around a two-day old wildfire that charred nearly 22 square miles of brush in the high desert north of Los Angeles.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100731/ap_on_re_us/us_california_wildfires

Crowd on VIP alert at site of Clinton's NY wedding (AP)
Sat, 31 Jul 2010 19:44:24 GMT
Members of the public stand outside the Delamater Inn waiting for invited guests to arrive for the wedding between Chelsea Clinton and fiance Marc Mezvinsky,  in Rhinebeck, N.Y., on Saturday, July 31, 2010.  Chelsea Clinton and her fiance Marc Mezvinsky are widely expected to be married in Rhinebeck later today.  (AP Photo/Mike Groll)AP - Chelsea Clinton was poised to marry her longtime boyfriend at an exclusive estate along New York's Hudson River after weeks of secrecy and buildup that had celebrity watchers flocking to the small village for the Saturday evening nuptials.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100731/ap_on_re_us/us_chelsea_s_wedding

3 squabbling companies must cooperate to plug well (AP)
Sat, 31 Jul 2010 19:54:34 GMT
Harold Cline vacuums up oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill that recently washed up in a cove in Barataria Bay on the coast of Louisiana, Saturday, July 31, 2010. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)AP - On shore, BP, Halliburton and Transocean are engaging in a billion-dollar blame game over the blown-out oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. At sea, they're depending on each other to finally plug up the environmental disaster.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100731/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill

Informant says WikiLeaks suspect had civilian help (AP)
Sat, 31 Jul 2010 19:53:09 GMT
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, left, accompanied by Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen hold a press briefing, Thursday, July 29, 2010 at the Pentagon.  (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)AP - An Army private charged with leaking classified material to the whistleblower website WikiLeaks had civilian help, a key figure in the case said Saturday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100731/ap_on_re_us/us_afghanistan_wikileaks

LA pushing to become nation's mass transit leader (AP)
Sat, 31 Jul 2010 18:45:12 GMT
In this July 27, 2010 photo, commuters travel in the Metro Rail system in Los Angeles. The region famous for jilting the street car to take up a love affair with the automobile is trying to rekindle its long ago romance with commuter rail. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)AP - The region famous for jilting the street car to take up a love affair with the automobile is trying to rekindle its long ago romance with commuter rail.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100731/ap_on_re_us/us_la_transit_expansion

US, allies complete Pacific military training (AP)
Sat, 31 Jul 2010 19:22:03 GMT
AP - Monthlong military drills in the Pacific, which conclude this weekend, were intended only as training exercises to combat terrorism and piracy — and were not meant to send a message to North Korea, the commander of the drills says.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100731/ap_on_re_us/us_military_exercises

Ariz. governor considers changing immigration law (AP)
Sat, 31 Jul 2010 11:14:48 GMT
Arizona Republicans Gov. Jan Brewer, left, and Sen. John McCain abruptly end a news conference in Glendale, Ariz., Friday, July 30, 2010.  Brewer and McCain held the news conference in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale to applaud a U.S. Air Force decision to base new F-35 combat jets at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, but the event abruptly ended when the barrage of questions were regarding the Arizona immigration law and the next steps the governor was taking in the court battle.. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)AP - A federal appeals court has decided not to step into the controversy over Arizona's tough immigration law until November, leaving state officials to consider other steps they might take in the meantime.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100731/ap_on_re_us/us_arizona_immigration

Gore will not be charged over masseuse allegations (AP)
Sat, 31 Jul 2010 10:03:48 GMT
FILE - In this  Friday, July 16, 2010 file photo, former Vice President Al Gore introduces Vice President Joe Biden at the annual Tennessee Democratic Party Jackson Day in Nashville, Tenn. Former Vice President Al Gore was cleared Friday, July 30, 2010 of allegations he groped and assaulted a masseuse in a luxury Portland hotel room in 2006, closing a case that could have tarnished the Nobel prize winner's reputation.  (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)AP - The case of the Nobel Peace Prize winner and the massage therapist has been closed.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100731/ap_on_re_us/us_gore_sex_allegations

12-year-old girl injured on Wis. 'free fall' ride (AP)
Sat, 31 Jul 2010 04:04:57 GMT
AP - A 12-year-old girl at an amusement park plunged more than 40 feet to the ground on Friday, seriously injuring herself when a safety net under a "free fall" attraction failed to catch her.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100731/ap_on_re_us/us_bungee_jump_accident

Cleanup of Mich. river oil spill will take months (AP)
Sat, 31 Jul 2010 07:01:28 GMT
Veterinarian Scott Ford, left, feeds a rescued goose with a liquid nutritional supplement as volunteer Sarah Klepinger assists in Marshall, Mich., Friday, July 30, 2010.  Volunteers and government officers scrambled on Friday to save geese and other wildlife damaged by an oil spill in a southern Michigan river as the Canadian company that owns the ruptured pipeline said the crude had been contained. Enbridge Inc. said its focus was shifting to cleaning up the spilled oil in the Kalamazoo River, which it estimates at 820,000 gallons. The Environmental Protection Agency puts the total at more than 1 million gallons. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)AP - Officials investigating the cause of a huge oil spill along a major river in southern Michigan say it will take months to clean up the mess, and damage to wetlands and wildlife may last considerably longer.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100731/ap_on_bi_ge/us_michigan_river_oil_spill