SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A California bill that would have required manufacturers to figure out how to keep the most common plastic junk out of state waterways died in the state Assembly without a vote Friday.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A California bill that would have required manufacturers to figure out how to keep the most common plastic junk out of state waterways died in the state Assembly without a vote Friday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Haynes Johnson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who migrated from newspapers to television, books and teaching, died Friday. He was 81.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Government health officials are investigating cases involving patients who suffered complications after being injected with potentially contaminated medications made by a Tennessee specialty pharmacy.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Government health officials are investigating cases involving patients who suffered complications after being injected with potentially contaminated medications made by a Tennessee specialty pharmacy.

Among the striking moments in President Obama’s national security speech this week, in which he argued it's time to wean America off its nation-at-war mentality, was his apparent receptiveness to the idea of establishing a “drone court" as a check on the use of those weapons.

VALLENAR, Chile (AP) — Chile's environmental regulator blocked Barrick Gold Corp.'s $8.5 billion Pascua-Lama project on Friday and imposed its maximum fine on the world's largest gold miner, citing "very serious" violations of its environmental permit as well as a failure by the company to accurately describe what it had done wrong.

VALLENAR, Chile (AP) — Chile's environmental regulator blocked Barrick Gold Corp.'s $8.5 billion Pascua-Lama project on Friday and imposed its maximum fine on the world's largest gold miner, citing "very serious" violations of its environmental permit as well as a failure by the company to accurately describe what it had done wrong.

TORONTO (AP) — Toronto Mayor Rob Ford denied Friday that he smokes crack cocaine and said he is not an addict after a video purported to show him using the drug. The mayor of Canada's largest city did not say whether he has ever used crack.

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) — Bryce Kenning saw the void before him in an explosion of dust, and there was nothing he could do.

The first thing Gabriel Gomez likes to tell crowds on the campaign trail is where he’s going – the United States Senate. The second is where he’s coming from.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama awarded the highest U.S. civilian honor on Friday to four black girls killed in a civil rights-era church bombing 50 years ago, saying their tragic deaths ultimately "helped to trigger triumph." In a signing ceremony at the White House, marking what he described as "a great moment," Obama awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to 14-year-olds Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, and 11-year-old Denise McNair, who were killed in the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. ...

MOORE, Okla. (AP) — Teachers and students at Plaza Towers Elementary School hunkered down against the storm just as they had been taught in countless tornado drills, their principal said Friday, recounting how she walked the halls until the twister was on the doorstep, then announced on the intercom, "It's here."

President Obama has not had an easy couple weeks. Three scandals blew up. His counterterrorism speech was one moment that drew praise from the press — who are furious over the Department of Justice investigation of reporters' communications with national security sources — was interrupted by notorious heckler Medea Benjamin. There was the IRS thing, and there was more than just that. Oh, and it was always raining. Here's visual evidence that Obama's had pretty much no fun these last two weeks.

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Ex-Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo was extradited on Friday to the United States to face charges of laundering $70 million in Guatemalan funds through U.S. bank accounts.

By Doug Palmer and Liana B. Baker WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An influential senator expressed strong concerns on Friday about Japanese company SoftBank Corp's plan to buy 70 percent of Sprint Nextel , warning it could expose the United States to Chinese cyber attacks. "I have real concerns that this deal, if approved, could make American industry and government agencies far more susceptible to cyber attacks from China and the People's Liberation Army," Senator Charles Schumer of New York said in a statement. ...

By Richard Valdmanis BOSTON (Reuters) - A judge denied bail on Friday to a Massachusetts teenager who was arrested on terrorism charges after posting lyrics on his Facebook page suggesting he could do worse than the Boston Marathon bombers. Cameron D'Ambrosio, an 18-year-old aspiring rapper from Methuen, about 30 miles north of Boston, was arrested on May 1 after he posted a note on his Facebook page that included the words "a boston bombinb wait till u see the shit I do." D'Ambrosio was charged with "communicating terrorist threats" and faces as many as 20 years in prison if he is convicted. ...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — After their 2-year-old son died of untreated pneumonia in 2009, faith-healing advocates Herbert and Catherine Schaible promised a judge they would not let another sick child go without medical care.

By David Schwartz PHOENIX (Reuters) - The foreman of an Arizona jury that deadlocked over whether Jodi Arias should be put to death for murdering her ex-boyfriend believes she was mentally abused, but said on Friday that had not been enough to excuse her crime. Arias, a former waitress from California, was found guilty this month of murdering Travis Alexander, whose body was found slumped in the shower of his Phoenix-area home in June 2008. He had been stabbed 27 times, had his throat slashed and been shot in the face. ...

By Marty Graham SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Former Mexican drug lord Eduardo Arellano Felix, the last of four brothers captured or killed in connection with a once-powerful Tijuana-based cartel depicted in the Oscar-winning film "Traffic," pleaded guilty to U.S. drug charges on Friday. Arellano Felix, 56, admitted in U.S. District Court in San Diego to one count of conspiring to launder hundreds of millions of dollars in drug proceeds and one count of conspiring to invest that money for the cartel's benefit. Under his plea deal, federal prosecutors will recommend that he serve 15 years in U.S. ...

By Julie Gordon TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, under pressure to respond to allegations he was filmed using drugs, said on Friday that he does not smoke crack cocaine and could not comment on a video he had not seen or does not exist. "There has been a serious accusation from the Toronto Star that I use crack cocaine. I do not use crack cocaine, nor am I an addict of crack cocaine," he told a news conference. ...

THORNTON, Colo. (AP) — Armed officers and worried parents rushed to a Denver-area high school as students hunkered down in closets and classrooms Friday after a report of a gunman near campus on the last day of class before summer vacation, but the high anxiety faded after a police search turned up nothing.

By Jessica Dye NEW YORK (Reuters) - Visa Inc and MasterCard Inc, opening another front in an eight-year battle over credit card fees paid by retailers, on Friday asked a federal judge to declare that the fees do not violate antitrust law. The lawsuit seeks to give the card companies legal ammunition against some retailers who are trying to opt out a proposed settlement under which they would receive a share of $7.2 billion in cash and fee discounts from the card companies. ...

PARIS (AP) — After two days of intense questioning from French magistrates, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde said Friday a court named her as a key witness in an investigation into a controversial payoff to an outspoken businessman that was arranged while she was France's finance minister — stopping short of charging her outright.

By Noémie Olive PARIS (Reuters) - French magistrates decided on Friday not to place IMF chief Christine Lagarde under formal investigation over her role in a 285-million-euro ($368.5 million) arbitration payment made to a supporter of former president Nicolas Sarkozy. Lagarde instead was given the status of a "supervised witness" after two full days of questioning on her 2008 decision as Sarkozy's finance minister to use arbitration to settle a legal battle between the state and businessman Bernard Tapie. ...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A regional garbage collection agency has tossed out plans to build a mega-landfill for Los Angeles' trash less than two miles from Joshua Tree National Park in the remote Southern California desert.

OGDEN, Utah (AP) — A Utah Army veteran was found hanging dead Friday in his jail cell as he awaited trial on charges of killing a police officer and wounding five others during a raid that netted 13 pot plants and sparked a fierce debate about what happened that night.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The ex-girlfriend of a man suspected of kidnapping two Iowa girls this week worried that he would harm her and her family before his impending release from prison in 2011, citing prior sexual and physical abuse and threats, according to court records released Friday.

NEW YORK (AP) — Sen. Charles Schumer urged regulators to "use extreme caution" when reviewing the proposed acquisition of No. 3 cell carrier Sprint Nextel by Japan's Softbank, saying the Japanese company's use of Chinese networking equipment could open up U.S. networks to snooping and hacking.

WASHINGTON (AP) — No one answered the tax-help hotline at the IRS on Friday. And you could forget about getting advice on avoiding foreclosures at the 80 Housing and Urban Development field offices nationwide.

WASHINGTON (AP) — No one answered the tax-help hotline at the IRS on Friday. And you could forget about getting advice on avoiding foreclosures at the 80 Housing and Urban Development field offices nationwide.

By Ilaina Jonas NEW YORK (Reuters) - General Growth Properties Inc has paired with Brookfield Office Properties Inc to bid for one of the most sought after Manhattan office buildings on the market, making what could be the mall owner's entry into the urban street retail real estate market, according to sources familiar with the deal. Bids for 650 Madison Avenue could exceed $1.3 billion, according to sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly. The decision on the winning bid is expected next week, said one source. ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama signed legislation Friday to award Congress' highest civilian honor to four girls killed in an Alabama church bombing during the civil rights movement. He called it a tragic loss that "helped to trigger triumph and a more just and equal and fair America."

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama signed legislation Friday to award Congress' highest civilian honor to four girls killed in an Alabama church bombing during the civil rights movement. He called it a tragic loss that "helped to trigger triumph and a more just and equal and fair America."

LONDON (AP) — A tweet posted by the wife of Britain's parliamentary speaker about a politician wrongly linked to child sex abuse was libelous, the High Court ruled Friday.

NEW YORK (AP) — Major stock indexes closed out their first weekly loss in a month in quiet trading Friday.

In the wind-swept prairie called Tornado Alley, the scene is eerily familiar: Homes smashed to splinters. Trees and telephone poles snapped like twigs. Piles of bricks, overturned cars and dazed survivors sifting through rubble in search of a precious photo or heirloom. A town in ruins.

By Joanne von Alroth SPRINGFIELD, Illinois (Reuters) - The Illinois House of Representatives on Friday voted overwhelmingly to allow residents to carry concealed guns, taking the state one step closer to joining all others in allowing some form of carrying guns in public. Illinois is the only state in the nation to ban most people from carrying a concealed gun outside the home. Lawmakers acted on Friday after a federal appeals court in January struck down the ban, saying it violated the right to bear arms enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. ...

By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A long-growing backlog of U.S. military veterans' disability claims, which has stoked congressional anger, has dipped in recent weeks, however tentatively. But that is not taking any pressure off President Barack Obama, his Department of Veterans Affairs or the Pentagon to fix a system that has left veterans waiting - sometimes for years - to get answers from the U.S. government about their disability claims. Instead, warnings from Congress are growing more acute. ...

MOORE, Okla. (AP) — The principal of the Oklahoma elementary school where seven children died in a tornado says her teachers did everything they could to save their lives.