National

WENATCHEE, Wash. (AP) - A haze of thick smoke is building over vast swaths of the West as wildfires force more residents to evacuate their homes in several states.

Fire officials say seven homes have burned and hundreds of people have been evacuated near Casper, Wyo., where a wildfire has burned almost 24 square miles. In western Montana, fire crews say there is no containment in sight for a blaze that has prompted evacuation orders for 400 homes west of Hamilton.

With winds dying down, fire crews in eastern Washington are hopeful they can gain ground on dozens of fires sparked by weekend lightning storms. But more evacuation orders were issued Tuesday as a wildfire spread in the hills west of Wenatchee.

Residents of nearly 120 homes were evacuated due to the fire burning about 140 miles east of Seattle.

    
CHICAGO (AP) - The Chicago Teachers Union says no deal has been reached in ongoing talks with negotiators from the Chicago Public Schools.
 
    
Representatives from the union and the district returned to the bargaining table Tuesday as the teachers' strike entered its second day. More than 25,000 teachers are on strike for the first time in a quarter century.
 
    
In a statement Tuesday afternoon, union spokeswoman Stephanie Gadlin says the CTU has signed off on only six of the 49 articles in its contract. She says the negotiations still "have a considerable way to go."
 
    

Gadlin says Tuesday's contract talks have included discussions of proposed evaluation procedures. That's been one of the most contentious issues, along with recall rights for laid-off teachers.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The House has passed legislation to strengthen the financial position of the Federal Housing Administration, a key source of financing for low-income and first-time homebuyers.

The measure would set a minimum rate for the annual premiums paid for mortgage insurance, exclude unscrupulous lenders from the program and require those who commit fraud to repay the FHA.

The reserve fund of the FHA, which insures more than $1 trillion worth of mortgages, is near depletion.

The bill, sponsored by Republican Rep. Judy Biggert of Illinois, sets the minimum rate at 0.55 percent of the mortgage balance and gives the housing secretary discretion to raise that to 2.05 percent.

Last December Congress agreed to raise the FHA's mortgage insurance premium to pay for a temporary extension of the payroll tax cut.

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) - Now that Drew Peterson has been convicted of murdering his third wife, attention turns to the disappearance of his fourth.

Stacy Peterson loomed over the former Illinois police officer's trial for killing Kathleen Savio. Still, that she had disappeared and the suspicion that Drew Peterson killed her was never mentioned in front of the jury.

Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow stopped short Thursday of saying his office will charge the former officer in the Stacy Peterson case. But he came close.

He told reporters prosecutors are "going to aggressively review that case with an eye towards potentially charging it."

Drew Peterson was only charged in Savio's 2004 death after Stacy Peterson vanished in 2007. Authorities say she's presumed dead and her husband is the only suspect in her disappearance.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A man on a Dallas-bound flight was deemed the unassuming victim of a midair explosives hoax that forced the plane to return to Philadelphia, where he was arrested at gunpoint. Hours later, the man who had planned to celebrate his 29th birthday was arrested in Texas on outstanding warrants.

Authorities say the initial scare Thursday was a hoax after searching the US Airways jet and questioning the man, who did nothing wrong and was the victim of a nasty trick. Police say they were acting on a tip.

Officials didn't name the man. But, Philadelphia resident Christopher Shell identified himself in a phone call with The Associated Press as the passenger removed from the plane.

Shell was arrested later Thursday on outstanding warrants after arriving Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Airport spokesman David Magana said the warrants are from North Texas law enforcement agencies.

ORANGE, Calif. (AP) - California prosecutors say the estranged wife of state Treasurer Bill Lockyer has been charged with drug possession and child abuse after police found her with methamphetamine at a relative's house in Orange County where she was staying with her 9-year-old son.

The charges against Nadia Lockyer are the latest in a series of substance and relationship struggles faced by the former Alameda County supervisor.

A district attorney spokeswoman says police in Orange received a tip last week leading them to the house. Lockyer wasn't home, but police found methamphetamine and smoking paraphernalia.

She was arrested the same day when police found her and she appeared to have been using meth.

Lockyer pleaded not guilty in August to three drug-related charges and one child abuse charge.

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) - A judge is expected to order the Army psychiatrist charged in the deadly 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage to have his beard shaved.

Col. Gregory Gross said he will issue the order this week for Maj. Nidal Hasan.

But Hasan is allowed to appeal, which would trigger another delay in his upcoming murder trial.

Gross will preside Thursday over a hearing to determine how a federal religious freedom law applies in the case.

Gross is expected to rule the law doesn't trump Army regulations designed to maintain order and discipline - including the ban on beards.

Hasan says he grew a beard because his Muslim faith requires it.

Hasan faces the death penalty if convicted in the attack that killed 13 on the Texas Army post.

ARLINGTON, Wash. (AP) - A suspect has been found dead after authorities say a shooter in woods north of the Seattle area fired at SWAT team and other police officers.

Officers were responding to reports that a man had been shot in the leg in his driveway.

Snohomish County Sheriff's spokeswoman Shari Ireton said late Sunday that the male suspect was deceased and a weapon was recovered. No other details were immediately available.

She said authorities continued to search for a possible second suspect.

The man who was shot in his driveway about 1:30 p.m. called authorities before he was taken to a hospital with a non-life threatening injury.

There were no reports of other injuries.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Days after Isaac hammered Louisiana and Mississippi with winds and rain, much of a parish southeast of New Orleans is still flooded and thousand are without power.

Thousands of evacuees remain at shelters or bunked with friends or relatives.

President Barack Obama will visit Louisiana on Monday, a day ahead of the Democratic National Convention. The White House says he'll meet with local officials, tour storm damage and view response and recovery efforts before addressing reporters in Saint John the Baptist Parish.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney visited the state Friday. Obama's Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, visited Bay St. Louis, Miss., and Slidell, La., on Sunday.