National

  WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration is asking the Supreme Court to overturn California's ban on same-sex marriage and turn a skeptical eye on similar prohibitions across the country.

 

     The administration says unequivocally in a legal brief filed late Thursday that gay marriage should be allowed to resume in California, where it has been barred since the passage of Proposition 8 in 2008.

 

     It does not explicitly call for marriage equality across the United States but points the court in that direction.

 

     More immediately, the administration's position, if adopted by the court, probably would result in gay marriage becoming legal in seven other states that, like California, give gay couples all the benefits of marriage, but don't allow them to wed.

 

     They are: Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon and Rhode Island. 

 

 

  NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The first BP executive to testify at a trial spawned by the massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has taken the stand. 

 

     Lamar McKay was president of BP America at the time of the disaster. He is the trial's second witness and is expected to be the highest-ranking BP official to testify in person. His appearance Tuesday followed testimony by a plaintiffs' expert who criticized BP's safety record.

 

     This isn't the first time McKay has testified under oath about the spill. He appeared before Congress less than a month after the deadly rig explosion.

 

     U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier is hearing the case without a jury. Barring a settlement, Barbier will decide how much more money BP and other companies owe for their roles in the disaster.

 

 

   WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate has voted to confirm Chuck Hagel to be the nation's next defense secretary.

 

     The vote Tuesday was 58-41, with four Republicans joining Democrats in backing President Barack Obama's nominee.

 

     The vote ended a contentious fight over the president's choice for his second-term national security team. 

 

     Republicans opposed the former two-term Republican senator from Nebraska, casting him as out of the mainstream and overly critical of Israel. But Democrats stood together for Hagel, a twice-wounded Vietnam combat veteran.

 

     Hagel will succeed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who is stepping down after four years as CIA director and Pentagon chief.

 

     The vote came just hours after Republicans dropped their delay and allowed the nomination to move forward. The Senate vote to end the filibuster was 71-27.

 

 

 WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House is seeking to keep delicate immigration negotiations on track, as a key Republican senator distances himself further from a draft bill President Barack Obama's aides are readying in case congressional talks crumble.

 

     Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio's office says Obama's plan injected additional partisanship into an "already difficult process." The White House, following the weekend leak of its draft legislation, insists the president wants the bipartisan Senate group Rubio is a member of to propose its own bill instead.

 

     Senate aides say privately that bipartisan negotiations are in a good place and do not feel as though the disclosure of Obama's draft bill would disrupt their process. In fact, Obama's backup bill could end up spurring GOP lawmakers to rally behind a similar congressional plan.

 

  MOBILE, Ala. (AP) - A Coast Guard official says the cause of the engine-room fire on the Carnival cruise ship Triumph was a leak in a fuel oil return line.

 

     In a teleconference Monday, Cmdr. Teresa Hatfield estimated that the investigation of the disabled ship would take six months.

 

     She said the Bahamas is leading the investigation, with the Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board leading U.S. interests in the probe.

 

     She said investigators have been with the ship since it arrived Thursday in Mobile, and interviews have been conducted with passengers and crew.

 

     The ship left Galveston, Texas, on Feb. 7 for a four-day trip to Mexico. The fire paralyzed the ship Feb. 10, leaving it adrift in the Gulf of Mexico until tugboats towed it to Mobile.

 

   CHICAGO (AP) - A new study shows that hip replacements are more likely to fail in women than in men. 

 

     Researchers found that a small number of the hip implants failed overall, but women were 29 percent more likely than men to need a repeat surgery within the first three years.

 

     Researchers looked at more than 35,000 surgeries at 46 hospitals in the Kaiser Permanente health system. The study is being published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine. It was funded by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

 

     Some experts say more research is needed to determine which models of hip implants perform best in women.

 

     Women make up the majority of the more than 400,000 Americans who have full or partial hip replacements each year. 

 

 

  CHICAGO (AP) - President Barack Obama says that every four months, his hometown of Chicago suffers the loss of as many children as were killed in the Connecticut elementary school shooting.

 

     Obama says gun violence is taking too many children's lives, not just in mass shootings like the one in Newtown, Conn., that killed 20 kids. He says 65 children were killed by guns in Chicago last year. 

 

     He pushed stricter gun control Friday in a visit to Chicago, ncluding background checks and a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. 

 

     But he said guns are not solely to blame for the violence. He also pointed to communities with too few fathers involved in children's lives and too few examples of success. He says he wishes he had a father around growing up. 

 

     NEW YORK (AP) - H.J. Heinz Co. says it agreed to be acquired by an investment consortium including billionaire investor Warren Buffett in a deal valued at $28 billion.

 

     The ketchup company said Heinz shareholders will receive $72.50 in cash for each share of common stock they own. The deal value includes the assumption of Heinz's debt. Based on Heinz's number of shares outstanding, the deal is worth $23.3 billion excluding debt.

 

     The per share price represents a 20 percent premium to Heinz's closing price of $60.48 on Wednesday.

 

     Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital say Heinz will remain headquartered in Pittsburgh.

 

<VIDEO>     DALLAS (AP) - American Airlines and US Airways say they're merging in a deal they value at $11 billion, creating the world's biggest airline.

 

     The combined carrier will be called American Airlines but run by US Airways CEO Doug Parker.

 

     The airlines announced their deal Thursday. 

 

     It reduces the number of major U.S. airlines to four. 

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A law enforcement official tells The Associated Press that the man believed to be fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner never came out of a California mountain cabin engulfed in flames.

 

     The person who requested anonymity because of the ongoing investigation said a single gunshot apparently fired inside the cabin was heard just before the fire broke out Tuesday.

 

     Officials were waiting for the fire to burn out before approaching the ruins to search for a body.  

 

     Authorities believe Dorner barricaded himself in the cabin after exchanging gunfire with deputies, killing one and wounding another. 

 

TONOPAH, Nev. (AP) - A moderate earthquake and a trio of smaller aftershocks have struck in rural Nevada near the California state line.

 

     The U.S. Geological Survey says the 5.1-magnitude earthquake hit at 4:10 p.m. Tuesday.

 

     It was centered 45 miles west of Tonopah, about 200 miles south of Reno and 17 miles south of Mina.

 

     The Nevada Seismological Lab at the University of Nevada, Reno says three aftershocks followed of magnitudes 3.1, 3.3 and 3.7. The last came at 4:49 p.m. 25 miles south of Mina.

 

     Ellen Hall-Patton, a student seismological analyst at the Reno lab, said all were centered near the same area.

 

     A Nye County sheriff's dispatcher said she felt the earthquake in Tonopah but there were no damage reports.

 

  BIG BEAR, Calif. (AP) - San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon says one of two deputies wounded in a gunbattle with a man believed to be a fugitive ex-LA cop has died.

 

     The gunbattle broke out in the San Bernardino Mountains east of Los Angeles early Tuesday afternoon.

 

     The area had been searched since fired Los Angeles police officer Christopher Dorner's pickup truck was found burned out near the Big Bear lake ski resort on Thursday.

 

 

<VIDEO> The UN Security Council is set to hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday, to discuss North Korea's latest nuclear test

 The pope's announcement that he will resign has taken many people by surprise, but experts on aging say perhaps it shouldn't.

 

     They say that as people live longer, the physical and mental challenges of old age are catching up with more of those in positions of power. Many are choosing to step down instead of continuing in jobs traditionally held until death.

 

     Justices appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court used to serve until death. But since 1955, 21 justices have retired and only one, Chief Justice William Rehnquist, died in office.

 

     The Netherlands' Queen Beatrix just announced she would pass the crown to her son in April. And 20 percent of U.S. senators are now 70 or older.

 

  RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) - A fugitive ex-Los Angeles police officer has been charged with murdering a Riverside police officer and special circumstances that could bring the death penalty.

 

     Riverside County District Attorney Paul Zellerbach says Christopher Dorner is also charged with the attempted murder of another Riverside officer and two LAPD officers.

 

     The charges announced Monday do not involve two other people Dorner is suspected of killing in Orange County. 

 

     The nation's Roman Catholic bishops say the Obama administration's compromise plan for religious employers and birth control coverage doesn't go far enough.

 

     The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said Thursday it wants a bigger buffer between religious charities and any third party arranging contraceptive coverage. The bishops also want a clearer statement that faith-affiliated hospitals and other nonprofits are religious ministries. 

 

     Church leaders made the comments a week after the Health and Human Services Department announced its latest revised plan for contraceptive coverage, part of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Religious groups have been pressing for a year for a wider exemption. 

 

     The rule is the target of dozens of lawsuits by religious groups and owners of for-profit businesses who say the rule violates their religious beliefs.

 

?

   BOSTON (AP) - People in the Northeast are stocking up on food and supplies, and road crews are getting ready with salt and sand.

 

     The region is bracing for a major winter storm that could bring up to 2 feet of snow to places that haven't seen a significant snowfall in more than a year.

 

     Forecasters say most of southern New England could see anywhere from 18 to 24 inches between tomorrow and Saturday. Some other forecasts say the totals could be even higher. 

 

     Part of New York's Long Island is under a blizzard watch, as are parts of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

 

     New York City is expecting between 4 and 6 inches of snow.

 

     Forecasters expect the snow to start tomorrow morning, with the heaviest accumulations tomorrow night and into Saturday.

 

     Airlines have already canceled hundreds of flights tomorrow. 

 

     The storm would hit just after the 35th anniversary of the historic blizzard of 1978, which paralyzed the region with more than 2 feet of snow and hurricane-force winds.

 

 Updates with authorities confirming burnt truck belongs to Dorner, door-to-door search under way. All times are PST. With BC-US--LA Police Shootings. With AP Photos.

 By The Associated Press

     Key events involving Christopher Dorner, the fired Los Angeles police officer suspected of killing at least three people including a police officer in Southern California and posting a manifesto on Facebook outlining plans to kill the families of those he felt wronged him: 

 

     - Sunday, Feb. 3: Monica Quan, 28, and Keith Lawrence, 27, are found shot to death in their car at an Irvine, Calif., parking structure. Quan, an assistant women's basketball coach at California State University, Fullerton, was the daughter of a former Los Angeles police captain who represented Dorner in disciplinary hearings that resulted in his dismissal.

 

     - Monday, Feb. 4, about 9:30 a.m. PST: Some of Dorner's belongings, including police equipment, are found in a trash bin in the San Diego-area community of National City, Calif. 

 

     - Wednesday, Feb. 6: Irvine police announce they are looking for Dorner as a suspect in the killings of Quan and Lawrence, and say he implicated himself in the killings in a manifesto posted on Facebook. U.S. marshals and other law enforcement officials, acting on a credible lead, search Wednesday night for Dorner in San Diego's Point Loma area.

 

     - Wednesday, Feb. 6, 10:30 p.m.: A man matching Dorner's description tries to steal a 47-foot boat from a San Diego marina, but the engine won't start. An 81-year-old man on the boat is tied up but unhurt. 

 

     - Thursday, Feb. 7, 1:30 a.m.: In the Riverside County community of Corona, Calif., two LAPD officers assigned to protect a person named in the manifesto chase a vehicle they believe is Dorner's. One officer is grazed in the forehead during a shootout, and the gunman flees. A short time later, a gunman believed to be Dorner ambushes two Riverside police officers who had stopped at a red light during a routine patrol. One officer is killed and the other critically injured.

 

     - Thursday, Feb. 7, 2:18 a.m.: A shuttle bus driver turns in a wallet with an LAPD badge and a picture ID of Dorner to San Diego police. The wallet is found less than five miles from the boat, near San Diego International Airport. 

 

     - Thursday, Feb. 7, 5:15 a.m.: LAPD officers guarding a manifesto target in the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance open fire on a truck they mistakenly believe to be Dorner's. Two women are wounded. A short time later, Torrance police are involved in a second shooting involving a different truck they also mistake for Dorner's. Nobody is hurt.

 

     - Thursday, Feb. 7, 8:30 a.m.: Reports surface that authorities are investigating a burned pickup truck near the Big Bear ski area in the San Bernardino Mountains. A San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy says there have been no sightings of Dorner but local school officials decide to put schools in lockdown.

 

     - Thursday, Feb. 7, 9:30 a.m.: Authorities in central and northern Arizona are alerted about the manhunt for Dorner along with a description of the vehicle he may be driving.

 

     - Thursday, Feb. 7, 9:40 a.m.: Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego is locked down after a Navy worker reports seeing someone who resembles Dorner. Two hours later, Navy officials say they don't believe Dorner was on base.

 

     - Thursday, Feb. 7, 2:30 p.m.: Authorities confirm that the pickup truck found near Bear Mountain ski area at Big Bear Lake belongs to Dorner. 

 

     - Thursday, Feb. 7, 3:30 p.m.: San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon announces at a news conference that a door-to-door search for Dorner is under way.

 

  YUMA, Ariz. (AP) - Several schools in Yuma in western Arizona have been locked down and are being searched by police in response to an unconfirmed report of a person possibly having a gun.

 

     There's no report of any shots being fired or anybody being taken into custody.

 

     Police issued a statement saying officers went to Rancho Viejo Elementary School in response to the report. 

 

     The statement says two other schools also were locked down and that officers are conducting a search.

 

     Spokesmen for the schools didn't immediately return calls for comment.

 

   <VIDEO> MIDLAND CITY, Ala. (AP) - Some details haven't been released, but officials say the gunman who had been holding a 5-year-old boy for a week in an underground bunker in rural Alabama is dead and the boy has been freed. 

 

     An FBI spokesman says officers stormed the bunker, in Midland City, after negotiations had deteriorated with 65-year-old Jimmy Lee Dykes and officers believed the boy was in imminent danger. Dykes, who neighbors described as an isolated loner, was seen with a gun.

 

     It's not clear how he died. Officials held a brief news conference and didn't provide many details.

 

     The rescued boy was taken to a nearby hospital. Officials have said previously that he has Asperger's syndrome.

 

     Neighbors described Dykes, a retired truck driver, as a man who once beat a dog to death with a lead pipe, threatened to shoot children for setting foot on his property, and patrolled his yard at night with a flashlight and a firearm. He returned to Alabama about two years ago, moving onto the rural tract about 100 yards from his nearest neighbors.

 

     Government records show the Vietnam veteran had some scrapes with the law in Florida, including a 1995 arrest for improper exhibition of a weapon. The misdemeanor was dismissed. He also was arrested for marijuana possession in 2000.

  FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - Police documents say the Iraq War veteran charged with killing a former Navy SEAL sniper and his friend on a Texas shooting range told a relative that he "traded his soul for a new truck."

 

     An Erath County arrest warrant affidavit obtained by WFAA-TV says Eddie Ray Routh also said he wanted to drive to Oklahoma to avoid Texas authorities.

 

     Routh is charged with one count of capital murder and two counts of murder in the shooting deaths of ex-Navy SEAL Chris Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield at a shooting range Saturday. 

 

     Authorities say he was driving Kyle's pickup when he was arrested. The three had gone to the range together. 

 

     The affidavit says Kyle and Littlefield were shot multiple times and numerous guns were at the scene.

 

  WASHINGTON (AP) - House Republicans are threatening to subpoena documents from the Food and Drug Administration as they investigate whether the agency could have prevented a deadly outbreak of meningitis caused by contaminated drugs.

 

     Republicans on the committee investigating the outbreak sent a letter to the FDA, demanding the agency turn over internal documents concerning the New England Compounding Center.

 

     The pharmacy produced a contaminated steroid, used mainly to treat back pain, that is blamed for fungal meningitis that has killed 45 people and sickened more than 600.  

 

     The FDA inspected the Massachusetts-based pharmacy three times and issued a warning letter in 2006, but never shut the operation down.

 

     The lawmakers say they will consider issuing a subpoena if the agency doesn't turn over key documents related to the case by February 25.

 

  SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - The Alabama school bus driver who was shot to death while trying to shield youngsters was raised in the forests and lakes of northern Idaho, served in the Army and worked as an auto mechanic.

 

     Charles Albert Poland Jr. was hailed as a hero who gave his life to protect the pupils on his bus. 

 

     Authorities say a gunman boarded a school bus Tuesday filled with children and demanded two boys. When Poland tried to block his way, the gunman shot him and took a 5-year-old boy. 

 

     Poland's sister says she wasn't surprised that her brother tried to block the gunman. 

 

     Poland was born in Colorado but raised in the Idaho Panhandle towns of St. Maries and Athol. 

 

     The standoff between police and the gunman is in its fourth day.