DAYTON, Ohio An Ohio man accused of killing a mother and abandoning her 4-year-old son on a highway has been ordered held on $5 million bond. (More)

FAIRFAX, Va. President-elect Barack Obama launched his campaign to sell the most ambitious government spending plan in American history Thursday, urging Congress to act swiftly on his upcoming proposal to jump-start the economy or risk dooming the country to a diminished future. (More)

SANTA ANA, Calif. Jurors have begun deliberations in the trial of a former Southern California sheriff accused of accepting tens of thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for the power of his office. (More)

BOULDER, Colo. Thousands of evacuated residents, including former FEMA chief Michael D. Brown, began returning to their homes Thursday after firefighters gained control over a wildfire near Denver that destroyed two houses and several outbuildings. (More)

TEXARKANA, Ark. A federal judge on Thursday delayed the trial of jailed evangelist Tony Alamo on charges he took young girls across state lines for sex. (More)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. An Alabama sheriff who made $212,000 in the last three years by feeding inmates what a judge said were skimpy portions was released from prison Thursday after submitting a plan pledging to feed them better. (More)

PITTSBURGH Episcopal leaders in Pittsburgh went to court Thursday seeking to recover $20 million in assets they believe were wrongfully taken when the conservative branches split from the liberal diocese in October. (More)

NEW ORLEANS The estranged wife of a worker who died along with seven others in a helicopter crash in southern Louisiana is suing the company that operated the chopper, but the cause of the crash remained under investigation Thursday. (More)

ALBANY, N.Y. Gov. David Paterson said for the first time Thursday that Caroline Kennedy's lack of legislative experience is a "minus" to her qualifications as a possible appointee to the U.S. Senate. (More)

RICHMOND, Va. Congress overstepped its authority when it enacted a law allowing the federal government to hold sex offenders in custody indefinitely beyond the end of their prison terms, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday. (More)

BREVARD, N.C. A teenager who authorities say was plotting to "shoot up" a North Carolina high school is in custody because of a tip from a teen who chatted with the suspect online, investigators said Thursday. (More)

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. Roland Burris raised his right hand in a committee room at the Illinois Capitol, swearing to tell a room full of lawmakers the truth about his appointment by embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich to the state's vacant U.S. Senate seat. (More)

CHICAGO Roland Burris has erected a grand mausoleum for himself, carved with the words "TRAIL BLAZER" and a long list of his accomplishments, with a space left for his more recent achievements. That gap could soon be filled in with "U.S. Senator." (More)

UNITED NATIONS The head of the U.N. Development Program, which promotes anti-poverty efforts around the globe, is resigning, the United Nations announced Thursday. (More)

OMAHA, Neb. Several media organizations on Thursday joined a Nebraska historical society's fight to obtain the names of 957 people buried in unmarked graves at a former psychiatric hospital cemetery. (More)

ATLANTA Former President Jimmy Carter said Thursday that Israel's assault on Gaza has been destructive and disproportionate to rocket attacks on Israel but could result in new efforts for a long-term Middle East peace plan. (More)

CENTRALIA, Wash. Floods, mudslides and avalanches in the Pacific Northwest kept tens of thousands of people from their homes Thursday, brought freight trains to a standstill and stranded hundreds of trucks along the major highways that link Seattle's busy ports with markets around the country. (More)

CHICAGO Gov. Rod Blagojevich's defense attorneys urged a federal judge Thursday to remove Chicago's top federal prosecutor and all of his assistants from the fraud and bribery case against the governor. (More)

CHICAGO Police are investigating a threatening letter containing suspicious material that was sent to the office of Democratic Rep. Bobby Rush, but the material turned out to be harmless. (More)

INDIANAPOLIS Think you know what time your mail arrives each day? Think again. (More)

BOSTON Massachusetts health officials plan to follow the lead of New York City and California in requiring fast-food chains to post calorie counts for their products on boards behind the order counter. (More)

UNION, S.C. A sheriff said Thursday afternoon he is "99.9 percent sure" human remains found in a wooded area in northern South Carolina are a nurse who's been missing for four months. (More)

VERNON, Vt. Vermont's lone nuclear power plant is cutting the amount of power it generates by 60 percent after finding a leak of mildly radioactive water. (More)

NEW YORK The Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, a leading intellectual of the Christian right who helped build a new coalition of conservative Protestants and Roman Catholics, and informally advised President George W. Bush, died Thursday. He was 72. (More)

LEESVILLE, Ind. A quick-thinking woman put her lifeguard experience to good use, saving herself and her two small daughters after their car slid off a road into a deep, frigid pond. (More)