BELLEVILLE, Ill. -- The wife of a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq has been charged with child endangerment after her toddler son was found outside wearing only a diaper.Thelma M. Straughter, 28, of Belleville, Ill., was arrested by police after a neighbor said Straughter's 2-year-old son was wandering outside without clothes in 30-degree temperatures, the Belleville News-Democrat reported Wednesday.Police said they aren't sure how the boy got out of the house. Straughter's husband, Spc. Matthew ... [full story]

ST. LOUIS -- Missouri officials have lost a court fight in which they tried to block release of water from an upstream Missouri River dam to help an endangered sturgeon.The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers releases the water twice in the spring from a dam near Yankton, S.D. The releases replace the infusion of water from melting snow. The aim is to ensure the spawning of the endangered pallid sturgeon.A federal judge ruled Tuesday that ... [full story]

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- An Iowa bank executive believed to have killed his wife and four children before taking his own life will be mourned with them at one funeral.Sister Agnes Giblin, who taught Steven Sueppel in the third grade, told The Des Moines Register that she expects people who knew the family to be angry at him. But she said that a joint funeral is to be at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in ... [full story]

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio -- An Ohio appeals court has blocked an amusement park's effort to collect $20 million from an insurer for an accident on its Son of the Beast roller coaster.A lower court awarded Kings Island $20 million. But the appeals court agreed with Admiral Insurance Co. that its policy with Roller Coaster Co. of Ohio excluded the kind of damage that caused the accident on the Son of the Beast roller coaster, the Cincinnati ... [full story]

MEMPHIS -- A Tennessee judge has sentenced a suspect who threatened his life to 700 days in prison.Joshua Beadle yelled the threat in court after a hearing on his court-appointed lawyer, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported Wednesday. Criminal Circuit Judge Lee Coffee had just allowed Gregory Carman to stop representing Beadle because Beadle had threatened his life. "You mark my word, Judge Coffee," Beadle shouted as he was led from the courtroom to a holding ... [full story]

BEND, Ore. -- An Oregon man who had been a woman before undergoing a sex change claims to be expecting a child.In an article in The Advocate, Thomas Beatie said he kept his female reproductive organs, although he had surgery to reconstruct his breasts and testosterone therapy. He said he decided to have a child because his wife is unable to conceive and stopped the testosterone.   Thomas Beatie - photo courtesy The Advocate Beatie formerly lived in ... [full story]

LOS ANGELES -- Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Wednesday restated his opposition to pulling U.S. troops from Iraq now, and criticized Democratic presidential hopefuls on the issue."Those who claim we should withdraw from Iraq in order to fight al-Qaida more effectively elsewhere are making a dangerous mistake," the presumptive Republican nominee told the Los Angeles World Affairs Council. "I believe a reckless and premature withdrawal would be a terrible defeat for our security interests and our ... [full story]

REDMOND, Ore. -- Several complaints from neighbors about possible drug activity at a southwest Redmond home led to the arrest of two young men and a young woman Tuesday morning after detectives raided the place and found cocaine, marijuana and other drug-sales related evidence.   (left to right) Matthew Eric Kime, Nicholas Robert Hulgan, Angelica Marie Wilhite - DCJ photos  Oregon State Police (OSP) Sgt. Mitchell Meyer reported that a search warrant was executed at 3155 SW ... [full story]

TORONTO -- A Toronto man was recovering from surgery Wednesday after being shot at least three times by police investigating a bank robbery, police said.The unidentified man went into a north-end bank around 3 p.m. Tuesday and allegedly demanded cash from a teller and said he had an explosive device, the Toronto Sun reported.Police responded to a silent alarm and when a man left the bank carrying two plastic bags, he was shot, police said. ... [full story]

NAPLES, Italy -- Italian police freed two teenage Bulgarian girls from a circus where they were forced to swim in a tank of piranhas and allow snakes to crawl over them.The owner of the Marino Circus, his son and his son-in-law were arrested and charged with holding the Bulgarian girls in slavery and breaching international human rights conventions, The Times of London reported Wednesday.Police were tipped off to the circus south of Naples by a ... [full story]