PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. — The geyser of oil spewing from sea floor is tapering off more day by day with the help of a wellhead cap, but there's no quick fix for containing much of the crude that has already escaped and is spreading across the Gulf of Mexico.

WASHINGTON — Longtime Washington journalist Helen Thomas abruptly retired Monday, according to her employer, Hearst News Service.

Deadly Tornados and thunderstorms hit the Midwest Saturday, leaving homes flattened and killing at least five people, including a child.
Ohio, Michigan and Illinois took the brunt of the storms.

The shooting death of a black man whose body was dragged for several miles is being investigated as a possible hate crime after the arrest of a white man he worked with, South Carolina's state police chief said.
Gregory Collins, 19, is charged with murder and made his first court appearance Thursday.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- New details surrounding TV actor Gary Coleman's death have emerged with his attorney saying the child star of ``Diff'rent Strokes'' and his wife divorced in 2008, and Utah authorities releasing a tape of her frantic emergency call after he struck his head in a fall.

Van der Sloot was arrested the same day he was charged in Alabama with trying to extort $250,000 in return for giving the location of Holloway's body and describing the circumstances of Holloway's death.

WASHINGTON – Facing off over illegal immigration, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer told President Barack Obama that Americans "want our border secured" and called Thursday for completion of a separating fence. Obama underscored his objections that the tough immigration law she signed is discriminatory.

WASHINGTON – The federal government slapped BP with a $69 million bill Thursday to cover initial costs of responding to the largest oil spill in U.S. history.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Virginia was one of just two states that refused to join a friend-of-the-court brief Tuesday supporting the father of a Marine whose funeral drew anti-gay protesters carrying inflammatory signs.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's planned meeting Thursday with Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer faces a protest from opponents of Arizona's new immigration law.