Boy Scouts approve plan to accept openly gay boys
GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) -- In one of their most dramatic choices in a century, local leaders of the Boy Scouts of America voted Thursday to ease a divisive ban and allow openly gay boys to be accepted into the nation's leading youth organization.... 5/23/2013 6:30 PM

Distraught mom becomes face of Oklahoma storm
MOORE, Okla. (AP) -- A massive tornado was carving its way through town. There was no time to hesitate. LaTisha Garcia had to get to her children.... 5/23/2013 6:50 PM

Latest deadly tornado tests Oklahoma town's mettle
MOORE, Okla. (AP) -- Having lived most of her life in this Oklahoma City suburb, Barbara Bryen never feared twisters. They were just part of life in a particularly deadly stretch of Tornado Alley.... 5/23/2013 3:12 PM

Kids, teachers from devastated school reunite
MOORE, Okla. (AP) -- Students from a suburban Oklahoma City elementary school destroyed by this week's tornado reunited with their teachers Thursday and collected whatever could be salvaged from the ruins.... 5/23/2013 6:45 PM

Boston suspect under scrutiny in unsolved killings
WALTHAM, Mass. (AP) -- A year and a half before the Boston Marathon bombing, the man Tamerlan Tsarnaev called his best friend died in a grisly crime: He was one of three men found nearly decapitated in an apartment, their throats slashed ear to ear, marijuana sprinkled over their bodies.... 5/23/2013 6:29 PM

Tornado took town's youngest as it swept through
MOORE, Okla. (AP) -- One loved the spotlight. Another was nicknamed "The Wall" because of the force he brought to the soccer field.... 5/23/2013 6:36 PM

Birth control coverage up for federal appeal
DENVER (AP) -- In the most prominent challenge of its kind, Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. asked a federal appeals court Thursday for an exemption from part of the federal health care law that requires it to offer employees health coverage that includes access to the morning-after pill.... 5/23/2013 6:24 PM

Weiner gets started stumping in NYC mayoral race
NEW YORK (AP) -- Anthony Weiner set out to reintroduce himself to voters Thursday as he embarked on a mayoral bid after leaving Congress in a sexting scandal. He found a much more supportive reception in his first campaign stop than he did from his party's leadership, who bluntly criticized his candidacy a day earlier.... 5/23/2013 5:51 PM

Investigator: Missing Iowa girl's blood found
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -- Investigators have discovered the blood of a missing 15-year-old Iowa girl on the truck of a registered sex offender suspected of kidnapping her Monday, diminishing the chances of finding her alive, a lead investigator said Thursday.... 5/23/2013 7:01 PM

NYPD: Merchant held for ransom, tortured for month
NEW YORK (AP) -- A businessman was snatched from a New York City street in broad daylight, then held captive for more than a month in a warehouse where he was bound and burned with acid as he was held for a $3 million ransom his family back in Ecuador did not have, authorities said.... 5/23/2013 6:34 PM