AP – A federal judge stepped into the fight over Arizona’s immigration law at the last minute Wednesday, blocking the heart of the measure and defusing a confrontation between police and thousands of activists that had been building for months.

AP – Hundreds of firefighters gained ground Wednesday against the most destructive of two big wildfires that have burned homes and forced 2,300 people to evacuate mountain communities on the edge of the Mojave Desert and in the southern Sierra Nevada.

AP – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday brought back furloughs for thousands of state workers until California passes a budget that addresses a $19 billion deficit.

AP – A military cargo plane on a training run crashed Wednesday at an Air Force base near downtown Anchorage, but there was no immediate word on casualties, the Air Force said. Witnesses reported seeing a ball of fire rising hundreds of feet high.

AP – One of every 15 New Yorkers battled bedbugs last year, officials said Wednesday as they announced a plan to fight the spreading infestation, including a public-awareness campaign and a top entomologist to head the effort.

AP – At least one bear rampaged through a heavily occupied campground Wednesday near Yellowstone National Park in the middle of the night, killing one person and injuring two others during a terrifying attack that forced people to hide in their vehicles as the victims were torn from their tents.

AP – In the minutes after Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl was reported missing last June, his U.S. Army comrades in southern Afghanistan began searching bunkers, latrines, vehicles, even Afghan National Police posts in a nearby settlement.

AP – Never mind that the details about Chelsea Clinton’s wedding are being guarded like state secrets. The postcard-pretty town of Rhinebeck is ready for its close-up.

AP – Michigan’s governor on Wednesday sharply criticized attempts to contain a large oil spill making its way down the Kalamazoo River after the company responsible for the spill said it had redoubled its efforts to clean up the mess.

AP – Crews took another step toward readying the relief well expected to finally kill the Gulf of Mexico oil gusher, removing the plug they had popped in before clearing the area ahead of Tropical Storm Bonnie last week, federal officials said Wednesday.

AP – The defense for the mother of three children found starving in a hotel bathroom portrayed her Wednesday as another victim of her abusive boyfriend, but prosecutors said while she gave birth, “she’s no mom.”

AP – A hundred days ago, shop owner Cherie Pete was getting ready for a busy summer serving ice cream and po-boys to hungry fishermen. Local official Billy Nungesser was planning his wedding. Environmental activist Enid Sisskin was preparing a speech about the dangers of offshore drilling.

AP – A woman accused of demanding millions to stay quiet about a tryst with Rick Pitino initiated the sex by whispering to him and unzipping his pants when he got up to leave an empty Italian restaurant, he testified Wednesday.

AP – The Arkansas Medical Board chairman, his face scarred and embedded with bits of tire, testified Wednesday that he lost an eye, his sense of smell, teeth and some hearing when a bomb went off in his driveway.

AP – As jurors retired to deliberate Wednesday in the corruption trial of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, they entered a cocoon of privacy not all jurors in high-profile cases enjoy.

AP – Three homes burned and dozens of others were evacuated Wednesday as a wind-whipped grassfire northwest of Idaho’s capital city expanded to thousands of acres and threatened rural subdivisions. No injuries were reported.

AP – One hundred days after the rig explosion that set off the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, the oil giant behind it is hoping to move beyond the losses, the gaffes and the live video that ran for weeks of the busted well coughing up massive amounts of crude every second.

AP – New York Gov. David Paterson will not face criminal charges for calling up a woman who later dropped domestic violence charges against a top aide, though the aide could still face prosecution, according to an investigative report issued Wednesday.

AP – Two men were convicted of first-degree murder Wednesday in the ambush death of a police officer after a bank robbery, even though neither defendant pulled the trigger.

AP – More bystanders are willing to attempt CPR if an emergency dispatcher gives them firm and direct instructions — especially if they can just press on the chest and skip the mouth-to-mouth, according to new research.

AP – A federal judge stepped into the fight over Arizona’s immigration law at the last minute Wednesday, blocking the heart of the measure and defusing a confrontation between police and thousands of activists that had been building for months.

AP – The calls from fellow Democrats for New York Rep. Charles Rangel to resign could quickly turn from a trickle to a flood unless he can quickly negotiate a plea bargain to prevent a congressional trial on allegations of ethical misconduct.

AP – Crews took another step toward readying the relief well expected to finally kill the Gulf of Mexico oil gusher, removing the plug they had popped in before clearing the area ahead of Tropical Storm Bonnie last week, federal officials said Wednesday.

AP – President Barack Obama’s nominee to be chief of U.S. intelligence, James R. Clapper, is expected to be approved by the Senate Intelligence Committee when the panel meets Thursday.

AP – Emergency teams battled heavy rains and mud Thursday to recover bodies strewn over hills overlooking the Pakistani capital following the country’s worst-ever plane crash.

AP – FBI Director Robert Mueller told Congress on Wednesday that he does not know how many of his agents cheated on an important exam on the bureau’s policies, discussing an embarrassing investigation that raises questions about whether the FBI knows its own rules for conducting surveillance on Americans.