MIAMI Tropical storm warnings were issued Saturday for parts of Mexico and Cuba as Ida rapidly gained strength over Caribbean waters, and the storm could start affecting the U.S. Gulf Coast by Tuesday.

FORT HOOD, Texas Former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, have visited wounded soldiers and their families after the mass shooting at Fort Hood.

SEATTLE A man shot by police as he was sought in connection with the Halloween killing of a Seattle police officer was in serious condition Saturday following hours of surgery.

ORLANDO, Fla. The engineer accused of fatally shooting one employee and wounding five others at the firm where he once worked is "very mentally ill" and crumbled under the stress of his divorce, bankruptcy and unemployment, his attorney said Saturday.

MARION, Ala. The sign going on the front door at the Perry County courthouse reads: "Closed for the Obama Holiday."

DENVER A man who threatened to kill Barack Obama last summer just before the Democratic National Convention in Denver has pleaded guilty to federal weapons charges.

NEW YORK A military band played and sailors fired off cannons as the Navy began a ceremony to commission its newest assault ship forged with tons of steel from the World Trade Center.

FORT HOOD, Texas The Army psychiatrist suspected of going on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood recently asked for advice on what he should tell fellow soldiers concerned about fighting Muslims in Iraq or Afghanistan, a local Muslim leader said Saturday.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska Suspected swine flu is sweeping a traditional Eskimo whaling village on a remote Alaska island - prompting an urgent medical mission to deliver help.

MIAMI Tropical storm warnings have been issued for parts of Mexico and Cuba as Ida rapidly gains strength over Caribbean waters.

The 13 people killed when an Army psychiatrist allegedly opened fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, included a pregnant woman who was preparing to return home, a man who quit a furniture company job to join the military about a year ago, a newlywed who had served in Iraq and a woman who had vowed to take on Osama bin Laden after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Here is a look at some of the victims.

HACKENSACK, N.J. A jury convicted a Florida man Friday of murdering his former son-in-law, rejecting the man's defense that he was too fat to have run up and down a flight of stairs to commit the crime and make a quick getaway.

LOS ANGELES A Seattle team has collected a $900,000 prize in a NASA-backed competition to develop the concept of an elevator to space - an idea spurred by science fiction novels.

BALTIMORE The accusations that Mayor Sheila Dixon used holiday gift cards for the needy during personal shopping sprees may sound like a minor embarrassment at worst, a small-time case of a politician enjoying the perks of power.

PHILADELPHIA Members of Philadelphia's largest transit union and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority are set to vote on a contract to end the strike that has idled buses, subways and trolleys for five days.

SHANKSVILLE, Pa. Esther Heymann was overflowing with grief for her stepdaughter. Standing in a blustery snow, overlooking the empty field where Flight 93 had crashed a couple of years earlier, she couldn't stop crying.

MIAMI Ida has become a tropical storm again, with top winds of 45 mph (72 kph), as it swirls in the Caribbean on a track that could bring it to the U.S. Gulf Coast next week.

Donald Baim

PATCHOGUE, N.Y. The high school buddies who trolled the streets looking for Hispanics to attack called it "beaner hopping."

PATCHOGUE, N.Y. The family of an Ecuadorean man slain on a Long Island street will be among those participating in a candlelight vigil and memorial service to mark the first anniversary of the killing.

NEW ORLEANS State investigators raided ACORN offices on Friday, taking away computer hard drives and documents as part of a probe into alleged embezzlement and tax fraud when the organization's national headquarters was based in New Orleans.

GALVESTON, Texas Two years after the remains of a toddler who came to be known as "Baby Grace" were dumped in Galveston Bay, the child's stepfather was convicted of capital murder in her beating death.

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. A federal appeals court has ruled that Santa Cruz City Council members did not violate a man's rights when they ordered him removed from a council meeting after he made a one-armed Nazi salute.

Killing or removing 25 California sea lions over the past two years has not reduced the toll on salmon at the base of Bonneville Dam in the Columbia River.

UNITED NATIONS The U.N. Security Council joined calls Friday on Afghan President Hamid Karzai to fight corruption, with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calling the country's political situation "delicate" following deeply flawed elections.

Donald Baim

FORT HOOD, Texas Pfc. Marquest Smith, on his way to Afghanistan in January, was completing routine paperwork about a bee-sting allergy when the sounds erupted.

FORT HOOD, Texas Several hundred people gathered at a base stadium where the Army's chief chaplain offered prayers for families and victims of the shooting rampage that left 13 dead and 30 wounded at Fort Hood, Texas.

As of Friday, Nov. 6, 2009, at least 833 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. The department last updated its figures Friday at 10 a.m. EDT.

As of Friday, Nov. 6, 2009, at least 4,359 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

LOS ANGELES The Los Angeles City Council has given preliminary approval to an ordinance that would ban the declawing of cats.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. A teenager was charged Friday with killing a nun after allegedly breaking into her trailer home on the Navajo Indian reservation in search of cash or valuable items.

SANTA FE, N.M. A top official in Gov. Bill Richardson's cabinet has resigned over a drunken driving arrest just days after she was appointed to a spot in President Barack Obama's administration.

CHICAGO A fourth teen is facing murder charges in the beating death of a Chicago high school honor student last month.

MADISON, Wis. A Wisconsin man who got his cheesehead hat signed by President Barack Obama has decided to donate it to a museum rather than sell it on eBay.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. An 85-foot blue spruce soon will embark on a long journey from the mountains of northeastern Arizona to Washington, D.C., to stand as the Capitol Christmas tree.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. Thousands of family members, friends and colleagues said farewell Friday to seven Coast Guard members who died when their plane collided with a Marine helicopter off the San Diego coast.

OWOSSO, Mich. A Michigan man charged with killing an abortion protester and a business owner told police he had guns loaded in his truck when he took two nieces and a friend to school just before the shooting spree.

LONG BEACH, Calif. Two 16-year-old boys have been charged as adults in the death of a 16-year-old girl who was shot after a homecoming football game in Long Beach.

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. An Army veteran admitted in federal court Friday to plotting with his wife to bilk the U.S. government by faking paralysis after a car wreck to get disability benefits and avoid being deployed to Iraq.

NEW YORK A New York City woman convicted of killing her father and mutilating his body has been sentenced to five to 15 years in prison.

WAUKESHA, Wis. Authorities in Wisconsin say a deputy shot an inmate at a hospital in suburban Milwaukee after the inmate began a scuffle.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. As the lone survivor of a deadly 2007 Connecticut home invasion called for an investigation into why prison officials let a writer interview one of the defendants for a book, the state attorney general said Friday a probe has already begun.

UNITED NATIONS Iraq's foreign minister has reiterated his country's request for a high-level international envoy to investigate the extent of foreign involvement in recent bombings of government institutions.

OKLAHOMA CITY An animal rights group on Friday asked a U.S. Department of Agriculture agency to look into an owner's treatment of a circus elephant that escaped and was hit by a sport utility vehicle on a northwestern Oklahoma highway.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. A wealthy health care executive came home one night in September to find a terrifying note from his wife, Quinn Gray: The 37-year-old housewife and mother of two had been abducted from her posh Florida beach community.

Fort Hood suspect gave away belongings, said methodical goodbyes, before shooting rampage

KILLEEN, Texas A civilian police officer is being praised for taking down a man suspected of opening fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood when she shot him in the torso.

HARRISBURG, Pa. An appeals court has ruled Pennsylvania State Police botched a prostitution investigation in which troopers gave an informant money to pay for sex four times at a massage parlor, along with a total of $180 for the man's trouble.

NEW YORK A Guatemalan designated as one of the world's biggest drug kingpins has been convicted of cocaine importation and distribution charges.