BERKELEY, Calif. Students barricaded themselves inside buildings on University of California campuses to protest a 32 percent increase in student fees and budget cuts that have led to slashed programs and lost jobs.

LOS ANGELES California is investigating several companies suspected of bilking churches nationwide of hundreds of thousands of dollars through fraudulent computer leasing schemes, authorities said Friday.

MIAMI The ringleader of a group of men convicted of plotting to destroy Chicago's Sears Tower and bomb FBI offices has been sentenced to 13 1/2 years in prison.

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. A 5-year-old North Carolina girl was raped and killed the same day she was taken from her home, according to an arrest warrant released Friday. Shaniya Davis was sexually assaulted and asphyxiated Nov. 10, the day her mother reported her missing from the trailer park where she was staying, according to the warrant. Authorities embarked on a nearly weeklong search that ended when the girl's body was found dumped off a rural road.

CHICAGO Holding back tears, Oprah Winfrey told her studio audience Friday that she would end her show in 2011 after a quarter-century on the air, saying prayer and careful thought led her to her decision.

SCRANTON, Pa. Two former Pennsylvania judges accused of taking kickbacks to supply private detention facilities with juveniles have been granted partial immunity from civil liability.

SAN FRANCISCO The decision to move Johannes Mehserle's trial to Los Angeles County is a setback for the former transit officer charged with killing an unarmed man on New Year's Day.

COLUMBIA, S.C. South Carolina lawmakers plan to formally consider impeaching Gov. Mark Sanford for the first time next week, the chairman of the committee beginning that work said Friday.

LAS VEGAS Police believe a batch of drugs blamed in Michael Jackson's death was purchased by his personal physician at a Las Vegas pharmacy, court documents released Friday show.

BRUNSWICK, Maine The rumble of Navy patrol aircraft flying overhead will soon be a thing of the past as the remaining P-3 Orions depart from Brunswick Naval Air Station.

PHILADELPHIA A Pennsylvania university's requirement that overweight students take a fitness course to graduate has raised the hackles of students and the eyebrows of health and legal experts.

SAN DIEGO A 17-year-old pleaded guilty Friday to murdering a Border Patrol agent who was shot eight times in head, neck and torso in the mountains east of San Diego.

COLUMBUS, Ohio An attorney for a condemned killer says Ohio's new lethal-injection plan is so untested it would amount to human experimentation if used for the first time next month.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. An independent panel says the United States can extend the life of aging nuclear weapons for decades with existing programs, a finding that activists contend means there's no need for the nation to design replacements for the nuclear arsenal.

SAN ANTONIO An attorney for the Army psychiatrist charged in the mass shooting at Fort Hood says his client will have his first court hearing in his hospital room on Saturday.

SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands The Pacific resort island of Saipan was reeling Saturday from one of the most violent attacks in its history, when a gunman killed five people, including two small children and himself, in a rampage that ended at a World War II historical site.

UNITED NATIONS A key U.N. committee approved a resolution Friday urging Iran to halt the persecution of political opponents following the country's disputed presidential election.

NEW YORK Whether he's planning another run for the White House or a bid for senator or governor, or he just misses the spotlight, Rudy Giuliani is suddenly back and talking about the topic that made him a national star - Sept. 11.

WILMINGTON, Del. The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington is obligated to pay retirement benefits to six priests who are confirmed pedophiles, church officials argued in a bankruptcy court filing seeking permission to keep making the payments.

LOS ANGELES California tax officials say an interior designer's false disability claim was uncovered when he was spotted on a home improvement television show.

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. A 39-year-old Southern California man has been arrested for misdemeanor child annoyance after allegedly paying a teenager $31 to spit in his face. The Ventura County Sheriff's Department says Charles Hersel was arrested Wednesday in a sting operation at a mall in Thousand Oaks. He's free from jail pending a court hearing.

LINCOLN, Neb. The University of Nebraska's governing board on Friday voted down a proposal to restrict the school's rules governing embryonic stem-cell research beyond what the federal government allows.

A space shuttle is no tinker toy. But is it the most complex machine ever built?

NEW YORK A prison system official says a New York City man is free after spending nearly two decades behind bars for murder before a judge declared him innocent.

NIKISKI, Alaska Norm Olson's genial tone belies his reputation as a radical militiaman, yet here he is, at 63, an affable grandfather explaining why Americans should arm themselves against their government.

PHOENIX A 2-year-old boy dragged a 1-year-old Arizona girl Friday from a house fire that killed her mother and injured two other adults, authorities said.

PEEKSKILL, N.Y. A New York state man has been convicted of reckless endangerment after leaving his 85-year-old father in a car on a hot day and finding him dead three hours later.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. A teenager accused of killing a 9-year-old neighbor should be sent to a psychiatric hospital because she shows signs of severe depression and anxiety, her attorney said.

WASHINGTON The Senate ethics committee on Friday admonished Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., for making "inconsistent, misleading or incomplete" statements about the circumstances surrounding his appointment to the seat once held by Barack Obama. The committee recommended no action beyond the letter.

INDIANAPOLIS An Indianapolis man convicted of killing three children and four adults during a home invasion robbery three years ago has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

OZARK, Ark. The FBI has dispatched investigators to Arkansas to look into a police officer's use of a stun gun on a 10-year-old girl who refused to take a shower.

BETHEL, Alaska An air taxi with eight people aboard made an emergency landing on tundra when the engine failed near Alaska's Bering Sea coast.

AVALON, Calif. Birth control for bison?

NEW YORK A foot model in New York City is suing her upscale apartment building, claiming the co-op board is trying to force her out because she married its former doorman.

ELK HORN, Iowa Hoping to see the USA in your Chevrolet Volt or Nissan Leaf? The tiny Iowa town of Elk Horn will have plenty of electric charging stations and no wait - if you can get there.

PEORIA, Ariz. An Arizona family is pleading with burglars to return a wooden music box containing the ashes of their 5-month old son.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. As the nation's military academies try to recruit more minorities, they aren't getting much help from members of Congress from big-city districts with large numbers of blacks, Hispanics and Asians.

NEW YORK A New York City gallery has auctioned over 200 rare postage stamps to raise $3.2 million for the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C.

UNION, S.C. When federal officials descended on this small South Carolina town to investigate a kickback scheme that had caught up the mayor and another official, they stumbled across a web of corruption they believe is deeper and more widespread through the county.

RALEIGH, N.C. The U.S. Army will allow the media limited coverage of Sarah Palin's appearance at Fort Bragg, but will bar reporters from interviewing her or her supporters on the post, officials said Thursday.

LOS ANGELES Customs officials say they got a surprise when they found 316,000 glass bongs disguised as Christmas ornaments at the Los Angeles harbor.

PHOENIX Authorities say an Arizona couple has been indicted in the theft of nearly 1,000 pieces of luggage from baggage claim carousels at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A former smoker who just won a $300 million verdict in Florida against Philip Morris USA has pulled out of a news conference about the case.

MINNEAPOLIS A tour bus driver suffered a ruptured aneurysm just before the bus veered off a southern Minnesota interstate and crashed, killing two people and injuring 20, the owner of the bus company said Thursday. State officials said they couldn't confirm the aneurysm and it was too early to know the cause of the crash.

PLEASANT HILL, Mo. A woman who had been charged with child endangerment after almost 370 animals were seized from her Missouri farm has been placed on two years of unsupervised probation.

MIAMI The ringleader of a group of men convicted of plotting to destroy Chicago's Sears Tower and bomb FBI offices is scheduled to be sentenced.

A list of congressional districts with the fewest military academy nominations for the classes of 2009 to 2013, the officeholders and the total nominations they have made. All 20 are Democrats from districts where whites make up less than half the population, and all but two of the districts include major urban areas.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska Santa's "elves" at the North Pole have been given their walking papers - but they're not going quietly.

New England was expected to see another dreary day, while the Pacific Northwest remains under wintry conditions on Friday.

SAN FRANCISCO This city did not wait for Washington's health care overhaul. Most uninsured adults here are already reaping the benefits of a government-run health care program - seeing doctors, filling prescriptions, and getting surgeries they could not otherwise afford.