LOS ANGELES Detectives investigating the death of Michael Jackson are looking at his prescription drug history and trying to talk with his numerous former doctors, the Los Angeles police chief said.

DETROIT After a night spent signing mounds of paperwork authorizing the transfer of cash, real estate, technology and other property, GM attorneys are expected to officially usher the new General Motors out of bankruptcy protection on Friday and onto a path toward a hopefully profitable future.

Dramatic pirate attacks were a regular occurrence off the coast of East Africa earlier in the year. So why has piracy fallen from the headlines in recent weeks? Have the attacks suddenly become less frequent?

GARY, Ind. The mayor of Gary, Ind. says Michael Jackson's father will attend a memorial service for the pop icon in the family's hometown.

OKLAHOMA CITY Battered by drought, a late freeze and flooding rain, Oklahoma's winter wheat harvest may produce only half of what was yielded last year, officials said.

COLUMBIA, S.C. When South Carolina's Commerce Department planned a trade mission to South America last year, Gov. Mark Sanford rejected a historic tour, requested meetings with real estate agents, and tried to make sure he would have at least an evening free in Buenos Aires.

SEATTLE It's one of the great American summer pastimes: Pulling the car onto the driveway on a sun-drenched Saturday afternoon, lathering it up with soap, rinsing it off and watching the sudsy water flow toward the storm drain.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. The sister of an American journalist sentenced with a co-worker to 12 years in a North Korean labor camp said that they're seeking a pardon as their only hope for freedom.

MASSENA, N.Y. Working 90 feet above the ground, pouring buckets of concrete that would harden into a 195-foot-high dam the length of 11 football fields, a teenage Frank Wicks knew even then he wasn't on just another job.

HUNTINGDON VALLEY, Pa. State officials will investigate accusations of racial discrimination against a suburban Philadelphia swim club that allegedly reacted to a visiting group of minority children by asking them not to return and pulling other kids out of the water.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. The sister of an American journalist sentenced with a co-worker to 12 years in a North Korean labor camp said Thursday that they're seeking a pardon as their only hope for freedom.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. Steve McNair's pastor and close friend cautioned against judging the ex-NFL quarterback Thursday, reminding people who gathered for his memorial not to cast the first stone when talking about his life off the field.

SAN FRANCISCO The head of U.S. Central Command in Afghanistan warned that months of fighting lie ahead in what will likely be the biggest military operation there since the American-led invasion of 2001.

ALBANY, N.Y. New York's Senate stalemate ended Thursday as it started 31 days ago, with a freshman Democrat convulsing the 62-seat house by switching sides and getting a powerful leadership post in the majority.

ALSIP, Ill. Three gravediggers and a cemetery manager unearthed hundreds of corpses from a historic black cemetery south of Chicago, dumping some in a weeded area and double-stacking others in existing graves, in an elaborate scheme to resell the plots, authorities said Thursday. All four were charged with felonies.

LAS VEGAS Sen. John Ensign said Thursday his parents gave his mistress and her family nearly $100,000 "out of concern for the well being of longtime family friends during a difficult time," providing his first public acknowledgment that the woman received payments tied to the affair.

WASHINGTON A lot of people are saying this is cyber war. But if the Internet attack on U.S. Web sites was an assault by North Korea or some other foreign government, what good responses are in America's arsenal?

ANCHORAGE, Alaska The former fiance of Gov. Sarah Palin's 18-year-old daughter says he thinks he knows why the Alaska governor is resigning - concerns over money.

CANTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. An Amtrak passenger train carrying about 170 people struck a car that had skirted a gate at a road crossing near Detroit on Thursday, killing all five people in the sedan, authorities said.

HUNTINGDON VALLEY, Pa. Members and officials of a private swimming pool in a predominantly white Philadelphia suburb reacted to a visiting group of minority children by asking them not to return and pulling other kids out of the water, a day camp director said, and the state is investigating.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. Do you use a sock puppet to secretly keep track of your frenemies?

ANCHORAGE, Alaska The former fiance of Gov. Sarah Palin's 18-year-old daughter says he believes he knows why the Alaska governor is resigning - concerns over money.

NEW YORK A Manhattan skyscraper in one of the most security-conscious parts of the city has become the scene of an unlikely missing persons mystery.

CHINO HILLS, Calif. State education officials on Thursday rejected a plan by a Southern California school district to use summer classes to make up for a scheduling error that could cost the district millions of dollars.

McALESTER, Okla. A man convicted of killing two campers during a 1995 robbery of their southern Oklahoma campsite was put to death Thursday.

NEW YORK A fundraiser at an upstate university has sued two senior athletic department officials, accusing them of using her as a "plaything" and trying to make her ply big donors with her sexuality.

HARTFORD, Conn. An advertising executive's former wife who police say was held hostage by her ex-husband for hours inside his Connecticut home told a newspaper she did not expect to survive the ordeal, which ended when he allegedly set the house on fire after she escaped.

The following recalls have been announced:

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. The Air Force Academy says 84 cadets with flu-like symptoms have been isolated are being tested for swine flu.

American Indian and Alaskan communities are set to receive $90 million in stimulus funds for water and wastewater projects. Here's a sampling of where the money is going:

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. The road from the Navajo community of Sweetwater to Red Mesa is unpaved and rugged but well traveled.

NEW YORK A woman accused of tagging her way through Europe has been sentenced to six months in jail for spray-painting Queens subway cars over three years.

WASHINGTON The aircrash that killed entrepreneur Steve Fossett, famed for his daredevil aerial feats, probably was caused by downdrafts that exceeded the ability of his small plane to recover before slamming into a California mountainside, federal safety officials said Thursday.

SAN ANTONIO The Shriners will continue treating children in all 22 cities where they operate hospitals, but some of the facilities may be downgraded to outpatient surgical centers and the sale or lease of real estate will be explored, the nonprofit's new CEO said Thursday.

SAN FRANCISCO San Francisco International Airport officials say a Northwest Airlines jet carrying 194 passengers suffered an engine problem after takeoff, forcing it to return to the airport.

ST. LOUIS The arrests this week of a Little League coach, a registered nurse and a teacher during the largest coordinated raids on dogfighting in U.S. history confirm the shadowy blood sport is alive and well despite tough laws across the country.

MIAMI Paris Hilton hated her 2006 movie "Pledge This!" and refused for months to make promotional appearances for it despite a contract requiring her to do so, lawyers for the film's investors said as trial opened Thursday in an $8 million lawsuit against her.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. It was only weeks ago that lawmakers, finance officials and the governor were warning that California was headed over a financial cliff.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. In 1937, John Hovan volunteered to travel to Spain and fight on the side of democracy against Gen. Francisco Franco's fascist forces in the Spanish Civil War.

McLEAN, Va. The federal government's most secure prison has determined that two books written by President Barack Obama contain material "potentially detrimental to national security" and rejected an inmate's request to read them.

WASHINGTON U.S. authorities trying to unravel the widespread cyber attacks against government Web sites in the United States and South Korea this week are facing a lengthy, complex investigation that may never identify a culprit, at least not one they would be willing to reveal.

WASHINGTON Former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry says he should never have been arrested on charges he was stalking his ex-girlfriend.

MINNEAPOLIS A man who spent 5 1/2 years in solitary confinement before pleading guilty to conspiring to help al-Qaida will spend almost another year in federal custody and then be deported to Canada.

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia A Canadian musician has become an Internet sensation after posting a song on YouTube about United Airlines breaking his guitar.

NEW ORLEANS Customs agents discovered an extra ingredient in a shipment of Colombian coffee: nearly a half-ton of cocaine.

PORT RICHEY, Fla. The Coast Guard ended its search Thursday for five people aboard a small plane that crashed off Florida's Gulf Coast, saying it believes all are dead.

LOS ANGELES A Los Angeles city councilman is calling on AEG Live to pay some of the estimated $1.4 million cost for Michael Jackson's memorial service Tuesday at the Staples Center.

CHINO HILLS, Calif. State education officials have given a failing grade to a plan by two Southern California elementary schools to use extended summer sessions to make up for lost class time.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. Starting Friday, most state government offices will begin closing three days a month to save California some money.

Health care overhaul bill suffers another setback as House Dems seek more time to make changes