House opens debate on health care overhaul bill

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s landmark health care overhaul moved toward a vote in the House today after anti-abortion lawmakers won a chance to knock out language that would let federally subsidized health care plans cover abortions.

Suspect in Florida office shooting denied bond

ORLANDO, Fla. — A man charged with killing a worker and wounding five others in the Orlando engineering firm where he once worked has been denied bond.

Pawlenty heads to Iowa as signs point to 2012 run

ST. PAUL — Republican Tim Pawlenty is off today on his first trip to Iowa as a probable but not-yet-declared presidential candidate.

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Fort Hood suspect: Methodical goodbyes

As if going off to war, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan cleaned out his apartment, gave leftover frozen broccoli to one neighbor and called another to thank him for his friendship — common courtesies and routines of the departing soldier. Instead, authorities say, he went on the killing spree that left 13 people dead.

• Army: Suspect said 'Allahu Akbar!' before shooting
• GF native recounts lockdown at Fort Hood school
• AP VIDEO: Deadly shootings at Fort Hood
• Storming the grounds
• FORT HOOD: Neighbor says suspect emptied his apartment
• Mosques step up security after Fort Hood rampage
• Doctor: Some Fort Hood shooting victims still risk dying
• Fort Hood victims include St. Paul soldier
• Fort Hood suspect said methodical goodbyes
• N.D. flags fly at half-staff for Fort Hood dead

Fort Hood victims include St. Paul soldier

A Minnesota soldier is among those killed in the shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas. Kham Xiong, 23, St. Paul, died in the attack Thursday, said Tim McGowan, principal of Community of Peace Academy, a school attended by Xiong. McGowan said Xiong’s father, Chor Xiong, informed the school of his son’s death. Family members picked up pictures of Xiong today for a memorial service, McGowan said.

Fla. cops: Wife faked own abduction to scam hubby

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. Authorities say the 25-year-old mechanic charged with trying to extort thousands from Gray’s husband wasn’t her captor — but her accomplice and lover. Her husband, however, has stuck by his wife’s side.

Arizona ‘honor killing’ victim just wanted to be normal

Noor Faleh Almaleki just wanted to be a normal American woman. The striking 20-year-old from Iraq, who’d lived in Phoenix since she was a young girl, wanted her hair and makeup to be perfect, her clothes to be fashionable. She wanted a job, a degree and a husband of her choosing. But Noor’s father had a much different ideal for his daughter: a life in strict line with traditional Iraqi culture.

"Fat defense" for murder carries no weight with N.J. jury

A jury convicted a Florida man today 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.

Doctor: Some Fort Hood shooting victims still risk dying

A doctor at a hospital where several of the wounded from the shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas were taken says some patients are still at risk of dying.

Convicted Rolex-obsessed thief may have lots of time on his hands

A Florida thief with a peculiar penchant for Rolex watches faces up to 25 years in prison. Leonardo Perez, 36, has pleaded guilty to charges he stole eight gold Rolex Presidential edition watches, each worth $50,000, over four months in 2007. The crime spree began just after Perez finished a 17-year sentence for stealing Rolexes in South Florida.

Poll: One-third can find, get swine flu vaccine

Only about one-third of adults who have tried to get a swine flu vaccine have been able to get it, according to a new national poll. That’s true even for people are at extra risk for severe complications and should be at the front of the line. The numbers are about the same for parents who tried to get the vaccine for their higher-risk children, the Harvard School of Public Health poll found.

Schools emerge as new tactic in opposition to gay marriage votes

In one ad after another, voters in California and Maine were besieged with images of what would supposedly happen if same-sex marriage were legal: Students on a field trip to a lesbian wedding, elementary kids gobbling up books featuring gay couples, kindergartners learning about homosexuality from their teachers. The strategy worked.

Mosques step up security after Fort Hood rampage

U.S. mosques fearful of a backlash after the shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, are stepping up security.

Fire reported at Arizona house of jailed Iraqi father who killed daughter

An early morning garage fire forced nine people out of the home of a jailed Iraqi immigrant accused of running down his daughter because she had become too “westernized.” Glendale Fire Department spokesman Daniel Valenzuela says firefighters kept the blaze from spreading to other parts of the home.

Orlando shooting suspect's money woes

A man so broke that he said he didn’t have the money to visit his son 30 minutes away opened fire Friday at the engineering firm that fired him two years ago, killing one person and wounding five, authorities said. As officers led a handcuffed Jason Rodriguez into a police station, a reporter asked the divorced 40-year-old why he had attacked his former colleagues.

• Jason Rodriguez