U.S. National News

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.

PHILADELPHIA - A national spokesman for the Philadelphia transit system's largest union says reports of a tentative agreement were "premature" and the negotiations aimed at ending a five-day strike continue.

McLEAN, Va. - It galled her to do it, but Sarah Dillon was desperate for answers, so she wrote letters to convicted snipers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo: If you murdered my son, please confess, she wrote.

NEW YORK - Students and university officials started getting e-mails last year in which a prominent Judaic studies scholar seemed to make a startling confession: He had committed plagiarism.

LAS VEGAS - A 19-year-old woman was the driving force behind a youthful burglary ring that preyed on Hollywood's rich and famous, often brazenly walking into unlocked homes to make off with cash, jewels and family heirlooms, authorities said.

NEW YORK - The USS New York, built with steel from the rubble of the World Trade Center, was put into service Saturday both as a symbol of healing and strength.

TEMPLE, Texas - Texas governor Rick Perry has visited with wounded victims from the Fort Hood shooting.

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 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.

As word spread that a gunman had opened fire at Fort Hood leaving a trail of carnage, a chilling realization swept across the U.S. Muslim community: He has an Islamic name.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.