US Top Stories from Associated Press (AP)

ATLANTA (AP) , Around the Final Four and its host city with journalists from The Associated Press bringing the flavor and details of everything surrounding the games. ___ Presidential parting shot

ITHACA, N.Y. (AP) , A Cornell University wrestler accused of raping another student as she slept was arrested after the victim's companion snapped pictures of the young man lying on the bed, his pants partway down, and then looked his name up on the athletic department website, police say.

WILLIAMSON, W.Va. (AP) , The man suspected of killing a West Virginia sheriff as he ate lunch in his car was mentally disturbed and had no particular vendetta against law enforcement, his father told The Associated Press on Thursday.

A day after President Obama and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced they will donate 5 percent of their paychecks to the Treasury, Secretary of State John Kerry is following suit, vowing to donate 5 percent of his $183,500 salary.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) , Connecticut lawmakers were expected to approve sweeping new restrictions on weapons and large-capacity magazines Wednesday, a response to the Newtown school shooting that will give the state some of the country's tightest gun-control laws.

WASHINGTON (AP) , Evoking the U.S. shuttle diplomacy of decades past, Secretary of State John Kerry is making his third trip to the Middle East in a span of just two weeks in a fresh bid to restart long-stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

WASHINGTON (AP) , Yikes! It seems "The Daily Show" and diplomacy don't mix. That's the lesson the U.S. Embassy in Cairo is learning the hard way after being rebuked by both the Egyptian government and the State Department for causing an international incident.

Strong winds caused the infamous Carnival Triumph to break loose from its moorings Wednesday afternoon while it was being repaired in Alabama. "We have reports that the Carnival Triumph has broken away from BAE Shipyard and there may be people in the water," according to the Mobile Fire-Rescue Department, the New York Post reports.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) , Decades after Martin Luther King Jr. was shot to death here, some of the striking sanitation workers who marched with him are again fighting for their jobs. In 1968, wages were so low that some workers had to stand in welfare lines to feed their families. Working conditions were so dangerous men were dying on the job.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) , It's a congressional race featuring political drama, big names and big money , everything that can make American politics so fascinating. The special election in South...

WASHINGTON (AP) , Dwindling military budgets and the diminished threat of a nuclear war in Europe dictate that the United States and Russia abandon their Cold War mentality and gradually remove some nuclear weapons from ready-to-launch status, according to a report Wednesday.

The Pentagon is deploying a ballistic missile defense system to Guam in coming weeks to strengthen its posture in the Pacific against a North Korean missile threat. "This deployment will strengthen defense capabilities for American citizens in the U.S. territory of Guam and U.S. forces stationed there," Pentagon spokeswoman Army Lt. Col. Cathy Wilkinson said in a statement.

WASHINGTON (AP) , The Senate gun control debate on the near horizon, a National Rifle Association-sponsored report on Tuesday proposed a program for schools to train selected staffers as armed security officers. The former Republican congressman who headed the study suggested at least one protector with firearms for every school, saying it would speed responses to attacks.

CHICAGO (AP) , GOP Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois on Tuesday became the second sitting Republican senator to endorse gay marriage , a move that also could shift the political debate over legalizing gay marriage in Kirk's home state.

NEW YORK (AP) , A Democratic state lawmaker was arrested along with five other politicians Tuesday in an alleged plot to pay tens of thousands of dollars in bribes to GOP bosses to let him run for mayor of New York City as a Republican.