US Top Stories from Associated Press (AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) , Although the number of pending veterans' disability claims keep soaring, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki on Sunday said he's committed to ending the backlog in 2015 by replacing paper with electronic records.

Onetime domestic terrorist Bill Ayers has been named a visiting scholar at the Minnesota State University at Moorhead. "Dr. William Ayers... will be the 2013 College of Education and Human services Visiting Scholar," the Feb. 25 announcement reads.

SEOUL (AP) , Investigators have yet to pinpoint the culprit behind a synchronized cyberattack in South Korea last week. But in Seoul, the focus remains fixed on North Korea, where South Korean security experts say Pyongyang has been training a team of computer-savvy "cyberwarriors" as cyberspace becomes a fertile battleground in the standoff between the two Koreas.

Marine Sergeant Eusebrio Lopez, 25, shot and killed two fellow Marines before turning the gun on himself last Thursday evening at the base they were stationed at in Quantico, Virginia. The two victims included Marine Lance Corporal Sara Castro-Mata, 19, from Oakley, California and 23-year-old Corporal Jacob Wooley from Guntown, Mississippi.

DENVER , Investigators are saying for the first time that a man who was killed in a gunfight with Texas authorities is a suspect in the shooting death of Colorado's state prison system chief. El Paso County sheriff's spokesman Lt.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates , Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said Saturday that he will return to his homeland despite facing criminal charges and militant death threats. Musharraf has been living in self-exile in London and Dubai for over four years and is planning to return on Sunday to Pakistan.

WASHINGTON , Nobody's going to win an Emmy for a parody of the TV show "Star Trek" filmed by Internal Revenue Service employees at an agency studio in Maryland. Instead, the IRS got a rebuke from Congress for wasting taxpayer dollars.

OLYMPIA, Wash. , In 1970, Washington became the first , and remains the only , state in the country to legalize elective abortions by a popular vote. A generation later, and 40 years removed from the landmark United States Supreme Court Roe v. Wade ruling that extended abortion access nationwide, Washington is once again poised to stand out.

DENVER , In a bizarre twist, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper confirmed Friday that he is good friends with the father of a parolee suspected in the murder of the state's corrections chief, but denied intervening on the son's behalf while he was in prison.

WASHINGTON (AP) , The Senate labored into the wee hours Saturday as Democrats pushed their first budget in four years toward passage, calling for almost $1 trillion in tax increases over the coming decade while sheltering safety net programs targeted by House Republicans.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) , A sign at the Birmingham airport fell on a family Friday, killing a 10-year boy and injuring other family members. Deputy Coroner Derrick Perryman said 10-year-old Luke Bresette was pronounced dead at Children's of Alabama.

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) , The nation's last operating coal-fired ferryboat would stop dumping waste ash into Lake Michigan within two years under a deal with federal regulators announced Friday. The agreement between Lake Michigan Carferry, which operates the S.S. Badger, and the U.S.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) , Michael Lesley crisscrossed Harvard Yard, looking up from his copy of David Hume's "The Natural History of Religion" only to avoid the tourists that shuffled through the snow-covered quadrangle. Did he bother to watch Harvard's victory over No. 10 New Mexico on Thursday night, the first NCAA tournament win in school history? No.

LAS VEGAS (AP) , Kenny Cherry was an aspiring rapper who moved from the Bay Area to Las Vegas to pursue his career. His music videos online show him cruising the Strip in his Maserati. Michael Boldon was a family man and taxi driver who hailed from Michigan and loved fast cars.

WASHINGTON (AP) , Japan's new prime minister declared Friday he would make his country a stronger U.S. ally and joined President Barack Obama in warning North Korea that its recent nuclear provocations would not be tolerated.