US Top Stories from Associated Press (AP)

NEW YORK (AP) , The potential scope of the meningitis outbreak that has killed at least five people widened dramatically Thursday as health officials warned that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of patients who got steroid back injections in 23 states could be at risk.

WASHINGTON (AP) , Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is shifting sharply to the political center as he begins to deliver a closing argument aimed at a slice of moderate, undecided voters a month before Election Day.

A federal partnership was unveiled Thursday involving the Departments of Homeland Security and Transportation, along with Amtrak, that will seek to combat human trafficking by training more than 8,000 front-line transportation employees and Amtrak police officers to identify trafficking victims and perpetrators and report suspected cases.

LOS ANGELES (AP) , A former Charles Manson follower imprisoned for 40 years in a double murder engineered by Manson won a recommendation of parole Thursday in his 27th appearance before a parole board panel. Bruce Davis, convicted with Manson and another man in the killings of a musician and a stuntman, was not involved in the infamous Sharon Tate murders in 1969.

A federal Medicare Fraud Strike Force has brought charges against 91 people in seven cities , including doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals , in suspected Medicare fraud schemes that bilked the government of more than $429 million in false billings.

DENVER (AP) , President Barack Obama says Republican rival Mitt Romney would turn Medicare into a private system and put seniors at the mercy of insurance companies. Romney counters that the incumbent Democrat already has raided the Medicare fund and weakened the system.

President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney sparred aggressively over taxes, deficits and health care Wednesday in their first debate of the presidential campaign. A look at what they said: ___ TAXES

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) , An outbreak of a rare and deadly form of meningitis has now sickened 26 people in five states who received steroid injections mostly for back pain, health officials said Wednesday. Four people have died, and more cases are expected.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) , Miguel Cabrera became the 15th player to win baseball's Triple Crown on Wednesday night, the reluctant superstar thrust into the spotlight by joining an elite list that includes Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams and Lou Gehrig.

Miguel Cabrera won baseball's first Triple Crown in 45 years Wednesday night, achieving one of the game's greatest feats. Cabrera led the American League with a .330 batting average, 44 home runs and 139 RBIs, becoming only the 15th player to win the Triple Crown and the first since Boston's Carl Yastrzemski in 1967.

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) , A liquefied natural gas project in Alaska could cost more than $65 billion and would represent a mega-project of "unprecedented scale and challenge," officials behind the project told Gov. Sean Parnell.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) , Louise Fletcher says she can't bear to watch "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" because the Nurse Ratched character she won an Oscar for is so cruel. "I find it too painful," said Fletcher, 78. "It comes with age. I can't watch movies that are inhumane."

DENVER (AP) , Americans demanded details and, boy, did they get them. In their first debate, President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney delved into dense discussions on taxes, health care, entitlement programs and more. Each candidate unleashed a flurry of statistics and complex equations for bringing down the debt.

VAUGHN, N.M. , Petty crime and burglaries aren't unusual in New Mexico's isolated Guadalupe County, but lately Sheriff Michael Lucero has seen thieves steal something a bit unexpected: grass. With drought drying out grazing land and driving up hay prices, some ranchers in New Mexico have started cutting neighbors' fences or leaving gates open so their cattle can graze on greener pastures.

MIAMI (AP) , The roaring crowd rose as one when Adam Greenberg walked to the plate for the first time in seven years, and Marlins teammates leaning over the dugout railing joined the applause. Three strikes later, they were cheering still. Greenberg's second chance in the major leagues went a lot better than the first one, even though he struck out.