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Americans search for cheaper Thanksgiving trips

Thanksgiving traveler Natalie Richards, 4, arrives with her luggage at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco from her home in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
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AP - 2 minutes ago

CHICAGO - The Miles family is changing it up this year in the annual American race to make it to the table for Thanksgiving dinner. Instead of booking plane tickets, they opted to take the 1,100-mile trip by train.

  • This undated family photo made availableby his family in Minneapolis shows Mohamud Said Omar. In custody in the Netherlands at the request of U.S. authorities, officials say Omar is being held in connection with the FBI's investigation into the disappearance of up to 20 young Somali men who left the Minneapolis area over the last two years for Somalia. Documents unsealed Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009 allege he was involved with many of the young men who left Minneapolis in waves - from December 2007 through November 2008. (AP Photo/Family of Mohamud Said Omar)
    New details emerge in Somali terror probe AP - Tue Nov 24, 8:25 PM ET

    MINNEAPOLIS - A Minnesota man hosted a gathering for several young Somalis days before they left Minneapolis to fight with a terrorist group in their war-torn homeland, according to court documents unsealed Tuesday in a sweeping federal investigation.

  • Former first lady Mrs. Laura W. Bush stands in front of a model of the George W. Bush Presidential Center as she talks to reporters during a news conference unveiling the facility's design at the Southern Methodist University Collins Executive Education Center in Dallas. To the left of Mrs. Bush is Mark Langdale, Ambassador and President of the George W. Bush Foundation, to her right is R. Gerald Turner, President of Southern Methodist University and Alan Lowe, far-right, Director of the George W. Bush Presidential Library. (AP Photo/Ben Torres)
    Condo owner signs deal with SMU over Bush library AP - Tue Nov 24, 5:54 PM ET

    DALLAS - A former condominium owner and Southern Methodist University officials have settled a four-year property dispute involving the site of George W. Bush's presidential library, both parties announced Tuesday.

  • FILE - In this Thursday, Sept. 10, 2009 file photo, South Carolina's Gov. Mark Sanford listens as his attorney Butch Bowers talks about the actions of the Ethics Commission during a news conference, at the Statehouse in Columbia, S.C. South Carolina legislators upset with Gov. Mark Sanford's summer disappearance to see his lover in Argentina on Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009, began debating a measure that ultimately would remove him from office. (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain)
    SC lawmakers question impeachment for governor AP - Tue Nov 24, 10:08 PM ET

    COLUMBIA, S.C. - A cool-headed legal debate has replaced the once-passionate calls to oust Gov. Mark Sanford that began after his tearful summertime admission that he disappeared from the state to pursue an extramarital affair in Argentina.

  • FILE - In this Nov. 2, 2005, file photo, the Silverdome is seen in Pontiac, Mich. A judge has cleared the way for the city to sell the stadium that was once home to the NFL's Detroit Lions to a Canadian company for $583,000. The Lions abandoned the 80,300-seat Silverdome in 2002, when they moved to Detroit's Ford Field. Pontiac has been spending $1.5 million a year to maintain the largely unused stadium. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
    Paltry sale for once-proud dome in once-proud city AP - Tue Nov 24, 8:20 PM ET

    PONTIAC, Mich. - Talk about getting stuck with the cheap seats.

  • 3 Conn. athletes accused of sex assault conspiracy AP - Tue Nov 24, 4:54 PM ET

    BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - Three lacrosse players for a Catholic university in New England have been charged with conspiring to sexually assault a female student in a dorm room.

  • LA County leaders back night fire flights AP - Tue Nov 24, 9:38 PM ET

    LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles County leaders responding to the summer's destructive Station Fire voted Tuesday to urge the U.S. Forest Service to allow helicopters to battle wildfires at night.

  • Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin signs a copy her her autobiography, 'Going Rogue', at the North Post Exchange at Fort Bragg, N.C., Monday, Nov. 23, 2009. (AP Photo/Jim R. Bounds)
    Palin stops in Fla. town that feted her in 2008 AP - Tue Nov 24, 5:45 PM ET

    THE VILLAGES, Fla. - Sarah Palin, who says the 2012 presidential election isn't on her radar, took her "Going Rogue" book tour to the biggest of the battleground states Tuesday, including a stop in the retirement community where tens of thousands of people gave her star treatment in the 2008 presidential election.

  • FILE - In this Sept. 8, 2009 file photo, Tyler Perry is shown at the premiere of Tyler Perry's 'I Can Do Bad All By Myself', in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer, file)
    Filmmaker Tyler Perry donates $1M to NAACP AP - Tue Nov 24, 1:25 PM ET

    BALTIMORE - Filmmaker Tyler Perry has donated $1 million to the NAACP to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the civil rights organization.

  • This artist sketch provided by the FBI Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009, shows a likeness of Abu Ibrahim, a Palestinian bomb maker suspected of once targeting commercial airliners and aiding the Iraq insurgency. The U.S. State Department is offering a reward of up to $5 million for Ibrahim whose real name is Husayn Muhammed al-Umari. The approximately 73-year-old Ibrahim was indicted in the 1982 bombing of Pan Am Flight 830 that killed a 16-year-old boy and wounded more than a dozen passengers as the plane headed to Honolulu from Tokyo. (AP Photo/FBI)
    US offers $5M reward for 'Bomb Man' terror suspect AP - Tue Nov 24, 5:45 PM ET

    NEW YORK - The U.S. State Department announced Tuesday that it is now offering a reward of up to $5 million for a Palestinian bomb-maker suspected of once targeting commercial airliners and of aiding the Iraq insurgency.

  • Ill. Democrats: Keeping Obama Senate seat not easy AP - Tue Nov 24, 6:53 PM ET

    CHICAGO - The White House and Illinois Democrats said Tuesday that their bid to hold on to President Barack Obama's old Senate seat won't be easy and their difficulties aren't just because of the scandal that engulfed ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

  • FILE - In this March 1, 2003 file picture, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is seen shortly after his capture during a raid in Pakistan. (AP Photo/File)
    Uncle follows nephew to NYC court for terror trial AP - Tue Nov 24, 3:29 PM ET

    NEW YORK - Khalid Sheik Mohammed has acknowledged doing what his nephew Ramzi Yousef couldn't: toppling the World Trade Center towers.

  • Pa. investor gets 15 years for $35M Ponzi scheme AP - Tue Nov 24, 4:47 PM ET

    PHILADELPHIA - A gym owner-turned-investment fund manager was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison for running a Ponzi scheme that left investors short $35 million once the fraud unraveled.

  • Bill Nash, of Springfield, Mass., speaks with reporters regarding pedophiles in the Catholic diocese, during a news conference outside the Providence Catholic Diocese offices, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009, in Providence, R.I. In the background from left, are Skip Shea, from Uxbridge, Mass., Paul Kellen, from Medford, Mass., and Ken Scott, from Beacon Hill, Mass. Clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters say Bishop Thomas Tobin isn't doing enough to protect children even as he's taken on Rep. Patrick Kennedy for the Democratic lawmaker's stance on abortion rights. (AP Photo/Stew Milne)
    Clergy abuse victims criticize Rhode Island bishop AP - Tue Nov 24, 6:17 PM ET

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters said Tuesday that Rhode Island's Roman Catholic bishop is not doing enough to protect children from pedophile priests even as he's taken on Democratic Rep. Patrick Kennedy for his stance on abortion rights.

  • Howard Stewart, 50, of New Haven, Conn., is arraigned in Superior Court in New Haven, Conn., Monday, Nov. 16, 2009. Stewart was arraigned on assault and arson charges in connection with a fire at his home Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009 where his wife, Christina Lee, sustained serious burns. Stewart's bond was set at $2 million. Stewart's Public Defender, Renee Cimino is at right. (AP Photo/Tom MacMillan, Pool)
    Conn. man pleads not guilty to burning girlfriend AP - Tue Nov 24, 3:34 PM ET

    NEW HAVEN, Conn. - A Connecticut man has pleaded not guilty to charges he set his girlfriend on fire and tried to set her 12-year-old daughter ablaze.

  • School bus collision injures 17 kids AP - Tue Nov 24, 5:29 PM ET

    LEBANON, Ohio - Two school buses have collided at a red light, sending 17 children to several Ohio hospitals.

Crimes and Trials News

  • Kentucky State Police Capt. Lisa Rudzinski, left, and Mike Wilder, Executive Director of the Kentucky State Medical Examiners office, right, answer questions during a news conference, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009, at the Kentucky State Police Central Forensic Laboratory in Frankfort, Ky. The Kentucky census worker found naked, bound with duct tape and hanging from a tree with 'fed' scrawled on his chest killed himself but staged his death to make it look like a homicide, authorities said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Brian Bohannon)
    Police: Ky. census worker staged death as homicide AP - 1 hour, 13 minutes ago

    FRANKFORT, Ky. - On the surface it all seemed like a gruesome hate crime in a rural part of Kentucky with a history of disdain for the government: a census worker found bound with duct tape and hanging from a tree, the word "fed" scrawled across his chest.

  • 'Junior' Gotti NYC jury signals deadlock — again AP - Tue Nov 24, 6:45 PM ET

    NEW YORK - A jury considering racketeering and murder charges against John "Junior" Gotti told a judge Tuesday it was deadlocked for a second time before resuming work and indicating it was looking to deliberate into next week.

  • Jury adjourns till Monday in Ponzi fraud case Reuters - Tue Nov 24, 6:43 PM ET

    ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Reuters) - Accused Ponzi schemer Tom Petters will wait at least six more days to learn his fate after a federal jury adjourned deliberations without reaching a verdict over whether he orchestrated a $3.65 billion fraud.