SEATTLE (AP) -- Standing up before dozens of Suquamish Tribal members at a general council meeting in March, Heather Purser told them she was a lesbian, and asked her people to recognize same-sex marriages at the tribe's Washington state reservation.

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) will honor John H. Johnson, founder of preeminent media company Johnson Publishing Co. which publishes EBONY and JET magazines, by featuring the distinguished business leader on a 2012 Forever Stamp as part of its Black Heritage stamp series. Johnson was also owner of Fashion Fair Cosmetics, a global prestige cosmetics brand for women of color. He died in 2005.

JACKSON, Mich. (AP) -- Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick walked out of prison early Tuesday offering big smiles and a bear hug for a relative there to greet him. He's free on parole but facing a federal corruption trial that could send him back behind bars.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The total number of votes on the historic debt-limit bill was 430. One vote was more memorable than any of the others.

A Black Georgia mother is breathing a sigh of relief after hearing the news that she will not face any jail time for the death of her 4-year-old son.   Raquel Nelson, of Marietta, Ga., was previously facing three years in prison after a drunk driver killed her son in a hit-and-run while she was jaywalking in 2010.

NEW YORK (AP) -- A first-person essay written by Rosa Parks presents a detailed and harrowing account of a young black housekeeper who is nearly raped by a white neighbor.

President Barack Obama and top congressional leaders have reached an agreement on a plan, called the "Budget Control Act of 2011," to pair an increase in the nation's $14.3 trillion borrowing limit with spending cuts and to create a special committee to recommend bigger savings for a vote later this year.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Thirty-six years after Richard Nixon testified to a grand jury about the Watergate break-in that drove him from office, a federal judge on Friday ordered the secret transcript made public.

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- Johnson & Johnson said Thursday that it's reducing the maximum daily dose of its Extra Strength Tylenol pain reliever to lower risk of accidental overdose from acetaminophen, its active ingredient and the top cause of liver failure.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- If the government can't pay all its bills come Wednesday, odds are it will pay bondholders. Social Security and Medicare recipients will be high on the must-pay list, too. Likely losers: federal workers in jobs deemed non-essential, private contractors and state and local governments.