WASHINGTON (AP) -- The federal government has doled out more than $600 million in benefit payments to dead people over the past five years, a watchdog report says.

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. (AP) -- Nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis quit the race for New Jersey state Senate on Friday, a day after a federal appeals panel removed him from the ballot because he didn't meet a four-year residency requirement.

JACKSON, Ga. (AP) -- It didn't take long to notice Troy Davis' execution was different from the others I've covered. As I drove up to the prison, I could see the crowds of protesters and a group of at least 50 reporters.

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) -- Two police officers were charged Wednesday in the death of a mentally ill homeless man in Southern California who was beaten and repeatedly shocked with a stun gun during his arrest, authorities said.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- A federal magistrate has ruled that a white man is mentally unfit to stand trial on charges he fired a shotgun at three black men who were trying to leave New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Troy Davis is awaiting execution on Death Row in Georgia. The Skanner News is posting links and updates about the case here.

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) -- An elite Army Ranger, Mark MacPhail left the service and became a police officer to spare his wife and young children from the base-hopping life of a military career. Troy Davis dropped out of high school in his senior year to help care for his younger siblings, including a sister stricken with multiple sclerosis.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a challenge to election monitoring required under the Voting Rights Act to ensure mostly southern states are no longer disenfranchising black voters and found that discrimination continues in modern-day polling.

MONROE, Mich. (AP) -- Investigators on Wednesday were poring over the blackened remains of a vehicle that exploded on a Michigan street, trying to determine if the blast, which seriously injured the man and two children inside, was caused by a bomb or some sort of mechanical failure.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of young adults without health insurance has dropped significantly, a new survey finds, thanks to a provision of President Barack Obama's health care law allowing them to stay on their parents' plans.