WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Justice Department says the number of violent crimes fell by 12 percent last year, several times larger than the average annual decrease from 2001 through 2009.

A bid to secure a posthumous presidential pardon for Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jamaica's first national hero, has been rejected out of hand by the Barack Obama White House in Washington.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration was worried about the financial health of a troubled solar energy company - and the political fallout it could bring - even as officials publicly declared the company in good shape, newly released emails show.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A brilliant light seen darting across the Southwest night sky was most likely a piece of asteroid that entered Earth's atmosphere, a NASA scientist said Thursday.

LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) -- The people of Wyoming were still coming to grips with the unthinkable events of Sept. 11, 2001, when another tragedy hit and rattled the state to the core.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Nadine Mass' godfather died just steps from the exit of the World Trade Center. The Port Authority police officer and his captain had been trying to carry a woman in a wheelchair to safety.

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- As the sun rises on tilled soil on the outskirts of Fresno, Calif., Mori Vance bends to pick black eyed peas, then disappears among towering okra bushes. Vance, who is African-American, is harvesting her first crop with several other novice black farmers, all hoping to make it their life's work.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former U.S. Rep. Barbara Jordan of Texas now has her own postage stamp. It's the 34th in the post office's Black Heritage series.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- The first African-American woman to lead an Ivy League university is stepping down.

The federal Food and Drug Administration and a leading doctor are disputing suggestions by television show host Dr. Mehmet Oz that trace amounts of arsenic in many apple juice products pose a health concern.