JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree on Tuesday became the first black candidate in modern times to win major-party nod for Mississippi governor in a state that hasn't had a black statewide official since Reconstruction.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Soon after the lunch plates stopped rattling and books stopped thumping to the floor, shaken easterners could hear another sound from Tuesday's magnitude-5.8 quake: snickering emanating from the opposite side of the continent.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- A handwritten letter from author Kathryn Stockett has become the focal point of a lawsuit over her bestselling novel "The Help," which has been made into a box office hit.

DENVER (AP) -- The strongest earthquake to strike Colorado in more than 40 years shook awake hundreds of people, toppled groceries off shelves and caused minor damage to homes in the southern part of the state and in northern New Mexico. No injuries were reported as aftershocks continued Tuesday.

LaDuke warned us a year ago that Oil would be drowning our forests. She means the Canadian Alberta tar sands project, the single largest industrial project in the world: a massive deposit of tar-like bitumen in northern Alberta. TransCanada Corp plans a 1,600-mile pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, and say "not to worry. If there's ever a leak, the flow of oil will be quickly shut off."

WASHINGTON (AP) -- News flash: Congressional Republicans want to raise your taxes.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Casey Anthony has returned to Florida. Speaking Sunday on Fox News' "Geraldo at Large," Anthony's attorney, Jose Baez, said she's in Florida and will report to a probation office if an appeal fails.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Visitors got their first up-close look Monday at the memorial to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., including a towering granite sculpture inspired by the civil rights leader's "I Have a Dream" speech.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Liberals argue that he caved on the debt ceiling. Unions are upset over his handling of unemployment and labor issues. Hispanics brought the immigration debate directly to his campaign doorstep.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is the focus of a federal probe over allegations that deputies discriminated against subsidized housing residents in two high desert cities, officials said.