U.S. National News

NEW YORK - A contractor was charged with manslaughter Monday for allegedly using worn, fraying safety straps that broke apart and caused a crane to crash down on a Manhattan neighborhood, killing seven people in one of the city's worst construction accidents in decades.

MADISON, Ga. - A 13-hour hostage standoff at a Georgia motel ended peacefully Monday when a former South Carolina police officer and a teenage girl surrendered, freeing his estranged wife and infant son.

ALBANY, N.Y. - Caroline Kennedy's missteps and halting speech patterns have been replayed endlessly since she announced her bid to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton in the U.S. Senate.

RICHLAND, N.Y. - A fast-moving house fire killed eight people, including four young brothers, despite the homeowner's frantic attempts to save them, authorities and a witness said.

DECATUR, Ala. - Authorities searched Monday for the head of a northern Alabama city's organized crime unit, who was last seen working late Friday and then vanished, leaving signs of a struggle in his office.

SAN FRANCISCO - The state's high court ruled Monday that three Southern California parishes that left the U.S. Episcopal Church over its ordination of gay ministers cannot retain ownership of their church buildings and property.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Former eBay Inc. chief executive Meg Whitman plans to run for governor of California, a person with knowledge of her political aspirations said Monday.

WASHINGTON - Welcome to Washington, Mr. President-elect.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A drug investigator says authorities delayed the arrest of a woman tied to Gov. Sarah Palin's family until after the November election, in which Palin was the Republican vice presidential candidate, a newspaper reported.

PORT ANGELES, Wash. - Authorities combing through 60 tons of trash, searching for the body of a baby allegedly dumped by his 16-year-old mother, found a dead infant in the garbage Monday.

COLUMBIA, S.C. - A former South Carolina trooper caught on video kicking a suspect in the head after a highway chase pleaded guilty Monday to violating the man's civil rights, according to federal court documents.

WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama's decision to fill the nation's top intelligence jobs with two men short on direct experience in intelligence gathering surprised the spy community and signaled the Democrat's intention for a clean break from Bush administration policies.

PARIS, Texas - A fire fueled by donated clothes ripped through a homeless shelter in northeastern Texas early Monday, killing five residents as some tried dousing the blaze with pans of water.

CHICAGO - Gov. Rod Blagojevich's attorney says he'll ask a federal judge to give an impeachment committee all FBI tapes of the governor's conversations, not just the four prosecutors are offering.

PHILADELPHIA - A former Boeing employee who vandalized a $24 million military helicopter was sentenced Monday to five months in prison and five months on home confinement after telling the judge the tension and tedium of his assembly-line job had gotten to him.