Redstate

On a steamy Fourth of July evening a century ago, a wood-and-fabric biplane lifted off from Stony Brook Farm and stayed airborne for almost a mile in a stupendous triumph over gravity witnessed by more than 2,000 people.

The National Park Service is considering reopening Lady Liberty's crown for the first time since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to documents a congressman released on July Fourth.

A pair of out-of-control wildfires roared along California's central coast Friday, chewing through opposite ends of a parched forest and threatening a total of more than 4,500 homes.

It was a family Fourth of July for Democrat Barack Obama as his wife, daughters, sister and other relatives helped him make an Independence Day play for this reliably conservative state.

From combined dispatches

Former Sen. Jesse Helms, the polarizing North Carolina Republican who was an icon to conservatives and a demon to liberals, died early Friday in Raleigh, N.C. He was 86.

President Bush will arrive in Japan on Sunday on a mission to hold leading nations at the Group of Eight summit to their past commitments to give aid to sub-Saharan Africa, but will be confronted, at the same time, by his own government's failure to abide by a commitment to the Japanese.

A 52-year-old Milwaukee-area man has been accused of faking heart attacks to avoid paying restaurant bills and cab fares.

The National Park Service is considering reopening Lady Liberty's crown for the first time since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to documents a congressman released on July Fourth.

When Kevin Grosenheider received a call early Monday from his friend, Raymond Gagnon, asking him to dispose of a safe, he decided to help him out.

TEXAS

Three U.S. hostages rescued from Colombian rebels after more than five years in captivity are in good condition and undergoing the transition back to normal life, military officials said Thursday.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says "mental distress" should not qualify as a legal reason to get a late-term abortion, a restriction not embraced by many pro-choice supporters.

Like many Americans, Kent Couch plans to settle into a lawn chair during the Fourth of July weekend. Unlike everyone else, his feet will dangle high above the lawn.

Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of a 19th-century Belgian priest who ministered to leprosy patients in Hawaii - opening the way for him to be declared a saint.

A Coast Guard cutter collided with a Block Island Ferry carrying more than 250 passengers in dense fog Wednesday, but no serious injuries were reported, authorities said.

Trapping them in giant cages. Using enormous nets to herd them out to sea. Playing recordings of killer whales.

An explosive wildfire ravaged the hillsides above this scenic coastal community Thursday, leaving the popular tourist region mostly deserted ahead of the holiday weekend.

Few of the 3,000 historic postcards in Jack Hiddlestone's collection are as veiled in mystery as the one with Abraham Lincoln on the front.

Conservative black pastors nationwide are caught between irreconcilable opposites - congregations that favor Sen. Barack Obama versus their personal doubts about his politics.