WASHINGTON (AP) - Military officials say the weather may have been a factor in the crash of a U.S. Army helicopter. It happened during a nighttime mission in southwestern Afghanistan. It's believed as many as four soldiers may have been aboard and that it's not expected that anyone survived.

     WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House is standing by the director of the Secret Service and urging patience. Eleven agency personnel have been implicated in a prostitution scandal in Colombia, where they were part of an advance security team. Three have been forced out. A key lawmaker who oversees the Secret Service is predicting there will be more firings.

     WASHINGTON (AP) - The Secret Service says its probe into comments made by rocker Ted Nugent about President Barack Obama is over. Last weekend during a National Rifle Association meeting in St. Louis, Nugent rallied support for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. He said of the Obama administration: "We need to ride into that battlefield and chop their heads off in November." He also said he would be "dead or in jail by this time next year" if Obama is re-elected.

     NEW YORK (AP) - A team of police officers and FBI agents are digging up a basement in Manhattan as part of a decades-old investigation into the disappearance of a 6-year-old boy. The missing child is Etan Patz (AY'-tahn PAYTS), who vanished in 1979 during a short walk to his school bus stop. The building being searched is about a block from where the family lived.

     MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A spokeswoman says Congresswoman Michele Bachmann wasn't referring to race when she used the term "tar baby" to attack President Barack Obama's energy policy. In the Uncle Remus story, "tar baby" describes a tar lump dressed as a person to catch Brer Rabbit. But "tar baby" also has been considered a derogatory term for black people.

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) - The neighborhood watch volunteer charged with killing Trayvon Martin is asking a Florida judge to let him out of jail while he awaits trial. An attorney for George Zimmerman is asking the Seminole County judge to let Zimmerman post bail at a hearing today. He is charged with second-degree murder.

     FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) - A woman who deputies say fell from a sixth-floor balcony at the Best Western Hotel in North Fort Myers has been taken to the hospital. The Lee County Sheriff's Office says the woman fell about 8 o'clock last night. The hotel balconies have waist-high railings.

     CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) - Authorities say someone was shot when a fight broke out as a Clearwater nightclub was closing. The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office was investigating early today at the 24 Gentleman's Club.

     FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - The popular block scheduling system is being eliminated in Broward County. The Broward Schools superintendent announced yesterday that switching to a seven-period schedule will allow the district to relieve overcrowding in classrooms and hire more teachers.