WASHINGTON — ViaOprah, Facebook and a bus trip that resembled a campaign swing more than a book tour,Sarah Palin reappeared on the national stage last week, minus her governorship and running-mate status, but with a new role as principled “rogue” to add to her previous credits as plain-spoken patriot and hockey mom.

WASHINGTON — No sooner had Senator Blanche Lincoln promised to deliver one crucial vote in support of a health care overhaul than she threatened to withhold the next one.

Her clear warning that she would oppose the Democratic plan in its current form is certain to keep her squarely at the center of the increasingly contentious health care fight and intensify a campaign in Washington and back home to put her on the spot in advance of a re-election bid next November.

The Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Tex., in a mass shooting this month will not be moved immediately to a military prison for pretrial detention, The Associated Press reported.

The psychiatrist, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, will remain in the intensive care unit at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio because gunshot wounds have left him paralyzed from the waist down, his lawyer said. The police on the Army base shot him four times to end the rampage, which left 12 soldiers and one civilian dead and 43 other people injured.

PERUGIA, Italy - Prosecutors today requested life in prison for an American student and her ex-boyfriend accused in the fatal stabbing of her British roommate during a drug-fueled sex game - charges the U.S. woman dismissed as "pure fantasy."

In their closing arguments, the prosecutors said Amanda Knox and Italian Raffaele Sollecito should be convicted on charges of murder and sexual violence for the 2007 slaying of Meredith Kercher.

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — When tickets to see Sarah Palin in Michigan ran out, people drove to her appearance here, three hours away.

Thousands had lined up overnight, starting nearly 24 hours before she was to begin signing books, camping out in 39-degree weather for a moment with the woman many see as the great conservative hope, a role model, "one of us."

They brought their sleeping bags, their children, homemade chocolate Cheerios bars, and balloons to twist into animal shapes and hats for the crowd. And they brought their anger — about bailouts, jobs and health care.

WASHINGTON, Pa. — When Sarah Palin made her first trip to western Pennsylvania as GOP presidential candidate John McCain's fresh-faced running mate, the Arizona senator warned locals that she "doesn't let anyone tell her to sit down."

Palin returned to Washington, Pa. on her own Saturday as a "Commonsense Conservative," a definition crafted on her own terms and in her own words in her own best-selling memoir, "Going Rogue."

SAN ANTONIO — A military judge has found a former Air Force nurse accused of killing three terminally ill patients not guilty of murder.

Capt. Michael Fontana was accused of administering excessive dosages of painkillers to speed the patients' deaths.

Presiding over the court martial Saturday, Col. William Burd said Fontana was not guilty on all counts.

Speaking after the ruling, Fontana said he never regretted the treatment that he gave and that he hopes he can return to nursing.

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A prosecutor has told a court martial that a former Air Force nurse killed three terminally ill patients with excessive medication because they were not dying quickly enough.

Capt. Michael Fontana could face life in prison if he is convicted of murder.

During closing arguments Saturday at Lackland Air Force Base, Capt. Brett Landry said Fontana encouraged other nurses at Wilford Hall Medical Center to be more "aggressive" when treating patients placed on do-not-resuccitate orders. He accused the nurse of euthanizing one man because "he wasn't dying quickly enough."

Glenn Beck, the popular Fox News host, says he wants to go beyond broadcasting his opinions on television and start rallying his political base — formerly known as his audience — to take action.

To do so, Mr. Beck is styling himself as a political organizer. He says he will promote voter registration drives and sponsor a series of conventions across the country featuring conservative speakers, all leading up to a rally in Washington in August to coincide with the release of his book on conservative proposals for the country.

ATLANTA—When Liz Fitzgerald realized her son and daughter were forced to read books in math class while the other children caught up, she had them moved into gifted classes at their suburban Atlanta elementary school.

Just 100 miles down the road in Taliaferro County, that wouldn't have been an option. All the gifted classes were canceled because of budget cuts.

"If they didn't have it, they would get bored and distracted easily," said Fitzgerald, whose children are 14 and 12. "It just wouldn't be challenging."

Reporting from Los Angeles and Washington - The Senate prepared for a rare Saturday night vote as the second of the trio of centrist Democrats announced today that she will stand with her party on the procedural issue of bringing the Democrat-backed healthcare bill to the floor.

Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana said she would vote for cloture on a motion to proceed -- the mechanism to bring the bill to the floor and open formal debate. But she added that the decision didn't mean that she would necessarily vote for the final product.

As a former U.S. attorney, governor of Illinois and 9/11 commission member, I am keenly aware that the safety and security of our families, our cities, our state and our country is always our first priority. We are a nation at war. Brave men and women from Illinois are defending this country with honor every day in Afghanistan and Iraq. Since Sept. 11, more than 200 Illinois soldiers have made the ultimate sacrifice trying to defeat terrorism and to promote the ideals that make America the greatest country in the world.

WASHINGTON -- The number of Americans traveling away from home for Thanksgiving will be up only slightly this year from 2008, according to a report from the AAA auto club.

The group, which surveyed 1,350 households, said there will be about 33.2 million people traveling by car this year - a 2.1 percent increase from last year.

But there will be a 6.7 percent decrease in the number of air travelers, totaling 2.3 million this year, continuing a decade-long decline of Thanksgiving air travel.

OXFORD, Miss. -- About a dozen hooded Ku Klux Klan members rallied briefly at the University of Mississippi before Saturday's football game with No. 10 LSU.

The members of the Mississippi White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan spent about 10 minutes waving flags, displaying Nazi-style salutes and occasionally gesturing at a group of about 250 hecklers that included young children. They were protesting the school's decision to drop a pep song that included "Dixie."

As US Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan faces his first court hearing in a San Antonio hospital, America is split over a fundamental question: Is Hasan an Islamic terrorist?

Maj. Hasan, who allegedly killed 13 and wounded dozens during a Nov. 5 rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, is charged with 13 counts of murder, which could lead to a death penalty conviction at an Army court martial. Terror charges have not been filed.

PERUGIA, Italy - Prosecutors on Saturday requested life in prison for Amanda Knox and her ex-boyfriend, who are accused in the fatal stabbing of her British roommate during a drug-fueled sex game — charges the U.S. woman dismissed as "pure fantasy."

In their closing arguments, the prosecutors said Amanda Knox and Italian Raffaele Sollecito should be convicted on charges of murder and sexual violence for the 2007 slaying of Meredith Kercher.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An insurance executive accused of secretly making nude videos of ESPN reporter Erin Andrews posted $100,000 bond on Friday - a much larger amount than previously imposed.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn Turchin increased bond for Michael Barrett during a hearing in Los Angeles after Andrews' attorney said the executive posed a threat to the public. Barrett already was free on $4,500 bond.

WASHINGTON-Debate resumed Saturday in the Senate over health-care legislation, as the chamber moved toward an evening vote on whether to bring the bill to the floor.

The vote will be the first test in the full Senate for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who unveiled his bill Wednesday night and needs 60 votes to thwart Republican efforts to stall the legislation.

An influential centrist Senate Democrat said Friday he would vote to move forward, raising expectations that Mr. Reid would prevail.

WASHINGTON, CONN. — Newly arrived in Moscow on his first foreign assignment, Associated Press correspondent George Krimsky sensed he had a sensational Cold War scoop on his hands and he pounced.

The story was the possible defection to the United States of the grandson of Josef Stalin, the notorious Communist dictator and World War II hero of the Soviet Union.

The story's potential was all the more dramatic because the grandson's mother, Stalin's only daughter, had herself defected in 1967 and settled in the U.S., dealing the Kremlin a very public and bitter humiliation.

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats made a forceful case on Saturday for legislation to revamp the nation's health care system, condemning the practices of insurers and decrying the plight of the uninsured in a parade of floor speeches aimed at cementing party unity ahead of a first crucial vote.

Senate Republicans, powerless to stop the bill from even coming to the floor for weeks of debate unless they could break the ranks of the robust Democrat majority, countered with an equally impassioned denunciation of the measure. They derided it as an ill-conceived, budget-busting expansion of government and a threat to the health and economic security of all Americans, especially the elderly.