Investigators say a 61-year-old woman has been charged with murder after strangling her elderly husband at their home in North Carolina.

Police said they were called to the home in Cary around 11 p.m. Wednesday by someone who said 77-year-old Sharad Amtey was unconscious. He died a short time later at the hospital.

Authorities weren't releasing any other details about the case.

Dottie Amtey was arrested after officers arrived at her home. She is being held in the Wake County jail, and it wasn't known if she had an attorney.

Officials in Cary say it is the first homicide in the town southwest of Raleigh in nearly two years.

A spate of high-profile shootings has left Americans with the perception that gun crimes are on the rise, but a new study shows the opposite appears to be true, according to a study.

A Pew Research poll released this week found that 56 percent of adults believe that gun crime is more common now than 20 years ago. But a report by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics seems to show that crime involving firearms has fallen dramatically over the last 20 years, with the rate of homicides committed with guns cut in half since 1993. The rate of the violent crimes fell even more, and is now just a quarter of what it was.

In the Pew poll of 924 adults, just 12 percent correctly answered that gun crime fell over the last 20 years. Gun rights advocates say media coverage of gun violence has distorted the public perception.

"This doesn't surprise me in the least," Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation told FoxNews.com. "When people respond in opinion polls, it's shaped from what they're getting through the network news, The New York Times, The Washington Post. And for them, 'if it bleeds it leads' – if there's a tragedy, that becomes the lead story."

But supporters of tighter gun control laws say it is modern medicine, not a more peaceable public, that is behind the numbers.

"More people are being shot in America, but fewer people are dying," Erika Soto Lamb, the communications director for Mayors Against Illegal Guns, told FoxNews.com. She cited CDC data which show that, since data has been kept in 2001, the rate of people being assaulted and shot during the assault has risen 25 percent.

In other words, the data since 2001 tell a slightly more complex story: Fewer people are being attacked with guns, but slightly more people are being shot with guns – yet at the same time, fewer people are being killed with guns.

"A number of factors are believed to have contributed to this, but mostly, improved medical care is helping to save more lives," Soto Lamb said. "The latest studies should not be taken as proof that this country does not have a gun violence epidemic. We do."

Still, the biggest trend over the last 20 years is the reduction in gun-related attacks and killings, and Gottlieb blames the media for ignoring that story.

"The Second Amendment Foundation has been tracking the data year-in and year-out, and each year, we put out a news release about how gun crime is down. But the media just doesn't want to hear it if it doesn't further their anti-gun agenda," Gottlieb said.

The idea that public perceptions don't match up with the numbers is hardly surprising, said Bryan Caplan, an economist at George Mason University who researches public opinion.

"The public perceives rising crime in general… [so] I don't think anti-gun bias is a good explanation," Caplan told FoxNews.com.

Gallup polls show that Americans overestimate crime in general. In 15 out of 16 Gallup polls conducted in the past 20 years, Americans incorrectly said that crime had risen compared to the previous year.

While gun crime fell dramatically over the last 20 years, crimes committed without guns fell just as fast.

Gottlieb had an explanation for that.

"All crime has basically been going down. And that's because more people have firearms to protect themselves," he said.

While firearm ownership rates have been relatively flat according to survey data, many more people now have licenses to carry guns on their person. The number of states with laws that give people a right to carry handguns outside of the home – known as "shall-issue concealed-carry laws" -- has increased dramatically over the last 20 years, going from 16 states in 1993 to 43 now.

Estimates show that guns are used in self-defense between 100,000 and 2 million times each year. Overlooking that, Gottlieb said, is the media's biggest error.

"You never hear about defensive gun uses. Every time there's a tragedy, there's a call for gun control. But every time a gun is used in self defense – usually it doesn't make the news, and you never hear a call for relaxing the gun laws so more people can defend themselves."

Contact the author at maxim.lott@foxnews.com or on twitter at @maximlott

Las Vegas prosecutors will seek the death penalty for a self-described pimp charged in a shooting and fiery crash that killed three people on the Strip.

Ammar Asim Faruq Harris was arrested Feb. 28 in Los Angeles and is jailed in Las Vegas.

The Las Vegas Sun reports (http://bit.ly/12hcumo ) the district attorney filed the notice of intent to seek the death penalty Wednesday after a special panel reviewed the case and recommended that action.

Harris was arrested a week after the pre-dawn crash in which he's accused of shooting out of a black Range Rover into a Maserati sports car, mortally wounding driver Kenneth Wayne Cherry Jr.

The Maserati crashed into a taxi that exploded into flames, killing cab driver Michael Boldon and passenger Sandra Sutton-Wasmund, of Maple Valley, Wash.

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Information from: Las Vegas Sun, http://www.lasvegassun.com

FBI agents did not tell Boston police they had receiving warnings from Russia's government in 2011 about suspected bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev and had performed a cursory investigation, Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis told Congress Thursday, in the first congressional hearing into last month's terror attack on the Boston Marathon.

Davis said that none of four people he had assigned to the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force was aware that the FBI investigated the vague warning, found nothing and had closed the file. One of his detectives was in the dark despite being assigned to the unit that investigated Tsarnaev, Davis said.

"They tell me they received no word about that individual prior to the bombing," Davis said.

Davis said he would have liked to have known but conceded that it might not have prevented the attack. The commissioner said his detectives would have wanted to interview Tsarnaev.

"The FBI did that and they closed the case out," he said. "I can't say I would've come to a different conclusion based on the information at the time."

The House Homeland Security Committee hearing came less than three weeks after Tsarnaev died in a police shootout. His brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was arrested and faces federal terrorism charges.

The committee chairman, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said the hearing will be the first in a series to review the government's initial response, ask what information authorities received about the brothers before the bombings and whether they handled it correctly.

Thursday's hearing was unlikely to shed much light on those questions. Nobody from the federal government testified.

But in a time of widespread budget cuts, the hearing began laying the groundwork for an expected push for more counterterrorism money. Both Davis and Kurt Schwartz, the Massachusetts homeland security chief, praised federal grants that for years have kept cities flush with money for equipment and manpower.

"People are alive today" because of money for training and equipment, Schwartz said.

McCaul and Rep. Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the committee, also spoke of the importance of federal money, as did former Sen. Joe Lieberman, one of the founders of the Department of Homeland Security, who took a new seat as a congressional witness.

"You can't fight this war without resources," Lieberman said.

Lieberman said it would have been possible, albeit difficult, to have prevented the bombing. He said the U.S. should have shared threat information with state and local law enforcement.

"When you're dealing with homegrown radicals, the community around them is going to be your first line of defense," Lieberman said. "State and local law enforcement will always have a better knowledge of the neighborhood, the institutions the people are going to be involved with."

In written testimony, Davis told lawmakers that cities should look at deploying more undercover officers and special police units and installing more surveillance cameras — but not at the expense of civil liberties.

"I do not endorse actions that move Boston and our nation into a police state mentality, with surveillance cameras attached to every light pole in the city," Davis said. "We do not and cannot live in a protective enclosure because of the actions of extremists who seek to disrupt our way of life."

Investigators used surveillance video from a restaurant near one of the explosions to help identify the Tsarnaev brothers.

"Images from cameras do not lie. They do not forget," Davis said. "They can be viewed by a jury as evidence of what occurred. These efforts are not intended to chill or stifle free speech, but rather to protect the integrity and freedom of that speech and to protect the rights of victims and suspects alike."

A New Jersey Army major and his wife have pleaded not guilty to abusing their foster children.

John and Carolyn Jackson of Mount Holly appeared in federal court in Newark on Thursday. Each remains free on $250,000 bail, charged with endangerment, assault and conspiracy.

The couple are accused of abusing their three foster children with disciplinary measures that included assault, withholding food and water, and forcing the children to eat hot sauce. Bones were also broken.

Prosecutors say the couple told their three biological children they were "training" the foster children to behave and instructed the biological children not to tell anyone.

Prosecutors say the alleged crimes took place in 2010 while the family was living at the Picatinny Arsenal in Rockaway Township.

The Statue of Liberty is reopening July 4 after Superstorm Sandy flooded the island where it stands.

The statue has been closed since Sandy struck the region on Oct. 29 and damaged much of Liberty Island's infrastructure. The statue itself is on higher ground and was not damaged.

Ferry tickets to visit the island on July 4 or later may be purchased online or by phone. Tickets to the statue's crown are only available by reservation.

Meanwhile, the Ellis Island Immigration Museum is not expected to re-open to the public this year. The museum sits on Ellis Island, next to the Statue of Liberty in the center of New York Harbor. Sandy bought water levels up to 8 feet to the island, destroying boilers and electrical systems.

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Online: http://www.statuecruises.com

Authorities in rural Northern California on Wednesday were searching for a man suspected of fatally shooting his wife and two young daughters at their home.

Shane Franklin Miller, 45, was on the loose a day after the killings in Shingletown, Shasta County sheriff's officials said.

"There is a manhunt for him right now," Lt. Dave Kent said. "He's a prime suspect. We're not looking for anybody else."

Schools in the rural community of about 2,000 people about 230 miles northeast of San Francisco were under lockdown, The Record Searchlight of Redding reported (http://bit.ly/18WtPDn ).

Kent said deputies received a call from Miller's residence around 7:45 p.m. Tuesday. When they arrived, they found the bodies of Miller's wife, Sandy, 34, and two daughters, Shelby, 8, and Shasta, 4. Shane Miller wasn't there.

Kent said he did not know who placed the call.

Investigators have released a photo of Miller and said he may be driving a gold-colored 2010 Dodge Mega Cab pickup with a camper shell. He's considered armed and extremely dangerous.

Miller may be heading to a cabin in coastal Humboldt County, where authorities have said several weapons may be stored.

Initially, authorities believed the cabin was in Ferndale, about 180 miles west of Shingletown, a drive of nearly four hours over rural highways.

But Kent said Wednesday evening he could not confirm the location, and Ferndale Police Chief Bret Smith said there was a residence in nearby Petrolia, not Ferndale, where Miller has stayed in the past.

Lt. Steve Knight, a Humboldt County sheriff's spokesman, said authorities there were working with Shasta County sheriff's officials, but he declined to provide any details about the search.

The two-story house that authorities were called to is nestled among pine trees with a barn and greenhouse in the back, The Record Searchlight reported. Horses and llamas graze on the property near the Lassen National Forest.

Kent said deputies were called there last month regarding a domestic dispute.

A small helicopter lost power and came crashing down on a busy downtown Honolulu street Wednesday afternoon, but no one was seriously injured, authorities said.

"It's a pretty miraculous situation that no one was badly hurt by this," said Capt. Terry Seelig, a spokesman for the Honolulu Fire Department. "This is a pretty busy area."

The helicopter was on a photography flight when it lost power, forcing a crash landing on Fort Street, which is home to a large apartment complex and Hawaii Pacific University. The area is usually full of university students and downtown office workers, and has a lot of vehicle and pedestrian traffic.

The chopper ended up along a curb, badly damaging a parked car, Seelig said. A fire station is also on that street, so firefighters who heard the crash ran out to help.

The 30-year-old woman who was piloting the helicopter was uninjured, said Honolulu Emergency Services spokeswoman Shayne Enright said. The 71-year-old male passenger was treated at the scene for minor injuries to his head, Enright said.

Seelig said the chopper belongs to Mauna Loa Helicopters. Representatives of the company couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Preliminary information indicates the Robinson R22 Beta had an engine failure, said Allen Kenitzer, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.

The widow of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev has hired a prominent criminal lawyer with experience defending terrorism cases as she continues to face questions from federal authorities.

Katherine Russell added New York lawyer Joshua Dratel to her legal team, her attorney Amato DeLuca said Wednesday. Dratel has represented a number of terrorism suspects in federal courts and military commissions, including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detainee David Hicks, who attended an Al Qaeda-linked training camp in Afghanistan.

"Mr. Dratel's unique, specialized experience will help insure that Katie can assist in the ongoing investigation in the most constructive way possible," DeLuca said in a written statement.

He said Russell, who has not been charged with any crime, will continue to meet with investigators as "part of a series of meetings over many hours where she has answered questions."

Providence-based DeLuca and Miriam Weizenbaum have been representing Russell, who is from Rhode Island. They specialize in civil cases such as personal injury law.

An FBI spokeswoman wouldn't comment when asked Wednesday whether Russell is cooperating.

DeLuca has said Russell had no reason to suspect her husband and his younger brother in the deadly April 15 bombing.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, ethnic Chechens from southern Russia, are accused of planting two shrapnel-packed pressure cooker bombs near the marathon's finish line, killing three people and injuring about 260. Tamerlan was killed in a getaway attempt after a gunbattle with police. Dzhokhar was captured hiding in a tarp-covered boat outside a house in a Boston suburb and was charged with using a weapon of mass destruction to kill. Their mother has said the allegations against them are lies.

Russell, 24, married Tamerlan Tsarnaev in 2010, and they had been living in Cambridge, Mass., with their 2-year-old daughter when the bombing happened. Russell has been staying in her family's home in North Kingstown, just south of Providence, since her husband and brother-in-law were identified as suspects in the case.

Hicks, an Australian, spent more than five years at Guantanamo. He pleaded guilty in March 2007 and served a nine-month sentence in Australia.

The widow of dead Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev has hired a criminal lawyer with experience defending terrorism cases as she continues to face questions from federal authorities.

Attorney Amato DeLuca said Wednesday his client Katherine Russell has added New York lawyer Joshua Dratel to her legal team. He says Russell will continue to meet with investigators and answer questions.

DeLuca and Miriam Weizenbaum have been representing Russell, who lives in Rhode Island with her family. They specialize in civil cases such as personal injury law.

An FBI spokeswoman wouldn't comment when asked whether Russell is cooperating.

DeLuca has said Russell had no reason to suspect her husband and his brother in the deadly April 15 bombing.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, ethnic Chechen brothers from southern Russia, are accused of planting two shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs near the marathon finish line, killing three people and injuring about 260. Tamerlan was killed in a getaway attempt after a gunbattle with police. Dzhokhar, who was captured hiding in a tarp-covered boat outside a house in a Boston suburb, was charged with using a weapon of mass destruction to kill. Their mother has said the charges against them are lies.

An 83-year-old nun and two fellow protesters were convicted Wednesday of interfering with national security when they broke into a nuclear weapons facility in Tennessee and defaced a uranium processing plant.

It took a jury about 2 1/2 hours to find the three protesters guilty of a charge of sabotaging the plant and second charge of damaging federal property in July the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge in July.

Defense attorneys said in closing arguments that federal prosecutors had overreached in the charges because of the embarrassment caused by the break-in.

"The shortcomings in security at one of the most dangerous places on the planet have embarrassed a lot of people," said Francis Lloyd, who represented Sister Megan Rice of Washington, D.C. "You're looking at three scapegoats behind me."

Prosecutor Jeff Theodore was dismissive of claims that the protesters' actions were beneficial to security at the plant that has had a hand in making, maintaining or dismantling parts of every nuclear weapon in the country's arsenal.

"Right after 9/11, did you notice how much better security got at airports and public buildings?" Theodore said. "Does that mean 9/11 was a good thing? Of course not."

Theodore said the protesters' intent was made clear by the fact that they carried the materials with them to deface the building.

He also noted that their fate could have been far worse because they had entered an area where guards were allowed to use deadly force.

"They're lucky -- and thank goodness they're alive -- because they went into the lethal zone," he said.

The defense asked for a mistrial over the Sept. 11 comparison, but the judge denied the motion.

In Washington on Wednesday, Neile Miller, acting administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, told a Senate subcommittee that officials have taken "decisive action" since the July 28 intrusion at the Y-12, including a new management team and a new defense security chief to oversee all of the agency's sites.

"The severity of the failure of leadership at Y-12 has demanded swift, strong and decisive action by the department," she said. "Since the Y-12 incursion, major actions have taken place to improve security immediately, and for the long term."

Earlier Wednesday, Rice, Michael Walli and Greg Boertje-Obed testified on their own behalf, saying they have no remorse for their actions and were pleased to reach one of the most secure parts of the facility.

The defendants spent two hours inside Y-12. They cut through security fences, hung banners, strung crime-scene tape and hammered off a small chunk of the fortress-like Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, or HEUMF, inside the most secure part of complex.

Rice said during cross examination that she wished she hadn't waited so long to stage a protest inside the plant.

"My regret was I waited 70 years," she said. "It is manufacturing that which can only cause death."

Boertje-Obed, a house painter from Duluth, Minn., explained why they sprayed baby bottles full of human blood on the exterior of the facility.

"The reason for the baby bottles was to represent that the blood of children is spilled by these weapons," he said.

All three defendants said they felt guided by divine forces in finding their way through the darkness from the perimeter of the complex to the enriched uranium plant without being detected.

"I believe it was clearly a miracle," Boertje-Obed said. "There is no other way to explain it."

Walli, who most recently lived in Washington, D.C., agreed.

"It was an answer to prayer," he said.

The protesters' attorneys noted that once they refused to plead guilty to trespassing, prosecutors substituted that charge with a sabotage count that carried a maximum prison term of 20 years. The other charge has a maximum sentence of 10 years. The defense argued during the trial that the more serious charge should be dismissed.

Prosecutors argued the act was a serious security breach that continues to disrupt operations at the facility. The intrusion caused the plant to shut down for two weeks as security forces were re-trained and contractors were replaced.

Federal officials have said there was never any danger of the protesters reaching materials that could be detonated on site or used to assemble a dirty bomb, a position stressed by defense attorneys.

The plant first built as part of the Manhattan Project during World War II that provided enriched uranium for the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.  It makes uranium parts for nuclear warheads, dismantles old weapons and is the nation's primary storehouse for bomb-grade uranium. The facility enjoys high levels of support in the region, and Oak Ridge has always taken pride in its role in building the atomic bomb, viewing it as crucial to the end of the war.

For decades, protesters have rallied at the gates of Y-12 around the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima.

An overflow crowd of supporters sang religious songs in the courtroom after the verdict was read.

"Justice was done at Y-12 on July 28," Jack Cohen-Joppa, a supporter of the protesters from Tuscon , Ariz., said outside the courthouse after the verdict. "But we're still waiting for it here."

The Senate rejected an effort Wednesday to expand the use of firearms on some of the nation's most frequently visited federal lands, handing gun control advocates a modest success.

The measure, backed by the National Rifle Association, represented one of two efforts Wednesday by gun rights supporters to take the offensive in Congress. Across the Capitol, a Republican-run House committee voted to make it easier for some veterans with mental difficulties to get firearms.

The rejected Senate proposal would have let people use guns for any legal purpose on lands managed by the Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees nearly 12 million acres that abound in lakes, rivers, campsites and hiking trails. Currently, guns on those properties are limited to activities like target-range shooting and hunting, and weapons must be unloaded while being carried to those activities.

Senators voted 56-43 for the proposal by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., but it fell short of the 60 votes needed for passage.

Eleven Democrats and one Democratic-leaning independent voted for Coburn's plan, underscoring the party's divisions on the gun issue.

Those voting for Coburn's proposal included all four Democrats who opposed the bipartisan bill expanding required federal background checks to more gun buyers that the Senate rejected three weeks ago.

The background check expansion has been the pillar of President Barack Obama's effort to restrict guns following December's elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn. Top Democrats and other supporters hope to win fresh support and stage a new vote on background checks, perhaps next month. Advocates hope that voting for Coburn's proposal might let some senators show voters they support gun rights and give them more leeway to reverse themselves and vote for background checks next time.

Also backing Coburn's proposal were the two chief authors of the defeated background check measure, Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Patrick Toomey, R-Pa.

Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois, a supporter of the Manchin-Toomey plan, was the only Republican to vote against expanding gun use on Corps land.

Coburn said gun rights on Corps land should be the same as in national parks and federal wildlife refuges, where federal law has allowed visitors to carry guns since 2010. He said after the vote that he would keep reintroducing the measure until it passes.

"Fifty-six votes, a majority of the Senate believes we ought to have one sane policy" on gun rights on federal lands, Coburn said.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said allowing more guns onto Corps property would increase danger to the dams, flood control systems and other crucial water projects.

"This critical infrastructure is a target for terrorists," she said. Allowing more guns "sets up a national security threat. It endangers people."

Army Corps lands are used for recreation by 370 million people annually, more than visit the property of any other federal agency. About 80 percent of them are within 50 miles of urban areas, making them accessible destinations.

Also Wednesday, the House Veterans Affairs Committee voted by voice to require a judge or magistrate to declare a veteran is dangerous before the person's name is entered in the background check system's database of people barred from getting firearms.

Currently, the Veterans Affairs Department sends the system the names of veterans it has declared unable to manage their financial affairs — 127,000 names since 1998.

Supporters of the measure said veterans who can't handle their money aren't necessarily dangerous.

"It's arbitrary. It's inconsistent and it's unreasonable," Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the committee, said of the current process.

The Veterans department opposes the measure, saying veterans in the database already have the ability to appeal.

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Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report.

Embarrassed federal authorities went overboard with charges against three protesters who broke into a nuclear weapons plant in Tennessee over the summer, defense attorneys said in closing arguments Wednesday, while prosecutors made 9/11 allusions in arguing the intrusion harmed national security.

Jurors began deliberating in the late afternoon on the fate of the 83-year-old nun and two other protesters who sneaked into a Tennessee nuclear weapons plant last summer. The more serious of the charges they face accuses them of sabotage that harmed national security during the July break-in at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge

Defense attorneys said federal prosecutors had overreached in the charges against the trio because of the embarrassment caused by the break-in.

"The shortcomings in security at one of the most dangerous places on the planet have embarrassed a lot of people," defense lawyer Francis Lloyd said. "You're looking at three scapegoats behind me."

Defense attorney Bill Quigley Quigley urged jurors to "protect all of us from the government gone overboard," he said. "Sometimes they overreach."

Prosecutor Jeff Theodore was dismissive of claims that the protesters' actions were beneficial to security.

"Right after 9/11, did you notice how much better security got at airports and public buildings?" Theodore said. "Does that mean 9/11 was a good thing? Of course not."

The defense asked for a mistrial over the Sept. 11 comparison, but the judge denied the motion.

Earlier Wednesday, Sister Megan Rice, Michael Walli and Greg Boertje-Obed testified on their own behalf, saying they have no remorse for their actions and were pleased to reach one of the most secure parts of the facility.

The defendants spent two hours inside Y-12. They cut through security fences, hung banners, strung crime-scene tape and hammered off a small chunk of the fortress-like Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, or HEUMF, inside the most secure part of complex.

Rice said during cross examination that she wished she hadn't waited so long to stage a protest inside the plant.

"My regret was I waited 70 years," she said. "It is manufacturing that which can only cause death."

Boertje-Obed, a house painter from Duluth, Minn., explained why they sprayed baby bottles full of human blood on the exterior of the facility.

"The reason for the baby bottles was to represent that the blood of children is spilled by these weapons," he said.

All three defendants said they felt guided by divine forces in finding their way through the darkness from the perimeter of the complex to the enriched uranium plant without being detected.

"I believe it was clearly a miracle," Boertje-Obed said. "There is no other way to explain it."

Walli, who said he has been homeless in 10 states and has most recently lived in Washington, D.C., agreed.

"It was an answer to prayer," he said.

The protesters' attorneys noted that once they refused to plead guilty to trespassing, prosecutors substituted that charge with a sabotage count that increased the maximum prison term from one year to 20 years.  The argued during the trial that the more serious charge should be dismissed, but U.S. District Judge Amul R. Thapar said he would rule on that motion after the verdict was returned.

Prosecutors argue the act was a serious security breach that continues to disrupt operations at the facility. The intrusion caused the plant to shut down for two weeks as security forces were re-trained and contractors were replaced.

Federal officials have said there was never any danger of the protesters reaching materials that could be detonated on site or used to assemble a dirty bomb, a position stressed by defense attorneys.

The plant that has had a hand in making, maintaining or dismantling parts of every nuclear weapon in the country's arsenal.

The protesters' attorneys noted that once they refused to plead guilty to trespassing, prosecutors substituted that charge with the sabotage count that increased the maximum prison term from one year to 20 years. The other charge of damaging federal property carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.

The protesters call themselves "Transform Now Plowshares," a reference to the biblical phrase: "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks."

Their actions were lauded by some members of Congress, who said the incursion called attention to flawed security at Y-12, first built as part of the Manhattan Project during World War II that provided enriched uranium for the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.

The plant makes uranium parts for nuclear warheads, dismantles old weapons and is the nation's primary storehouse for bomb-grade uranium. The facility enjoys high levels of support in the region, and Oak Ridge has always taken pride in its role in building the atomic bomb, viewing it as crucial to the end of the war.

A report by the Department of Energy's inspector general said Y-12 security failures included broken detection equipment, poor response from security guards and insufficient federal oversight of private contractors running the complex.

For decades, protesters have rallied at the gates of Y-12 around the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. Some deliberately trespass or block traffic to provoke arrest and call more attention to their cause. Some years, authorities have tried to deprive them of the notoriety by refusing to prosecute. In previous prosecutions, the stiffest sentence ever meted out was less than a year in prison

A jury has begun deliberating the case against five men charged in a Texas federal court with using a race horse breeding operation to launder drug cartel money.

Jurors began deliberating about Wednesday afternoon after prosecutors and defense attorneys gave their closing arguments in Austin.

Investigators say the case centers on Jose Trevino Morales, who's a brother of two reputed Zeta leaders in Mexico.

The defendants are charged with money laundering conspiracy related to operations of a horse ranch near Lexington, Okla. Prosecutors say ranch operators went through $16 million in horse-related expenses in 30 months.

An attorney for Trevino has said prosecutors wrongly targeted his client due to the alleged illegal actions of his brothers — Miguel Angel Trevino Morales and Oscar Omar Trevino Morales.

A Cleveland man has been charged with kidnapping and rape after three women missing about a decade were found in his home.

Ariel Castro, 52, is charged with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape, prosecutor Victor Perez said Wednesday afternoon. Castro's two brothers, Pedro, 54, and Onil, 50, also had been taken into custody, but Perez said they won't be charged because there is no evidence they had any involvement.

The men are in custody and can't be reached for comment. Their brother-in-law has said the family is "totally shocked" after hearing about the women at the home.

The three women disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004 and were found Monday after one of them screamed for help to escape and contacted police.

Police say ropes and chains were among evidence collected inside the house. A city councilman says the women were subjected to prolonged sexual and psychological abuse and suffered miscarriages.

Councilman Brian Cummins said that many details remain unclear, including the number of pregnancies and the conditions under which the miscarriages occurred. He also said the women were kept in the basement for some time without having access to the rest of the house. 

The horrific allegations came out as police built a case against the three brothers.

"We know that the victims have confirmed miscarriages, but with who, how many and what conditions we don't know," Cummins said. He added: "It sounds pretty gruesome."

Two of the young women, meanwhile, were welcomed home by jubilant crowds of loved ones and neighbors with balloons and banners Wednesday. The families of Gina DeJesus and Amanda Berry protectively took them inside, past hundreds of reporters and onlookers. Neither woman spoke, and their families pleaded for patience and time alone.

"Give us time and privacy to heal," said Sandra Ruiz, DeJesus' aunt. Ruiz thanked police for rescuing the women and urged the public not to retaliate against the suspects or their families.

The third captive, Michelle Knight, 32, was reported in good condition at Metro Health Medical Center, which a day earlier had reported that all three victims had been released. There was no immediate explanation from the hospital.

The Associated Press does not usually identify people who may be victims of sexual assault, but the names of the women were widely circulated by their families, friends and law enforcement authorities for years during their disappearance.

In a development that astonished and exhilarated much of Cleveland, the three women were rescued on Monday after Berry, 27, broke through a screen door at the Castro house and told a 911 dispatcher: "Help me. I'm Amanda Berry. I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years and I'm, I'm here, I'm free now."

Law enforcement officials left many questions unanswered, but Deputy Police Chief Ed Tomba said the women could remember being outside only twice during their entire time in captivity. "We were told they left the house and went into the garage in disguise," he said.

And their first opportunity to escape didn't come until Monday, he said. The women were not kept in the same room, but knew they were not alone, he said.

He also said a paternity test on Castro was being done to establish who fathered the now 6-year-old child of captive Amanda Berry.

Neighbors said that Ariel Castro took part in the search for one of the missing women, helped pass out fliers, performed music at a fundraiser for her and attended a candlelight vigil, where her comforted her mother. As recently as 2005, Castro was accused of repeated acts of violence against his children's mother.

On NBC's "Today" show, Police Chief Michael McGrath said he was "absolutely" sure police did everything they could to find the women over the years. He disputed claims by neighbors that officers had been called to the house before for suspicious circumstances.

"We have no record of those calls coming in over the past 10 years," McGrath said. On Tuesday, some neighbors said that they had told police years ago about hearing pounding on the doors of the home and seeing a naked woman crawling in the yard.

DeJesus, who disappeared in 2004 and is in her early 20s, arrived home in the afternoon Wednesday to chants of "Gina! Gina!" Wearing a bright yellow hooded sweatshirt, she was led through the crowd and into the house by a woman who put her arm around the young woman's shoulders and held her tight.

Her father pumped his fist after arriving home with his daughter, and he urged people across the country to watch over the children in their neighborhoods -- including other people's kids.

"Too many kids these days come up missing, and we always ask this question: How come I didn't see what happened to that kid? Why? Because we chose not to," he said

Berry arrived at her sister's home, which was similarly festooned with dozens of colorful balloons and signs, one reading "We Never Lost Hope Mandy." Hundreds cheered wildly but weren't able to get a glimpse of Berry as she went in through the back.

A 2005 domestic-violence filing in Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court accused Ariel Castro of twice breaking the nose of his children's mother, knocking out a tooth, dislocating each shoulder and threatening to kill her and her daughters three or four times in a year.

The filing for a protective order by Grimilda Figueroa also said that Castro frequently abducted her daughters and kept them from her.

In 1993, Castro was arrested on a domestic-violence charge and spent three days in jail before he was released on bail. A grand jury did not return an indictment against him, according to court documents, which don't detail the allegations. It was unclear who brought the charge.

Meanwhile, the aunt of a 14-year-old girl who disappeared in 2007 near the house where the missing women were found said the girl's mother has spoken with the FBI.

"We're hoping for our miracle, too," said Debra Summers, who described her niece, Ashley Summers, as not the type of girl who would leave without coming back.

The FBI did not immediately return a call about the case and whether it was connected to that of the three missing women.

The Castros' brother-in-law Juan Alicea said the arrests of his wife's brothers had left relatives "as blindsided as anyone else" in their community. He said he hadn't been to the home of his brother-in-law Ariel Castro since the early 1990s but had eaten dinner with Castro at a different brother's house shortly before the arrests were made Monday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A jury of eight men and four women have found Jodi Arias' guilty of first degree-murder. Jurors had several options as they considered four months of testimony and evidence in the case: first-degree murder, second-degree murder, manslaughter or acquittal.

For first degree murder, jurors had to believe that Travis Alexander's June 2008 killing at his suburban Phoenix home was a premeditated act. This charge carries a possible death sentence or life in prison.

Prosecutors say Arias began plotting a murder several days in advance and made a road trip to Alexander's house intending to kill him. They say she stole a gun from her grandparents' home, removed her license plate to avoid detection and turned off her cellphone while she was in Arizona so law enforcement couldn't track her. The defense said the killing was self-defense and noted there's no direct proof she ever brought a gun to Alexander's home.

Now that she's been convicted, the trial will continue as the same panel decides whether Arias should get the death penalty.

This "aggravation" phase of the trial will begin at 1 p.m. Thursday. Both sides may call witnesses and show evidence during a mini trial of sorts. If the panel doesn't find the presence of aggravating factors, the judge dismisses them and sentences Arias to either the rest of her life in prison or life in prison with the possibility of release after 25 years. If jurors find there were aggravating factors, the case moves into a penalty phase. The jury decides whether Arias should be executed or get life in prison. Additional witnesses could be called by both sides. If jurors don't reach a unanimous agreement on the death penalty, the judge sentences Arias to either the rest of her life in prison or life in prison with the possibility of release after 25 years.

Jurors also had the option of second-degree murder. If jurors thought Arias didn't premeditate the killing but still intentionally caused the death of Alexander, they could have found her guilty of second-degree murder. The sentencing range for this charge is 10 to 22 years in prison. The 32-year-old Arias already has spent nearly five years in jail.

A conviction on this count would have been a victory for the defense, since it would spare Arias' life and get her out of prison before she's 50 years old in a worst-case scenario. Prosecutors say there's no doubt she committed second-degree murder, but they pushed for first-degree.

If the jury found Arias guilty of either first-degree murder or second-degree murder, but had reasonable doubt as to which one, they could have convicted her of second-degree murder.

If jurors thought Arias didn't plan the killing in advance, but instead believe the attack occurred upon a sudden quarrel or in the heat of passion after "adequate" provocation from Alexander, they could have convicted Arias of manslaughter. A conviction on this charge would have carried a sentence of seven to 21 years in prison.

If the jury believed Arias killed Alexander in self-defense, it could have found her not guilty of all charges.

A House panel has voted to place a five-year moratorium on bonuses to senior executives at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The sponsor of the proposal, Rep. Jeff Miller, Republican chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, says the legislation is in response to media reports about various executives who received performance bonuses despite significant problems that occurred during their watch, such as the increase in the number of disability claims pending longer than 125 days.

The VA had already halted bonuses for those executives overseeing disability claims, but Miller's legislation approved Wednesday extends the ban to other divisions within the government's second-largest department.

The VA did not respond to a request for comment, but has stressed previously that bonuses have been reduced in recent years.

An American Eagle flight from Detroit landed safely in New York Wednesday morning after the plane carrying 20 passengers was struck by lightning as it approached La Guardia.

The captain declared an emergency and safely landed the plane. Crews are inspecting the aircraft.  

Authorities say a 3-year-old Florida boy has died after shooting himself with a gun he found in his uncle's backpack.

The shooting happened Tuesday night in a bedroom Jadarrius Speights shared with his uncle at an apartment complex in Tampa. Authorities say the uncle, 29-year-old Jeffrey D. Walker, has been charged with culpable negligence.

It wasn't immediately clear whether Walker had an attorney. His phone number was not listed and jail records didn't give a lawyer for him.

Police say he has a concealed weapons permit.

Hillsborough County sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter says the uncle was not in the room when the shooting happened, but the child's parents were there. The boy was taken to a hospital where he died.

AOL Inc. said Wednesday that its first-quarter net income jumped 23 percent, helped by an increase in global advertising revenue.

But the profit fell short of Wall Street predictions and AOL shares slumped nearly 10 percent in early trading.

The New York-based internet company earned $25.9 million, or 32 cents per share, for the three months ended March 31, up from $21.1 million, or 22 cents per share, in the same quarter of 2012. Excluding one-time items, the company said it posted an adjusted profit of 41 cents per share.

Revenue rose 2 percent to $583.3 million from $529.4 million.

Analysts, on average, expected earnings of 44 cents per share on $542.6 million in revenue, according to FactSet.

AOL split from Time Warner Inc. in 2009 and has been trying to increase revenue ever since by shedding unprofitable businesses and buying popular sites such as the Huffington Post and the technology blog TechCrunch.

The company said its advertising revenue increased 9 percent to $359.2 million, helped by higher display and search revenue, but that was mostly offset by a 9 percent drop in subscription revenue to $165.8 million.

Shares of AOL, based in New York, fell $4 to $37.42.