Jenny, a Western lowland gorilla seen here eating "cake" made of frozen fruit at the Dallas Zoo on her 55th birthday last May 8, died Thursday. Zoo officials said they decided to euthanize her because of an inoperable tumor. "We had a tough time saying goodbye," said Todd Bowsher, a curator for the Wilds of Africa exhibit.

More Photos (1):

Related articles:

Around the nation Around the nation Around the nation Around the nation Around the nation Around the nation Around the nation Around the nation Around the nation Around the nation

Administrative & Professional
Jorgensen Brooks Group
Counselor Trades/Construction
RANCHO RESORT
MAINTANANCE POSITION Mechanical
Komatsu Equipment Co
Resident Field Mechanic Sales and Marketing
Everready Glass
Sales Reps Administrative & Professional
Tucson Urban League
CEO/President Finance and Accounting
Charles E. Gillman Company
Accounting Specialist

VALLEJO — A federal judge ruled Friday that the city of Vallejo could push forward with its bankruptcy case, rejecting a legal challenge by police and firefighters unions.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael McManus in Sacramento said Vallejo met the legal requirements of Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection. He rejected the unions' arguments that the city's finances weren't as bad as officials claimed.

The San Francisco Bay Area city of 120,000 became the largest California city to file for bankruptcy in May, citing shrinking revenue and escalating labor costs for police and firefighters.

The judge will next decide whether the city can renegotiate labor contracts with the public safety unions.

BERKELEY — The University of California has begun cutting down trees at the center of a dispute over its plans to clear the area to make way for a new sports center.

Protesters sitting in a nearby oak on Friday refused to move.

Campus officials are calling on the protesters to come down peacefully.

The California Court of Appeal on Thursday denied a request from two citizens groups for an injunction barring construction of the athletic training facility. The groups say they plan to take the case to the state Supreme Court.

GETTYSBURG — President Bush brushed up on his Civil War history Friday, touring the battleground of Gettysburg, the site of one of the deadliest battles of the Civil War.

Normally for a $55 fee, visitors to the Gettysburg National Military Park can tour the area along with a licensed guide. But Friday, Bush had with him Gabor Boritt, an Abraham Lincoln scholar and director of the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College.

The president began his mid-afternoon tour at the Virginia Memorial, one of 1,300 monuments on the park's grounds.

He also was treated to a sneak peek of the park's Museum and Visitor Center, which has its grand opening Sept. 26.

DALLAS — A robber who rolled into a convenience store came armed with a bat and a knife. He left with a lot of condoms and an energy drink.

Police Cpl. Kevin Janse said Friday that a man in a wheelchair entered a Dallas 7-Eleven Wednesday afternoon, rolled straight toward the cash register and beat it with a baseball bat until it opened.

But he didn't grab any cash. Instead, police say he stole 10 boxes of condoms and an energy drink before departing.

Janse said the suspect may have been homeless and was likely intoxicated at the time of the robbery.

NEW YORK CITY — Robert Giroux, a distinguished giant of 20th-century publishing who guided and supported dozens of famed writers from T.S. Eliot and Jack Kerouac to Bernard Malamud and Susan Sontag, died in his sleep early Friday morning. He was 94.

Giroux, who helped create one of the most notable publishing houses — Farrar, Straus & Giroux — had been in failing health for a couple of months and died at an assisted living facility in Tinton Falls, N.J., said Jeff Seroy, a Farrar, Straus spokesman in New York City.

Known throughout the industry for his taste and discretion, he began in 1940 as an editor at Harcourt, Brace & Company and had so great a reputation that when he left in 1955 to join what was then Farrar, Straus, more than a dozen writers joined him.

NEW YORK CITY — A judge dismissed charges Friday against the bicyclist who was body-checked and knocked to the pavement by a police officer in a widely viewed YouTube video.

At the prosecution's request, Criminal Court Judge James Burke dropped a charge of resisting arrest against Christopher Long, 29, of Hoboken, N.J.

Long was arrested July 25 during a Critical Mass bicycle ride through Times Square. The monthly bike rides are held around the world to draw attention to alternatives to motor vehicles.

Police said Long was arrested because he was obstructing traffic and deliberately steered his bicycle into an officer.

After the video emerged showing the policeman knocking Long to the ground, the officer, Patrick Pogan, was stripped of his badge and gun and assigned to desk duty. Police said Friday they were still investigating.

The video shows Pogan shoving Long off his bike near Times Square as Long tried to steer out of the way.

As he left court, Long said he was happy not to be prosecuted and to have the case behind him. As for Pogan's account of events in the criminal complaint, he said, "The video speaks for itself."

UTICA — An upstate New York mom has pleaded guilty to packing more than diapers on her baby's stroller.

Stephanie Wilson of Utica cut a deal with prosecutors Thursday over the unloaded sawed-off shotgun stashed on the ride July 1. That's when she was arrested after a street confrontation with another woman over money.

Wilson pleaded guilty to attempted third-degree criminal possession of a weapon. She's expected to be sentenced Oct. 16.

Police also found several knives and a box cutter in the stroller.

Wilson told a judge her aunt had taken the baby out of the stroller and was holding her in her arms at the time of the confrontation.

MOUNT VERNON — "I kill for God. I listen to God," a man accused of a northwest Washington shooting rampage said Friday at a hearing where six charges of first-degree murder and four of first-degree assault were filed against him.

Isaac Zamora made the chilling comment twice at the brief hearing in Skagit County District Court while investigators wrapped up their work at eight crime scenes. The 28-year-old is being held on $5 million bail in the wake of Tuesday's rampage, which left six people dead and four injured.

District Court Judge Warren Gilbert read each charge and the penalties, which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. That doesn't mean the death penalty is off the table, according to the Skagit County prosecutor.

"Do you talk about it? Sure you talk about it," Prosecutor Rich Weyrich told the Skagit Valley Herald. "Where it goes, it's way too early to decide that."

Zamora was not required to enter a plea Friday. The charges filed in District Court allow him to be held in custody for 30 days. He will later be formally charged in county Superior Court.

LAS VEGAS — An ex-convict has been arrested on suspicion of trying to kill his wife, a suspended Nevada state judge facing misconduct charges for, among other things, allegedly having her husband sworn in to ask if he'd completed his chores at home.

Elizabeth Halverson, 50, was found in a bedroom of her southeast Las Vegas home late Thursday with severe face, chest and upper arm injuries. She told officers that her husband, Edward, had beaten her and had tried to kill her, according to a police statement.

"He hit her with a frying pan," said Officer Jose Montoya, a Las Vegas police spokesman.

Edward Halverson, 49, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, battery with a deadly weapon and battery domestic violence, and was being held pending an initial appearance in Las Vegas Justice Court. His wife was in intensive care after surgery at a Las Vegas hospital, Montoya said Friday.

Records show Halverson was convicted in 1988 in Dallas County, Texas, of cocaine possession and sentenced to four years in jail.

Elizabeth Halverson was suspended from the bench in July 2007, six months after being sworn in. The Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline filed 14 charges, including creating a hostile work environment, hiring a technician to try to hack into the courthouse computer system, causing mistrials in two sexual assault cases by improperly meeting with jurors, hiring her own security guards, and falling asleep on the bench.

ANCHORAGE — It's the season for Alaskans to be rewarded just for living in Alaska, and this year's take is extra sweet: $3,269, a record share of the state's oil wealth combined with a special cash payout to help with soaring energy prices.

Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell announced Friday that every eligible man, woman and child will receive $2,069, thanks to this year's annual payment from the state's oil royalty program. On top of that, the checks will include an additional $1,200 from the state treasury to help offset the high fuel prices.

The one-time energy boost was proposed by Gov. Sarah Palin in May and approved by state lawmakers last month. It fell to Parnell to make Friday's announcement on the dividend because Palin is out of state, campaigning as the Republican vice presidential nominee.

In addition to the $1,200 payments, the Legislature also approved Palin's proposal to suspend the state's 8-cents-a-gallon gasoline tax for a year.

CHICAGO — The Rev. Jesse Jackson has been released from a Chicago hospital, two days after he was admitted for severe stomach pains.

A spokeswoman for Jackson's civil rights organization, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, says Jackson was released from Northwestern Memorial Hospital shortly before noon Friday.

Jackson underwent a series of tests that determined he was suffering from viral gastroenteritis — an infection caused by a number of viruses. His office later said he had been stricken by food poisoning.