AP - Independence Day is normally a booming time for tourism here, with visitors settling into cliffside vacation homes or trekking out to campgrounds nestled among the redwoods. But this year, the only out-of-towners in Big Sur are firefighters working around the clock to save the storied community from flames.

AP - Milwaukee police say four people have died in a shooting outside a house party.

AP - Arlan Ettinger will never forget the response he got when he took one of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks' hats to a meeting at the Apollo Theater in New York.

AP - Wish "Yankee Doodle" a happy 250th birthday. Maybe.

AP - Authorities say two men are dead after a helicopter crashed near a Northern California freeway, knocking power lines into traffic lanes and starting a grass fire near the road.

AFP - A US man who was born a woman before undergoing gender realignment surgery has given birth to a baby girl, US media reported.

U.S. News & World Report - Top Democratic strategists, and Obama supporters, warn their own to stay away from McCain's war record

Reuters - A U.S. judge's order to Google Inc to turn over YouTube user data to Viacom Inc sparked an outcry on Thursday from privacy advocates in the midst of a legal showdown over video piracy.

Reuters - The European Central Bank's interest rate rise sends a signal that it is serious about combating inflation, policymakers said as they staged a public relations offensive to justify Thursday's increase.

Reuters - California firefighters made a desperate stand as darkness fell on Thursday to save more than 4,000 homes and other structures from a pair of out-of-control wildfires burning about 170 miles apart along the California coast.

AP - A new study suggests that attitude rather than availability may be the key reason why more Americans don't have high-speed Internet access.

AP - This doesn't sound good: The nonprofit agency in charge of the Internet's addresses recently lost track of its own.

AP - Dismissing privacy concerns, a federal judge overseeing a $1 billion copyright-infringement lawsuit against YouTube has ordered the popular online video-sharing service to disclose who watches which video clips and when.

PC World - Nvidia said it will take a one-time charge to cover costs related to repair of defective GPUs used in notebooks.

Reuters - South Korean flat screen maker LG Display Co (034220.KS) and two smaller Taiwanese rivals are set to post profits for the second quarter that more than trebled thanks to strong demand for TVs and tight supplies of PC panels.

AP - An Illinois woman says her beloved miniature dachshund gnawed off her right big toe while she was asleep. Linda Floyd told the Alton Telegraph for a story Wednesday that her beloved Roscoe was euthanized because of safety concerns.

AP - Benjamin Franklin and Betsy Ross celebrated the eve of the Fourth of July not with fireworks but with wedding vows.

AP - An 1851 artillery gun carried into battle by Arkansas military school students who joined the Confederate Army was unveiled in its home state Thursday after nearly 150 years.

Reuters - Canada's U.S. embassy apologized on Thursday for a party invitation that featured a prominent figure in Canadian history brandishing a large plate of French fries covered in cheese curds and gravy.

AP - A 60-pound tortoise that escaped from a family's garage last month is back home after a 2 1/2-week adventure that took him through three northwestern Indiana towns.

Reuters - American gymnast Morgan Hamm's participation in next month's Beijing Olympics hangs in the balance after he failed a drugs test at a selection event in May, USA gymnastics said on Friday.

AP - A spot in her seventh Wimbledon final already secured, Venus Williams headed back to Centre Court to catch the end of the next match. Scouting? Not really. More like rooting — for her sister.

Reuters - Baseball star Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees and his wife, Cynthia, have broken up, according to the New York Daily News, amid media speculation that he has been seeing pop star Madonna.

AP - Gilbert Arenas has agreed to re-sign with the Washington Wizards for $111 million over six years, essentially taking millions less so that his team could have more financial flexibility, two newspapers reported Thursday.

AP - Chris Paul and the Hornets reached a contract agreement Thursday that could keep the All-Star point guard with the team for at least the next four seasons.

Ann Coulter - Well, I guess we're all pretty relieved we didn't drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge back in 2002. What a disaster that would have been.

Joe Conason - Despite all the feigned outrage fanned by the mainstream media and the right-wing noisemakers, Wesley Clark — retired four-star general, former Supreme Commander of NATO, wounded and highly decorated veteran of ground combat in Vietnam and a military man to his core — assuredly did not denigrate the war record of John McCain when he talked about the Republican candidate on television last Sunday.

Brent Bozell III - In the thick of the fight over the wrong Reverend Wright, Barack Obama put on his annoyed face and said the whole issue of his preacher's hate speech was a distraction from the real issues, like health care and education and war.

Ann Coulter - Liberals dismiss studies that show a link between abortion and breast cancer, claiming they are biased because the people promoting the studies are "anti-choice."

Ted Rall - One Amendment from Column A, Another from Column B