national

HEMET, Calif. - They arrived in ones and twos and threes, by plane, by car, from Utah, from Oregon and local neighborhoods in Hemet, some carrying plates of food as if they were offerings.

All came to see the note.

SAN FRANCISCO - A huge swath of wine country, including vineyards where some of the world's best grapes are grown, was quarantined this week after an invasive moth was discovered.

A controversial one-time aide to former Sen. John Edwards goes to court again Friday in Pittsboro, N.C., after a superior-court judge complained he was being untruthful about making copies of a sex tape featuring Edwards and his one-time mistress.

Charles Turner Harrison has been institutionalized since putting a 9mm pistol to the back of his mother's head in 1984, pulling the trigger and then telling police he thought he could freeze her and revive her at will.

Slightly more than a third of all persons who died in 2006 were cremated, according to the Cremation Association of North America. But the rate of cremation varies enormously around the nation.

State............ Cremations ..... Deaths ... Percent

Alabama ............ 5,192 ....... 46,977 .... 11.05

Alaska ............. 1,846 ........ 3,354 .... 55.04

Although cremation was once common in the ancient world, the practice didn't get much public attention in the United States until 1876 with the cremation of Baron Joseph Henry Louis Charles De Palm.

More than a third of the 2.5 million Americans who die this year likely will be burned in crematories rather than buried in caskets.

A 22-year-old newlywed contends in a lawsuit that a "Dr. Phil" national TV spin-off tricked him into appearing and discussing the blemishes on his penis, then aired a rerun of the episode over his protests.

TACOMA, Wash. - Family, friends and veterans groups filled the airport terminal to greet Jordan Olson. They held balloons, American flags and banners. Hugs and handshakes abounded.

For the Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier, on leave from the war in Afghanistan, Saturday's homecoming was nothing short of a hero's welcome.

SAN FRANCISCO - A lone wolverine discovered in California almost 90 years after the species supposedly went extinct here is apparently searching for a mate that he might never find.

The muscular carnivore with dark fur and a telltale almond-colored stripe was first photographed in 2008 roaming the Tahoe National Forest.