Man who killed police officers is spared death penalty in New York

-- Associated Press

ILLINOIS

Blagojevich: Obama wouldn't do a deal

An angry Rod Blagojevich is heard grumbling on FBI wiretap tapes played at his corruption trial Wednesday that he is willing to appoint a favorite of Barack Obama to the U.S. Senate, but the newly elected president is "all take and no give."

"The arrogance of these people," Blagojevich, then the Illinois governor, is heard saying a few days after Obama's 2008 election.

The governor is heard saying he wants a reward, such as being named secretary of health and human services, in return for appointing Chicago businesswoman and civic leader Valerie Jarrett, now a White House senior adviser, to the Senate seat that the president-elect was leaving.

-- Associated Press

Review of Gates arrest finds fault on both sides: The arrest last summer of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. outside his home could have been avoided, according to a review commissioned by the Cambridge, Mass., police department. The investigation, conducted by outside experts, said Sgt. James Crowley "missed opportunities to find a better outcome." It chided Gates for not immediately complying with the officer's requests.

Four dead in N.J. blaze: A house fire in Paterson, N.J., on Wednesday left four people dead and three people seriously injured. Fire officials said the owner had been cited for electrical violations.

Rotting baggage disrupts flight: US Airways says maggots falling from a container of spoiled meat in an overhead bin forced a plane to return to the gate in Atlanta. A passenger brought the container onto the plane, and passengers noticed the maggots on Monday on the flight bound for North Carolina. The plane was taken out of service and fumigated.

-- Staff reports and news services