AUSTIN – The reigning Miss Deaf Texas died Monday afternoon after being struck by a train, officials said. Tara Rose McAvoy, 18, was walking near railroad tracks when she was struck by a Union Pacific train, authorities said. A witness told Austin television station KTBC the train sounded its horn …

LOS ANGELES – Harry Potter has outdone himself. “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” the fourth film in the popular children’s series, has rung up the franchise’s best-ever first-day DVD sales — 5 million copies. The figure includes North American sales of single-disc, two-disc special editions, four-disc gift packs …

HORN LAKE, Miss. – An unidentified elderly Horn Lake couple were hospitalized Thursday after police burst into their home thinking it housed a methamphetamine laboratory. The incident occurred Wednesday about 4 a.m., said police Capt. Shannon Beshears. Beshears said it was the right address but the wrong house. For more …

Wow, what a show. You were burning up our e-mail with your comments regarding the segment with Terry Sherman, the attorney for Andrew Selva. In January 2004, Selva was indicted on a series of rapes involving oral and anal sex with two boys ages 5 and 12. Selva had helped …

NEW YORK – Comedy Central is reaping some modest rewards from Jon Stewart‘s exposure as host of the Academy Awards. Viewership for “The Daily Show” averaged 1.6 million for the six episodes after Stewart’s Oscar gig. The show had been averaging 1.5 million viewers each night before the Academy Awards, …

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A judge ordered the destruction of 4.3 million eggs that state agriculture officials deemed unfit to eat because they were stored at room temperature at one of the nation’s largest egg farms. Judge Thomas Marcelain of Licking County Common Pleas Court issued the ruling Tuesday, six days …

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – The United States hopes to find a way to increase humanitarian donations to the Palestinians following Hamas’ election victory, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday. The chief U.S. diplomat also reaffirmed that the Bush administration does not want any further delay before the U.N. …

MONTREAL – A lack of oxygen to the brain likely played a role in the death of a teenager once thought to have died of a peanut allergy after kissing her boyfriend who had just eaten peanut butter, a Quebec coroner said Monday. Coroner Michel Miron told The Associated Press …

SEATTLE – Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) said Monday it had modified the way its search engine handles queries for the term “abortion” after receiving an e-mail complaint that the results appeared biased. Until the recent change, a user who visited the Seattle Internet retailer’s Web site and typed in the word …

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Civil rights icon Rosa Parks and hundreds of other victims of segregation-era arrests would be pardoned — but not forgotten — under a bill passed unanimously by the Alabama House on Thursday. The bill was amended to say that the arrest records would not be expunged or …