PHOENIX -- After being convicted of first-degree murder in the killing of her onetime lover, Jodi Arias returns to court Monday for the continuation of the penalty phase of her trial, with jurors considering a sentence of life in prison or execution.

Arias, 32, has acknowledged killing Travis Alexander at his suburban Phoenix home on June 4, 2008 -- after initially denying any involvement and later blaming the attack on masked intruders. Two years after her arrest, Arias said she killed Alexander in self-defense.

After about 15 hours of deliberations over four days, jurors on May 8 convicted Arias of first-degree murder.

The panel later took less than three hours to determine that the killing was especially cruel, meaning the death penalty would be a consideration for sentencing.

Last week, jurors heard tearful statements from Alexander's brother and sister as they described how his death has torn their lives apart.

Monday begins a new phase of the trial as defense attorneys present...

A series of tornadoes raked a broad swath of the Midwest on Sunday, destroying homes and a trailer park in Oklahoma, killing one person and injuring at least 21 others, officials said.

As night fell, rescuers with flashlights picked through the rubble of a trailer park in Shawnee, Okla., that was heavily damaged in the storm, as were a number of homes across the state.

[Updated, May 19, 9:36 p.m.: The Pottawatomie County sheriff's office said late Sunday that one body had been found at the trailer park, the Associated Press reported.] 

James Hoke's mobile home was among those ruined at the Steelman Estates Mobile Home Park. When he and his family emerged from a storm cellar, their home had vanished.

“It took a dead hit,” Hoke told the Associated Press.

Gov. Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency for 16 counties due to  tornadoes, winds, flooding and hail. The line of storms stretched from Texas to Minnesota and appeared to hit Oklahoma hardest.

“Our hearts and...

About 30,000 commuters in Connecticut and New York braced for a sluggish trek to work on Monday -- and for the rest of the week -- as officials continued to investigate why two trains slammed into each other in Bridgeport, Conn., on Friday evening.

An eastbound Metro-North commuter train derailed and struck a westbound train, injuring at least 76 people. National Transportation Safety Board officials said Sunday the trains appeared to have been traveling 70 mph right before the collisions, which is in compliance with the speed limit in that area. 

One victim remained in critical condition Sunday, Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy said at a news conference.

Officials have removed the last cars from the tracks as New York City's Metropolitan Transit Authority and the Connecticut Department of Transportation warned travelers to make alternate plans.

"Tomorrow's commute will be extremely challenging," Malloy said. "Residents should plan for a week's worth of disruptions. If there's any way to...

Tornadoes touched down in Kansas and Oklahoma on Sunday evening from a massive storm system stretching from Texas to Minnesota.

Several homes were heavily damaged near the Oklahoma towns of Carney and Wellston, where tornadoes reportedly ripped off roofs and walls in the rural center of the state, according to local media footage.

Earlier Sunday, a tornado touched down southwest of Wichita in southern Kansas. That storm system knocked out power lines, dumped golf-ball-sized hail and caused some flash flooding.

Despite multiple twisters that scoured both states, there was no immediate report of injuries.

Here's a sampling of tweets as residents and forecasters buckled down for the storms:

The National Weather Service office in Wichita is taking shelter. That means you definitely should be, too. #kswx

— Kyle McCaskey (@Kylemccaskey) May 19, 2013

A traditional weekend of merriment in a small Virginia mountain town was disrupted Saturday when a man lost control of his car and drove into a crowd of parade participants.

Several people had to be taken to hospitals by ground and air ambulance, but there were no fatalities, police officials in Damascus, Va., told the Los Angeles Times.

About 1,000 people were participating in the yearly parade when the collision took place, around 2 p.m. local time.

The parade was part of Damascus' annual “Trail Days” event. The Appalachian Trail runs through the town of about 900 people, located along the southern border in the western part of the state. Hikers who have used the trail are invited to return to town to participate in the festival, which includes the parade, hiker talent shows and music.

The driver lost control of his car because of a sudden medical emergency, police said. Damascus police and firefighters, along with first responders from throughout Washington County, were...

A commuter plane with 31 passengers aboard was forced to make an emergency belly landing in Newark, N.J., early Saturday morning when the aircraft’s landing gear failed to fully deploy.

After circling Newark Liberty International Airport several times trying to get the landing gear to move into normal position, the pilot successfully landed the plane with all the wheels retracted just after 1 a.m. local time.

No injuries were reported. Videos posted to YouTube and other websites by witnesses showed bright flashes and trails of sparks coming from the plane’s underside as it touched down.

“There was some sparks and smoke upon stopping on the runway, but no fire,” U.S. Airways spokesman Andrew Christie told the Los Angeles Times.

Fire crews responded to the runway, but there appeared to be minimal damage to the plane, officials said.

The Dash 8-100 plane was on a flight from Philadelphia run U.S. Airways subsidiary Piedmont Airlines. After the incident, the...

Federal investigators gathered Saturday at the site of the Connecticut train crash that left dozens of commuters injured Friday evening.

Eight people remained hospitalized, three in critical condition, officials said. As many as 70 people were injured in the crash. 

The collision disrupted travel north of New York City, prompting state and local officials to urge passengers to make alternate transportation plans. 

Amtrak suspended all rail travel indefinitely between New York and New Haven, Conn. The agency said an update on the status of the shutdown would come Sunday evening.  The Metro-North railroad line suspended local train service indefinitely between its South Norwalk and New Haven stations.

The crash occurred shortly after 6 p.m. on Friday. A Metro-North train coming from New York City derailed and hit a passenger train heading in the other direction, officials said.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived at the Fairfield, Conn., station early...

LAS VEGAS -- When people ask Carlos Lucero what he does for a living, his answer often stops them in their tracks.

“I throw people off the Stratosphere," he says jokingly.

Lucero is the man who stands between a person taking the 855-foot plunge to the second level of the Stratosphere Hotel and Casino, or turning away from the controlled fall and taking the Walk of Shame back to the gift shop.

Lucero is the Sky Master, the man who checks the harnesses and straps before thrill-seeking tourists endure the Sky Jump, a ride that opened here in April 2010 and, Lucero says, holds the Guinness World Record for highest commercial decelerator descent.

Think of him as part sky-dive instructor, counselor, bartender and priest.

Many jumpers are panic-stricken. Lucero says soothing things.

Jump masters can't physically touch any customers to help them jump off; people have to do that on their own power. Instead, he talks to them, making them feel comfortable enough to do something they might...

NEW YORK -- Five people were hospitalized in critical condition Friday and dozens more were treated for less serious injuries after a commuter train headed from New York City to suburban Connecticut derailed and hit a train headed in the opposite direction, officials said.

Gov. Dannel Malloy updated the casualty figures late Friday after he arrived at the scene near the Fairfield, Conn., station about 50 miles north of New York City. Of the five people most seriously injured, Malloy said, one was in "very critical" condition. 

Malloy said he had no reason to believe that the crash, which occurred shortly after 6 p.m., was "anything other than an accident," and he noted that other trains had passed the same area without incident earlier in the evening.

"These trains at that hour are in fairly constant use, so just before these trains came into contact with one another, other trains had been through the same spot," Malloy said.

Passengers described bumps followed by a sudden stop, then...

Illinois has come within a signature of becoming the 19th state to allow marijuana use for medical purposes.

On Friday, the state Senate voted 35-21 to approve a medical marijuana measure, which now will head for Gov. Pat Quinn’s desk. The governor has not said whether he will sign it.

Democratic Sen. Bill Haine, one of the bill’s sponsors, told the Los Angeles Times that House Bill 1 has a very narrow scope and was crafted with law enforcement officials at the table to avoid the mistakes and pitfalls of medical marijuana programs in other states.

Eighteen states and Washington, D.C., have decriminalized marijuana use for medicinal purposes. California did so in 1996, when the state’s voters approved Proposition 215.

If it becomes law, the Illinois bill will prohibit patients from growing their own pot; instead, plants will be raised at “grow centers” overseen by authorities and the state Department of Agriculture.

Only doctors that have established...

NEW YORK --  A train derailment and collision during evening rush hour injured 20 to 25 people, but none of the injuries are life-threatening, police in Fairfield, Conn., said Friday as emergency workers began scouring the mangled wreckage blocking the tracks north of New York City.

Matt Panilaitis, a Fairfield Police Department spokesman, told the Los Angeles Times that one train sideswiped the other after derailing, causing some cars of the second train to also go off the tracks outside the Fairfield station.

The incident occurred shortly after 6 p.m. and involved a train coming from Manhattan's Grand Central Terminal, about 50 miles away, and a second train heading into New York City.

Photographs taken by passengers in the affected trains and posted on Twitter showed broken windows and twisted metal inside the train cars, splintered tracks, and the front left corner of one of the trains smashed in. Amtrak halted service between New York and Boston indefinitely.

A rider on one of the...