WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich's trailing rivals derided the leading presidential contenders on Sunday as insufficiently conservative, each trying to find a second wind in the race to become the Republican nominee with time running out before voting begins.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Obama administration's declaration that it plans to use foreign assistance, international diplomacy and political asylum to promote gay rights abroad is a momentous step that could dangerously backfire if not pursued with delicacy and an appreciation of how the challenges faced by gays and lesbians vary by nation, human rights activists said.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A planned International African American History Museum in Charleston could incorporate a plaza near the spot where thousands of African slaves set foot in North America.

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — The gunman who killed a police officer Thursday after being pulled over in a traffic stop at Virginia Tech is believed to be dead, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Affluent black Americans who are leaving industrial cities for the suburbs and the South are shifting traditional lines between rich and poor, according to new census data. Their migration is widening the income gap between whites and the inner-city blacks who remain behind, while making blacks less monolithic as a group and subject to greater income disparities.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Prosecutors on Wednesday abandoned their 30-year push to execute convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal, the former Black Panther whose claim that he was the victim of a racist legal system made him an international cause celebre.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A former police officer has been sentenced to the maximum of five years in prison for helping cover up deadly shootings of unarmed residents on a New Orleans bridge after Hurricane Katrina.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Florida A&M University said that it's dismissing four students for their role in the death of a marching band member last month, while audio of an emergency call released Thursday showed that the drum major had vomit in his mouth in the moments before he died.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — More than 1,400 police officers, some in riot gear, cleared the Occupy Los Angeles camp early Wednesday, driving protesters from a park around City Hall and arresting more than 200 who defied orders to leave. Similar raids in Philadelphia led to 52 arrests, but the scene in both cities was relatively peaceful.

MIAMI (AP) — Two decades ago, the now-ousted director of the Florida A&M band warned in a letter about the dangers of hazing among the famed "Marching 100" ensemble, saying "it would be very difficult for the university and the band should someone become killed or hurt."