DETROIT

Shooting injures nine at fireworks display

A gunman opened fire into a crowd that had gathered for the city’s annual fireworks display, wounding nine people and forcing hundreds of revelers to scatter.

Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings said that Wednesday night’s shooting apparently followed an argument and that innocent people were caught in the crossfire.

Hundreds of thousands of people packed into downtown and along the Detroit River that runs between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, to watch the display, a summertime tradition that celebrates the bonds between the cities.

Bully-Cummings said investigators had recovered a handgun and had a good description of the suspect.

NEW YORK CITY

Two suspects arrested in AOL spam scheme

Millions of AOL customers were hit with junk e-mail after an America Online insider stole the Internet giant’s subscriber list and sold it to spammers, prosecutors say.

The scheme resulted in AOL customers being sent unsolicited advertisements for herbal penile enhancement pills and Internet gambling come-ons, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Prosecutors said Jason Smathers, 24, stole 92 million AOL screen names while working at AOL offices in Dulles, Va., and sold the list to a Las Vegas man, Sean Dunaway. Dunaway used it to send gambling ads and then sold it to spammers, a criminal complaint said.

Smathers’ list also included customer ZIP codes and credit card types, prosecutors said.

Smathers and Dunaway, 21, were arrested and charged with conspiracy.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

U.S. solicitor general submits resignation

Solicitor General Theodore Olson, who represented the Bush administration before the Supreme Court and became a voice for strong antiterrorism policies after his wife died in the Sept. 11 attacks, said Thursday he was resigning to return to law practice.

Olson, 63, said he would leave his post in July, shortly after the Supreme Court completes its current term. He has served as solicitor general since June 11, 2001, and before joining the Justice Department, represented President Bush in the legal battle over the disputed 2000 presidential election.

Exactly three months after he took office, Olson’s wife, Barbara, also a Washington lawyer and conservative commentator, died aboard the plane that crashed into the Pentagon.

California

Iacocca shifts support from Bush to Kerry

Four years after former Chrysler Corp. chairman Lee Iacocca cut ads supporting George W. Bush’s election, he’s switching alliances to presidential challenger John Kerry.

Iacocca decided to announce his endorsement in person at a Kerry speech Thursday on creating high-tech industry jobs in Silicon Valley.

Iacocca, 79, gained a reputation as a champion of innovation within the automotive industry. He is now chairman and founder of EV Global Motors Co., a Los Angeles-based firm that designs electronic bicycles.

In prepared remarks, Kerry said Thursday that the United States is losing its technological edge under President Bush’s leadership, with the disappearance of 800,000 high-tech jobs and falling from fourth to 10th in the use of broadband.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Bush narrowing choices for new CIA director

Administration officials say President Bush has narrowed his field of candidates for CIA director to at least two people, just two weeks after outgoing director George Tenet announced his departure.

Two administration officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Bush was focusing on House Intelligence Chairman Porter Goss, R-Fla., and at least one other candidate. The officials spoke on the condition they not be identified because the president prefers to make his own personnel announcements.

“The president has not made a decision, and there’s more than one candidate,” said White House communications director Dan Bartlett.

TENNESSEE

Missing softball coach, teen found together

A 39-year-old softball coach and a teenage player from Oregon who ran off together nine months ago were found in Tennessee this week after a minor traffic accident.

Andrew James Garver was in jail Thursday, a day after he surrendered. Authorities will seek to send him back to Oregon to face charges of custodial interference and car theft, said FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele in Portland, Ore.

Garver said at a court hearing later Thursday that he would not fight extradition. A judicial commissioner granted Garver’s request for a court-appointed attorney.

Oregon police have said Michelle “Mimi” Smith, 16, willingly left Oregon with Smith. Police said they believed the two had been living in Knoxville since they disappeared in September.

CHICAGO

Senate hopeful pushed to quit over sex scandal

Illinois Senate candidate Jack Ryan, his campaign in turmoil over embarrassing sex allegations in his divorce records, faced mounting pressure to drop out of the race Thursday and saw support from fellow Republicans dwindle even further.

Campaign spokesman Kelli Phiel declared that “Jack Ryan is in the race to stay,” but it became clear that his floundering candidacy was in trouble.

Ryan abruptly canceled a fund-raising trip to Washington, and all Republican House members from the state met privately in the office of House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., to discuss the growing scandal.

A Republican official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Hastert agreed with fellow Illinois Republicans that Ryan should step down.

In divorce papers unsealed this week, Ryan’s ex-wife, “Boston Public” actress Jeri Ryan, alleged that Ryan took her to swingers clubs and tried to get her to have sex with him while others watched.