Nick Carter isn’t only writing songs — he’s written a book.

The Boy Scouts of America's national leadership will vote Thursday on whether to allow openly gay Scouts in its ranks, a critical and emotionally charged moment for one of the nation's oldest youth organizations and its millions of members.

In the most prominent challenge of its kind, Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. is asking a federal appeals court Thursday for an exemption from part of the federal health care law that requires it to offer employees health coverage that includes access to the morning-after pill.

All that is left of Shayne Patteson's three-bedroom home is the tiny area where his wife hunkered down under a mattress to protect their three children when a tornado packing winds of at least 200 mph slammed through his neighborhood.

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina police say they've found no previous connections between a former Cleveland, Tenn., woman killed in her apartment and three people charged with murder.

QUETTA, Pakistan — A car bomb targeting a police vehicle killed 11 policemen and one civilian Thursday in an area of southwest Pakistan wracked by a separatist insurgency and Islamic militancy, police said.

MOORE, Okla. — The tornado that struck an Oklahoma City suburb this week may have created $2 billion or more in damage as it tore through as many as 13,000 homes, multiple schools and a hospital, officials said Wednesday as they gave the first detailed account of the devastation.

LA RUANA, Mexico — Michoacan is burning. A drug cartel that takes its name from an ancient monastic order has set fire to lumber yards, packing plants and passenger buses in a medieval-like reign of terror.

MIAMI — LeBron James made a layup as time expired in overtime, and the Miami Heat found a way to beat the Indiana Pacers 103-102 in a wild Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals Wednesday night.