CNN — Firefighters were battling a gas line or gas-fueled blaze Thursday evening that engulfed about a dozen homes and sent bright flames and huge plumes of smoke shooting hundreds of feet into the air in a neighborhood in San Bruno, California, California Emergency Management said. (U.S. News)

CNN — A Florida pastor said he called off his plan to burn copies of the Quran based on assurances that a planned Islamic center and mosque near ground zero would be moved -- an assertion rejected by the center's visionary. (U.S. News)

CNN — Florida pastor Terry Jones Thursday called off his controversial plan to burn copies of the Quran on the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. (U.S. News)

CNN — Anyone convicted of a violent sex offense against a child in California will get life in prison without parole starting Thursday, after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed ''Chelsea's Law.'' (U.S. News)

CNN — A Louisiana judge has ordered prosecutors to release their files on the deaths of patients at a New Orleans hospital in the days following Hurricane Katrina, finding that no related legal cases are in the works. (U.S. News)

CNN — The Environmental Protection Agency is formally requesting the chemical composition of fluids used in hydraulic fracturing during natural gas extraction, senior agency officials said. (U.S. News)

CNN — President Barack Obama will award the Medal of Honor to U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Robert J. Miller for ''conspicuous gallantry'' and ''heroic actions'' in Afghanistan in January 2008, the White House announced Thursday. (U.S. News)

CNN — Nearly nine years after the September 11 terror attacks, a record number of Americans believe the United States is unlikely to ever capture or kill Osama bin Laden, according to a new national poll. (U.S. News)

CNN — Colorado officials will reopen three subdivisions to residents Thursday as the fire threat lessened in some sections of a canyon, west of Boulder. (U.S. News)

CNN — A controversial plan by a small Florida church to burn Qurans on September 11, which has triggered worldwide controversy, is a ''recruitment bonanza for al Qaeda,'' President Barack Obama said Thursday. (U.S. News)