By Victoria Cavaliere SEASIDE HEIGHTS, New Jersey (Reuters) - The New Jersey shore ushered in the unofficial start of summer on Friday, with businesses making last-minute preparations and officials declaring the resort towns ready for visitors seven months after Superstorm Sandy. Governor Chris Christie oversaw a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open a freshly re-constructed boardwalk in Seaside Heights and declared it "a great day for New Jersey." "We're here with the whole country welcoming the Jersey shore back," he said. ...

SEASIDE HEIGHTS, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey used a record-breaking gesture Friday to celebrate its recovery from a record-setting storm, proclaiming to the nation that the Jersey shore is back in business following Superstorm Sandy.

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) — Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has declared a state of emergency in three counties around a collapsed Interstate 5 bridge.

SEASIDE HEIGHTS, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey rolled out some of its big guns Friday to proclaim that the shore is back following Superstorm Sandy, using Gov. Chris Christie and the cast of MTV's "Jersey Shore" to tell a national audience the state is ready for summer fun.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Some labor unions that enthusiastically backed President Barack Obama's health care overhaul are now frustrated and angry, fearful that it will jeopardize benefits for millions of their members.

GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) — After lengthy and wrenching debate, local leaders of the Boy Scouts of America have voted to open their ranks to openly gay boys for the first time, but heated reactions from the left and right made clear that the BSA's controversies are far from over.