ATLANTA (AP) — An ex-police officer from Georgia who was injured in a train accident during a veterans parade in Texas is accused of lying about receiving a Purple Heart medal and was arrested Wednesday, Cherokee County sheriff's officials said.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Six months after the Newtown school shooting, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is stepping up his gun control campaign by asking donors not to support Democratic senators who opposed a bill to expand background checks on gun buyers, while a mayors' group he co-founded is embarking on a national bus tour to rally for efforts to curb gun violence.

By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate Armed Services Committee endorsed several steps to improve prosecution of military sexual assault on Wednesday during a rare open debate of its annual defense policy bill, but it killed a controversial proposal opposed by Pentagon leaders. The panel, on a 17-9 vote, approved a plan by committee chairman Carl Levin that would continue to let military commanders decide whether to bring sexual assault cases to trial but would add levels of automatic review by more senior leaders. ...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A 10-year-old girl whose efforts to qualify for an organ donation spurred public debate over how organs are allocated underwent a successful double-lung transplant on Wednesday, a family spokeswoman said.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The father of a man that police say killed five people last week in Santa Monica was shot multiple times, and the brother of the shooter was shot once in the chest, the coroner's office disclosed Wednesday.

By Barbara Liston SANFORD, Florida (Reuters) - Prosecutors and defense lawyers in Florida searched for a third day on Wednesday for potential jurors unaffected by blanket media coverage of last year's killing of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin. Six jurors in Seminole County criminal court will decide the fate of George Zimmerman, the former neighborhood watch volunteer who claims self-defense in the February 26, 2012, shooting death of Martin. Jury selection began on Monday and has been moving slowly with only 20 potential jurors making it through the first round of questioning. ...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A 10-year-old girl whose efforts to qualify for an organ donation sparked debate over how organs are allocated was getting a double-lung transplant Wednesday after a match with an adult donor was made.

STANTON, Calif. (AP) — Jan Cooper could see the would-be burglar's dark silhouette through a crack in the vertical blinds as he tried to slide open her porch door.

By Francesca Trianni NEW YORK (Reuters) - A motor failure left two window washers hanging for more than an hour on a platform outside a building 45 stories above New York City on Wednesday before they were pulled in by rescue workers, the fire department said. The workers were doing regular maintenance work when the middle motor of their platform got stuck 500 feet above the ground, and dangled outside the 46-story Hearst Tower in Manhattan. About 60 firefighters from 12 companies rushed to the skyscraper, on 57th Street and 8th Avenue. ...

By John Whitesides and Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the National Security Agency said on Wednesday that extensive U.S. surveillance efforts had helped stop "dozens" of possible attacks, and warned that making details of the top-secret programs public had compromised national security. In his first appearance before Congress since an NSA contractor lifted the veil on the agency's broad monitoring of phone and internet data, General Keith Alexander defended the program as an essential tool in the fight against terrorism. ...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Three Colorado wildfires fueled by hot temperatures, gusty winds and thick, bone-dry forests have together burned dozens of homes and led to the evacuation of more than 7,000 residents and nearly 1,000 inmates at medium-security prison.

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — Attorneys trying to seat a jury in George Zimmerman's trial for shooting an unarmed teen stopped questioning a white man in his 20s Wednesday after he gave answers that indicated he wouldn't be impartial.