An Elyria, Ohio, police officer was fatally shot after responding to a 9-1-1 call from a woman who said that a neighbor exposed himself to her child and kicked in a window. The incident occurred around 10:20pm Monday evening in the 300 block of 18th Street in Elyria.

Patrolman James Kerstetter was killed during the incident, and the suspect was also fatally shot. Acacording to police chief Duane Whitely, gunfire was exchanged inside the man's home, and more were fired outside. A neighbor reported seeing more than one officer shooting at the supsect.

Officers from Elyria PD, Lorain PD, and the Lorain County Sheriff's Department responded to the scene.

Elyria Police Chief Duane Whitely said:

"They went in and picked up the officer and started life support, put him on a gurney and got him to the hospital as quickly as they could, but unfortunately it was too late."

The suspect has been identified by witnesses as Ronald Palmer. Kerstetter is the first police officer in Elyria to be killed in the line of duty in 67 years.

If you currently live in Portland, or are thinking of moving to the Portland area, you may be able to take advantage of a major break in state taxes. Oregon is just one of many states that are offering a renter’s tax deduction. If you select a rental property from among one of the many quality offerings listed by Portland property management firms, you may qualify for this tax break.

The state’s statute allowing the deduction for renters is measured by the amount of rent paid during the previous year. That means to qualify for a deduction this year you will have to have lived in your home or apartment last year. People who move in this year can file for it the following year. The tax deduction applies to Oregon income taxes and to qualify, the renter must meet certain criteria. Income and residency requirements must be met in order to take advantage of this tax deduction. The amount of the deduction will vary.

Donna Simpson, 42, from New Jersey already weights over 600 pounds, but she is determined to pack on at least another 400 pounds in an attempt to become the world's fattest woman. Simpson is set on reaching her 1,000 pound goal in just two years.

Simpson insists that she is healthy, despite the quantity she eats and the fact that she now needs a scooter when she goes shopping. In an effort to reach her 1,000lb. goal, she eats piles of junk food and tries to move as little as possible.

Simpson, who wears size XXXXXXXL dresses, already holds a Guinness World Record as the world's fattest mother. In 2007, she gave birth weighing 532 pounds. During her high-risk Caesarean birth, she need a team of 30 medical staff to help deliver her daughter Jacqueline.

Although she can only move 20 feet before she has to sit down and rest, Simpson wants to be bigger. She says:

"I'd love to be 1,000lb. It might be hard though. Running after my daughter keeps my weight down."

Natalie Randolph now holds the distinct honor of being the only female head football coach in the entire United States. A former wide receiver for the D.C. Divas women's pro football team, Randolph will now take over the coaching duties at Calvin Coolidge Senior High School.

Randolph was formally named the head football coach today at the high school where she teaches science. It's a rare role for a woman to find herself in, but Randolph has the experience. In addition to playing with the Divas, she also worked as an assistant football coach at H.D. Woodson High School in 2006 and 2007.

She was introduced to the Coolidge team after school on Tuesday, and of course there were some skeptics. But Randolph "shot them down" when they tried to test her knowledge of football, said a source.

Speaking on her appointment as head coach, Randolph said:

"I'm flattered at the outpouring of support and encouragement from the D.C. football and academic community. I know how important high school football is to these young men, the parents, the school, and the Coolidge community. I plan on taking this opportunity and running with it."

On Thursday, a federal appeals court upheld the use of the phrase "In God We Trust" on U.S. currency and "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, rejecting arguments that the phrases violate the separation of church and state.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in San Francisco rejected two legal challenges by atheist Michael Newdow of Sacramento. Newdow argued that the references to God are unconsitutional and infringe on his religious beliefs. The same court ruled in Newdow's favor in 2002 when it decided that the Pledge of Allegiance violated the First Amendment prohibition against government endorsement of religion.

George W. Bush, who was president at the time of the 2002 decision, called their decision "ridiculous". Senators then passed a resolution condemning the ruling, and Newdow received death threats. In 2004, Newdow's lawsuit reached the U.S. Supreme Court, but the court said that he lacked legal standing to file the suit because he didn't have custody of his daughter, on whose behalf he brought the case.

To get around this, Newdow filed an identical case on behalf of other parents who objected to reciting the pledge at school. In 2005, a Sacramento judge decided in Newdow's favor. This prompted the appeals court to take on the case.

In February, Utah sought to criminalize a woman's "reckless act" that led to a miscarriage, which did not go over well with many people in the U.S. This week, the governor signed a reworked bill that designates the "intentional or knowing" miscarriage as criminal homicide.

Governor Gary Herbert signed Utah HB 462 on Monday. The bill stipulates that a woman can be charged with homicide for "the death of her unborn child", unless the death qualifies as legal abortion, which is defined as "a medical procedure carried out by a physician or through a substance used under the direction of a physician."

The original bill could have got women sent away for lifelong prison terms for falling down stairs or staying in an abusive relationship, but criticisms got this part changed. Legislators added provisions that a woman can't be prosecutred if the death of her fetus "is caused by a criminally negligent or reckless act of the woman" or "is not caused by an intentional or knowing act of the woman." What's this mean? Well, now a woman has to intentionally induce her miscarriage in order to be prosecuted.

The actions of three Los Angeles teachers at the Wadsworth Avenue Elementary school who gave children photographs of O.J. Simpson, Dennis Rodman and RuPaul to hold during a parade honoring black history month as a prank earned a suspension for the educators, a rebuke from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and a public apology from school principal Lorraine Abner to the parents of schoolchildren.

The national response from pundits, readers and viewers of the story saying the children should have carried photographs of other figures in black history like Muhammad Ali, Nelson Mandela, and Oprah Winfrey indicate this problem isn’t limited only to Wadsworth Avenue Elementary school.

A photograph of Nelson Mandela in a black history parade is an improvement over RuPaul. But, if teachers must go outside the U.S. for African heroes, Major General Abram Petrovich Gannibal of the Russian Army would have been a better pick. The Ethiopian native was taken from Istanbul and raised in the court of Peter the Great of Russia. He became a major figure in Czarist Russia, was friends with Voltaire and the grandfather of Alexander Pushkin, who became the founding father of Russian literature. The point being the difference between modern role models and historical figures is a vast one.

Emmy-winning CBS News producer Robert Halderman pleaded guilty on Tuesday to trying to blackmail David Letterman for $2 milion as payback for the late night host's affair with his live-in girlfriend. Halderman admitted that in threatening to write a screenplay about Letterman, it was "a thinly veiled threat to ruin Mr. Letterman if he did not pay me a lot of money."

Soruces reveal that in exhange for the plea, Halderman will get a six-month jail sentence. He will also be subject to 4 1/2 years of probation and do 1,000 hours of community service.

Outside of the courthouse, Halderman expressed remorse for the ordeal:

"I apologize to Mr. Letterman, to his family, to (girlfriend) Stephanie Birkitt and her family, and my family and friends."

Halderman's plea came just five months after he threatened to expose Letterman's affairs with numerous female staffers on his "Late Show", including his ex-girlfriend, Stephanie Birkitt.

Letterman released a statement about the outcome of the case:

"When they became involved with this case, I had complete faith that a just and appropriate result was inevitable. On behalf of my family, I am extremely grateful for their tireless efforts."

On Monday, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland postponed the execution of a convicted killer who somehow was able to overdose on pills in his jail cell, and was found unconscious only a few hours before he was scheduled to be driven to his execution.

Lawrence Reynolds Jr., 43, had been sentenced to death for killing his neighbor in 1994. he was found unconscious in his cell around 11:30pm at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown. He was alone in his death row cell, and was scheduled to die by lethal injection on Tuesday.

According to a prison spokesperson, Reynolds was showing signs of consciousness on Monday at a Youngstown hospital, however medical staff were not yet prepared to release him. He was upgraded from serious to stable condition.

Despite being under a 72-hour watch, which is routine for inmates approaching an execution date, Reynolds managed to down the pills. The spokesperson did not say what kind of pills he had taken, how he got them or how many he took. An investigation is underway, but the spokesperson declined to call it a suicide attempt.

After releasing a video on Sunday praising the Fort Hood shootings and calling for Muslims to attack the United States, Adam Gadahn was arrested Pakistan in the southern port city of Karachi. A native of Southern California, Gadahn became a top propagandist for Al-Qaeda and was wanted in the U.S. on treason charges.

Sources in Karachi said that Gadan was arrested in a pickup truck with a driver Saturday night. Pakistani police and intelligence agents said that they collaborated on the arrest after they received information about Gadahn's whereabouts.

According to an American counter-terrorism official, the CIA and other agencies were "looking into reports" of his capture, but could not yet confirm his arrest. Speaking on conditions of anonymity, the official said:

"If reports of a major terrorist capture are true, it would signal the Pakistanis' continuing commitment to fighting extremism."