Valley-based casino and hotel operator Aztar is on the table for $50 per share, $12 more than its tab of a month ago. The deal is worth more than $2.5 billion in cash, shares and debt assumption.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has killed NASA's $100 billion plans to return astronauts to the moon.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Investigators trying to figure out what destroyed space shuttle Columbia focused immediately on the possibility that its thermal tiles were damaged far more seriously than NASA realized by a piece of debris during liftoff.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- A strong earthquake struck off Canada's west coast early Thursday near Vancouver Island. There were no immediate reports of major damage or injuries.

The two-month bidding battle is over between two major casino and land development companies — Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. and Columbia Sussex — over the owner of the aging Tropicana resort and its 34 acres in Las Vegas.

High over Texas and just short of home, space shuttle Columbia fell to pieces Saturday, raining debris over hundreds of miles of countryside. Seven astronauts perished — a gut-wrenching loss for a country and world already staggered by tragedy.

SPACE CENTER, Houston - NASA engineers are taking a second, harder look at video, computer data and everything else that led them to conclude - perhaps wrongly - that a flyaway chunk of insulation did not harm space shuttle Columbia during liftoff.

The breakup of Columbia over Texas stunned relatives of the crew and people waiting to watch the space shuttle's landing at Cape Canaveral, and it revived sorrowful memories for relatives and friends of the astronauts killed in the loss of the shuttle Challenger 17 years ago.

A brief look at the six Americans and Israel’s first astronaut aboard space shuttle Columbia.

Keith Husband asked his brother what the full moon looked like from space.

Arizona State University, which is rapidly gaining a reputation as a forerunner in space research, had connections to two of the science projects aboard space shuttle Columbia.

Two experiments with an ASU connection were on board Space Shuttle Columbia — not surprising given the university’s growing reputation in space research.

SPACE CENTER, Houston - NASA is casting a wider net in the space shuttle investigation now that it has essentially ruled out a theory that a breakaway piece of foam may have caused Columbia to rip apart.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle Columbia apparently disintegrated in flames over Texas minutes before it was to land Saturday in Florida. TV video showed what appeared to be falling debris, as NASA declared an emergency and sent search teams to the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle Columbia apparently disintegrated in flames over Texas minutes before it was to land Saturday in Florida. TV video showed what appeared to be falling debris, as NASA declared an emergency and sent search teams to the Dallas-Fort Worth area.