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ST. PAUL, Minn. — Officials are concerned about a recent rise in all-terrain vehicle deaths in Minnesota.

Sixteen people have died in ATV accidents across Minnesota this year. That compares with 14 for all of 2009. A record 24 occurred in 2004.

FORT HANCOCK, Texas — After a bad day on the job as a Border Patrol agent, Eddie DeLaCruz went home and began discussing with his wife how to celebrate her upcoming birthday. Then he casually pressed his government-issued handgun under his chin and pulled the trigger.

WASHINGTON — The economy is looking bleaker as new applications for jobless benefits rose last week to the highest level in almost six months.

It’s a sign that hiring remains weak and employers may be going back to cutting their staffs. Analysts say the increase suggests companies won’t be adding enough workers in August to lower the 9.5 percent unemployement rate.

DILLINGHAM, Alaska — Former Sen. Ted Stevens lay dead in the mangled fuselage of the plane. A 13-year-old boy escaped death but his father died a few feet away. Medical workers spent the miserable night tending to survivors’ broken bones amid a huge slick of fuel that coated a muddy mountainside.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia and the makers of the BlackBerry have reached a preliminary deal on granting access to users’ data that will avert a ban on the phone’s messenger service in the kingdom, Saudi officials said Saturday.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A Minnesota man who spent more than 2½ years in prison for a fatal Toyota crash walked free Thursday, after a judge ordered a new trial and a prosecutor said she wouldn’t prolong the case reopened in the wake of the carmaker’s widely publicized sudden acceleration problems.

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge overturned California’s gay-marriage ban Wednesday in a landmark case that could eventually force the U.S. Supreme Court to confront the question of whether same-sex couples have a constitutional right to wed.

MANKATO, Minn. — Brett Favre’s stint with the Minnesota Vikings appears to be over after a single season.

 Favre has informed the Vikings he will not return to Minnesota this fall, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

MINNEAPOLIS  — A Star Tribune Minnesota Poll published Sunday found that Democrats Mark Dayton and Margaret Anderson Kelliher lead Republican Tom Emmer in the race for governor.

Economists expect the government to report Friday that economic growth slowed in the April-to-June quarter as consumers bought less, builders pulled back further, and cash-hungry state and local governments cut spending.

PHOENIX — Arizona is preparing to ask an appeals court to lift a judge’s ruling that put most of the state’s immigration law on hold in a key first-round victory for the federal government in a fight that may go to the U.S. Supreme Court.