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The mother of slain Florida teenager Trayvon Martin got a standing ovation before speaking to parishioners at a Baltimore church.

The Baltimore Sun (http://bsun.md/KDVNwe) reports that Sybrina Fulton spoke Sunday morning at Baltimore’s Empowerment Temple. She told the gathering that she cries and prays every day but added, “My heart is filled right now.”

Fulton told reporters that she’s making such trips not just for her son, but for other young people who might be victims of racial profiling.

Rev. Jamal-Harrison Bryant, the church’s pastor, has been at Fulton’s side since shortly after her 17-year-old son’s death in February. The shooting of the unarmed teen sparked a national outcry. Neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder and released on bond. He says he shot Martin in self-defense.

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It’s impossible to fumble the call on one heated race in Texas: Roy Brooks will be elected commissioner of Tarrant County’s Precinct 1.

But which Roy Brooks remains the question.

Will it be Roy Charles Brooks, the incumbent with 20 years experience working in county government? Or will it be Roy LaVerne Brooks, a grandmother and longtime community activist?

Both Roys have known each each other “for a long time” through their community work.

“I remember when he had a ponytail!” Roy LaVerne Brooks said of her opponent, who firmly denied he ever sported one.

They said they always had a hunch they’d go head-to-head one day.

“He possibly felt within his spirit it would come to this and now it has,” Roy Laverne Brooks said. Her opponent agreed.

Both candidates, who have participated in several debates, said the mood was cordial; however Roy LaVerne Brooks admitted she wasn’t afraid to call her opponent out on issues that mattered to the community, which she said is 60 percent female and has seen education budgets slashed.

“We have got riled up a couple times,” Brooks said. “He’s not a dreamer. He’s not a thinker. In the 21st century, you have to be a dreamer, a thinker, creative. You have to be able to get dirty down here with the people you are going to serve.”

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                                       (Image Credit: Chris Young, The Canadian Press/AP Photo)

Jenna Talackova, the transgender Canadian beauty queen, placed in the top 12 at the Miss Universe Canada pageant, but fell short of the crown.

The 6-foot-1 blonde bombshell was a crowd favorite as she strutted down the runway in the evening gown and swimwear portions of the competition.

Talackova also seemed to be a favorite among her fellow contestants and was one of four women voted “Miss Congeniality.”

The 23-year-old was originally disqualified from the competition because she was not a “naturally born female.”

After threats of a lawsuit and public outcry, the Trump Organization, which owns the contest, announced Talackova would be allowed to compete.

“I didn’t know that there would be this much controversy.  I was just entering because, you know, I wanted to represent Canada.  I think I’m a beautiful woman, inside and out, and I think I would have done the job,” Talckova told ABC News’ Barbara Walters during her fight to be reinstated into the competition.

The beauty queen, who was born Walter Talackova, has not tried to hide her past.

In a 2010 YouTube video for Miss International Queen, a transgender/transsexual competition in which Talackova was a contestant, she stated that she began hormone therapy at age 14. At 19, she had sexual reassignment surgery.

“Because I’m a woman, and I feel like the universe, the Creator just put me in this position as an advocate,” she said. ” If it’s helping anybody else, my story and my actions, then I feel great about it.”

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Protesters gathering in Chicago for the NATO summit were gearing up for their largest demonstration Sunday, when thousands are expected to march from a downtown park to the lakeside convention center where President Barack Obama and dozens of other world leaders will meet.

Several hundred demonstrators wound through the city’s streets for hours Saturday, testing police who used bicycles to barricade off streets and horseback officers to coax them in different directions. Increasingly tense clashes between protesters and police resulted in 18 arrests, Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said.

Most of Saturday’s demonstrations remained relatively small and peaceful, including one march to the home of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s former chief of staff. But a later march stretched for hours as protesters zigzagged back and forth through downtown, some decrying terrorism-related charges leveled against three young men earlier in the day.

Organizers pledged a larger crowd when protesters from the Occupy movement will join forces with an anti-war coalition to mark the opening day of the summit later Sunday.

“We want the world to focus on NATO — they’re not important and have no mandate anymore,” said Micah Philbrook, an Occupy Chicago spokesman, who criticized the large police presence Saturday. “They’re pushing us around and not letting anyone get out of the protest even if they want. They’re very aggressive.”

McCarthy said police would be ready with quick but targeted arrests of any demonstrators who turn violent Sunday.

“If anything else happens, the plan is to go in and get the people who create the violent acts, take them out of the crowd and arrest them,” warned McCarthy, at the scene of protests after dark. “We’re not going to charge the crowd wholesale — that’s the bottom line.”

He said officers had been hit by batteries and bottles thrown by protesters during the day.

“You can’t control what other people are going to do, but I can tell you our cops are doing a great job, and they’re prepared,” he said.

Security has been tight throughout the city, as the heads of state from about 60 countries began arriving to discuss the war in Afghanistan, European missile defense and other issues. As police gathered en masse on street corners, near parks and key landmarks, the city’s streets remained largely vacant and many downtown buildings closed.

“It’s strange because downtown is empty,” said Gabe Labovitz, a 44-year-old economist out for a walk near his home. “The police presence is reassuring but unnerving.”

Three activists who traveled to Chicago for the summit were accused Saturday of manufacturing Molotov cocktails in a plot to attack Obama’s campaign headquarters, Emanuel’s home and other targets. But defense lawyers argued that the police had trumped up the charges to frighten peaceful protesters away. They told a judge it was undercover officers who brought the firebombs to an apartment in Chicago’s South Side where the men were arrested.

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Associated Press writers Jason Keyser, Sophia Tareen, Tammy Webber and Nomaan Merchant also contributed to this report.

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A blind Chinese legal activist who escaped house arrest, endured a nearly monthlong diplomatic tussle and a hurried daylong flight paused ever so briefly upon his arrival in New York City before taking up a familiar fight.

Taken from a hospital in his homeland and put on a plane for the U.S. after Chinese authorities suddenly told him Saturday to pack and prepare to leave, Chen Guangcheng embraced his new surroundings at New York University and renewed his call to fight injustice.

“I believe that no matter how difficult the environment nothing is impossible if you put your heart to it,” he told a cheering crowd at NYU shortly after arriving at Newark Liberty International Airport on Saturday evening.

“We should link our arms to continue in the fight for the goodness in the world and to fight against injustice. So, I think that all people should apply themselves to this end to work for the common good worldwide.”

Chen was suddenly allowed to leave China earlier in the day, ending a dispute that tested U.S.-China relations.

Dressed in a white shirt and khaki pants and using crutches, his right leg in a cast, Chen was greeted with cheers when he arrived at the apartment in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village where he will live with his family. The complex houses faculty and graduate students of New York University, where Chen is expected to attend law school.

“For the past seven years, I have never had a day’s rest,” Chen said through a translator, “so I have come here for a bit of recuperation for body and in spirit.”

Chen thanked the U.S. and Chinese governments, along with the embassies of Switzerland, Canada and France.

“After much turbulence, I have come out of Shandong,” he said, referring to the Chinese province where he was under house arrest. The U.S. has granted him partial citizenship rights, he said.

Chen gave a short statement, which was greeted by cheers in Mandarin and English. He didn’t take questions from reporters.

The departure of Chen, his wife and two children to the United States marked the conclusion of nearly a month of uncertainty and years of mistreatment by local authorities for the self-taught activist.

After seven years of prison and house arrest, Chen made a daring escape from his rural village in April and was given sanctuary inside the U.S. Embassy, triggering a diplomatic standoff over his fate. With Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Beijing for annual high-level discussions, officials struck a deal that let Chen walk free, only to see him have second thoughts. That forced new negotiations that led to an agreement to send him to the U.S. to study law, a goal of his, at New York University.

“Thousands of thoughts are surging to my mind,” Chen said before he left China. His concerns, he said, included whether authorities would retaliate for his negotiated departure by punishing his relatives left behind. It also was unclear whether the government will allow him to return.

In New York, he said China had promised him protection of his rights as a citizen there.

“I am very gratified to see that the Chinese government has been dealing with the situation with restraint and calm, and I hope to see that they continue to open discourse and earn the respect and trust of the people.”

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Fire crews took advantage of lower temperatures and higher humidity to make key advances on a large wildfire in northern Colorado, one of several burning across the West.

Officials said the blaze that scorched 12 square miles was 85 percent contained late Saturday night, compared with the previous report of 45 percent containment.

The fire, which started Monday about 20 miles northwest of Fort Collins, had prompted officials to evacuate about 80 homes, but all residents were allowed to return by Friday night. No buildings have been damaged, and the blaze was about 45 percent contained Saturday afternoon.

Reghan Cloudman with the U.S. Forest Service said the area received about 0.15 inches of rain Saturday morning, which “is better than nothing.” Scattered rain storms moved through the area in the afternoon, and temperatures were in the 50s — more than a 20-degree drop from highs during the previous three days.

“The rain is definitely helping firefighters out there,” Cloudman said. “It’s good news, but we don’t want people to let their guard down.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said a camper started the fire with an outdoor stove in the Roosevelt National Forest and was unable to stamp it out.

The Colorado blaze, which has required the resources of more than 500 firefighters, two planes and five helicopters, was one of several burning in the West.

FILE – In this May 17, 2012, file photo, fire burns through trees on the Hewlett wildfire in the Poudre Canyon northwest of Fort Collins, Colo. The fire, which started Monday, May 14, about 20 miles northwest of Fort Collins, had prompted officials to evacuate about 80 homes, but all residents were allowed to return by Friday night. No buildings have been damaged, and the blaze was about 45 percent contained Saturday afternoon, May 19. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski, File) Close

Firefighters have been able to slightly tame fires in Arizona thanks to slowing winds.

A 10-mph breeze helped firefighters get a wildfire that forced the evacuation of some small mountain towns about 85 miles north of Phoenix below 13,000 acres. Officials say the fire was about 10 percent contained, about the same the night before, and had nearly 900 firefighters battling the blaze.

It’s one of four raging fires in a state that has been hit hard by drought.

Wildfires also have charred terrain in California, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Utah.

— In Nevada, a fire grew to 27 square miles and threatened sage grouse and mule deer habitat. No homes were in danger, and no injuries were reported. The blaze was about 50 percent contained Saturday and remains under investigation.

— In New Mexico, crews battled a lightning-caused fire that has scorched 545 acres in the Gila National Forest in the southwestern part of the state. No structures were at risk, and no injuries were reported. About seven trails remained closed in the forest and more than 110 firefighters around the state were helping battle the blaze Saturday.

— In Utah, rain and cooler temperatures helped slow a wildfire that burned nearly 2 square miles in the western part of the state. Firefighters contained the blaze late Friday. No structures were threatened, and no injuries were reported. Authorities say the fire was sparked accidentally Thursday by a passing car.

— Meanwhile, in Southern Oregon, crews worked Saturday to extinguish a 462-acre wildfire near the California and Nevada borders. The fire eight miles east of Lakeview, Ore., near Highway 140 was not immediately threatening people or property, but firefighters said they were concerned hot spots could ignite later in the fire season. The fire is believed to be human-caused and is burning on private land and in the Fremont-Winema National Forest.

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Associated Press writers Russell Contreras, Martin Griffith, Nigel Duara and Dan Elliott contributed to this report.

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A popular hot springs area in Colorado will remain open after U.S. Forest Service rangers carved up several frozen cows in an attempt to prevent the carcasses from contaminating the water.

But Scott Snelson, a ranger in the White River National Forest, is still warning hikers that cow feces is in and around Conundrum Hot Springs near Aspen and “going up there may not be as pleasant an experience as people once enjoyed.”

The Aspen Daily News ( http://bit.ly/JFn6qs ) reports Saturday that Forest Service officials also were concerned the carcasses would attract bears.

Crews cut up 11 dead cows that were found frozen near the springs and inside a nearby cabin. Rangers believe the cows wandered into the cabin during a snowstorm but couldn’t find their way out.

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Information from: Aspen Daily News, http://www.aspendailynews.com

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National Park officials say a climber has died of injuries after falling during a climb of Alaska’s Mount McKinley.

A park release Saturday says the climber fell about 1,100-feet Friday, while following the West Buttress route to the summit. Witnesses say the climber fell at about 16,200-feet. He was trying to recover a backpack that had started to slide downhill.

A park service mountaineering patrol was behind the climber’s three-person team and called for a helicopter. The victim’s body was flown to Talkeetna, Alaska, after rangers confirmed that the climber had died of injuries.

The victim’s identity has not been released pending notification of family members overseas.

Mount McKinley is North America’s highest mountain.

Friday’s fatal fall is the first serious incident on McKinley during the 2012 mountaineering season.

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Three men accused of building Molotov cocktails were also planning attacks at President Obama’s Chicago campaign headquarters and at the home of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel during the NATO Summit, prosecutors said.

Brian Church, 20, of Ft. Lauderdale Fla., 24-year-old Vincent Betterly of Oakland Park, Fla., and 24-year-old Jared Chase of Keene, N.H. have all been arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism, providing support for terrorism and possession of an explosive or incendiary device.

“These men were here to hurt people,” Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez said in a news conference.

The defendants are self-proclaimed members of the “Black Bloc” group.

In addition to materials to make molotov cocktails, police say the defendants had various weapons, including a mortar gun, swords, a hunting bow, throwing stars, knives, brass knucles.

“This plot does not represent protest behavior, this is criminal behavior,” said Chicago Police Superintendent Garry Mccarthy.

The men argue the materials police collected in an overnight raid Wednesday were used to brew beer.

Initially, nine men were taken into custody, six others have since been released.

Church, Betterly, and Chase, who are reportedly associated with the Occupy movement, say police are targeting them.

The National Lawyers Guild is representing the protesters.

Attorneys say a week ago the same three men were riding together in a car, when police pulled them over, questioned them, and then allowed them to continue with their day.

The men say they captured audio of the incident and posted it here on Youtube.

Many supporting the three charged men have taken to Twitter using the hashtag #NATO3.

All Eyes on Chicago

The arrests have contributed to an already tense environment as Chicago awaits the start of the NATO Summit.
Thousands of protestors from across the country are already here for the international meeting which begins Sunday and ends Monday.

The Occupy movement, anarchists, anti-war supporters, environmentalists, and countless other groups are all competing to have their voices heard during the gathering of the world’s most powerful leaders.

Months of planning and security preps will all be put to the test.

The stakes are high. This is President’s Obama’s hometown, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel just marked his first year in office.

Some 50 heads of state are expected to descend on the Windy City for the Summit.

With street closures, rerouting of public transportation, and the complete shut-down of a busy stretch of Lake Shore Drive, the conference will make getting around the nation’s third largest city a nightmare.

Many of the 300,000 people who work in the downtown “loop” area have been told to work from home Friday and Monday. Those who do venture to the office have been told to ditch the business suits and dress casually, to avoid becoming targets of anti-corporate demonstrations.

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Police arrested two young men in the shootings deaths of two graduate students from China last month near the University of Southern California, an attack that stunned a school that has more international students than any other U.S. university.

Javier Bolden, 19, and Bryan Barnes, 20, were arrested Friday on suspicion of killing the two during an apparent robbery attempt, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said.

Ming Qu, of Jilin, and Ying Wu, of Hunan, were shot April 11 while sitting in a BMW about a mile away from the USC campus. Both were 23 years old.

Their parents filed a lawsuit this week accusing USC of misrepresenting safety at the campus, where nearly one-fifth of the 38,000 students are from overseas, including 2,500 from China.

The motive for their killings was still under investigation, Beck said, but the “evidence points to a street robbery,” and investigators believe the killings were part of a larger string of crimes the two men committed in Los Angeles.

“Forensic evidence recovered at the scene linked them to two other attempted homicides,” Beck said at a news conference. Evidence directly linked both suspects to the victims, he added.

Beck said neither suspect had a long criminal history or is a documented gang member, though police suspect they may have a gang affiliation.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa congratulated the city’s police force, which cooperated with the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to investigate the killings and make the arrests Friday.

He praised officers for “diligence in following every lead and investigating every detail.”

Beck declined to provide details of how the suspects were pinpointed but said, “This was a crime that shocked this city, and we absolutely left no stone unturned.”

Barnes was arrested at a home about five miles from campus Friday afternoon, and Bolden was arrested a few hours later in Palmdale, Beck said. Both were being held without bail and are set to be arraigned Tuesday.

The campus is located in an urban center a few miles south of downtown. It is across the street from county museums and not far from the Staples Center arena and a gentrifying area of Victorian homes. Yet it is also known as an area that had faced high crime and gang activity.

In their lawsuit, the victims’ parents alleged that the school made false claims about safety in the “frequently asked questions” section of its online application.

The 15-page lawsuit accuses USC of hiding behind the word “urban” and not saying the school is in a high-crime residential area. It also notes that Chinese students in particular would interpret urban to mean USC is in a safe area.

“The ‘urban’ representation misled Chinese students, including Ming Qu, into believing the area is safe since in China, the more urban the area, the safer the area,” the lawsuit states, claiming USC understood this is how Chinese students would interpret the description.

USC lawyer Debra Wong Yang said the university was deeply saddened by the deaths but found the lawsuit to be baseless.

Zhou Rong, a Beijing-based education consultant who advises Chinese students wishing to study overseas, said the word “urban” to people in China has no connotation of safety.

“I think it only means the location and has nothing to do with safety and crime,” said Zhou, who works for New Oriental Vision Overseas Consulting.

The school and city police announced new security measures after the slayings and promised more video cameras, escorts and patrols.

The additional security will include sending over 30 more officers to the department division that handles the USC area, and the university will pay for four additional officers to patrol the student residential neighborhoods, Beck said.

In a statement Friday, USC President C.L. Max Nikias praised law enforcement and city officials.

“The arrest of the suspects in the tragic deaths of our graduate students, Ying Wu and Ming Qu, begins the process of healing and of closing a painful chapter in the life of our community,” Nikias said.

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Associated Press researcher Henry Hou in Beijing contributed to this report

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