FORT COLLINS, Colo. — A lawyer representing the parents accused of concocting a story that their son was in an escaped balloon says his clients are willing to turn themselves in to face any charges.

Colorado sheriff says parents concocted tale of boy’s flight in balloon, charges expected

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The story that a little boy had floated away in a giant helium balloon was a hoax concocted to land a reality television show, authorities said Sunday, and the boy’s parents will likely face felony charges.

Colorado sheriff says parents’ report that boy was in runaway balloon was publicity stunt

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The parents who set off a worldwide drama by reporting their 6-year-old son was inside a flying saucer-like helium balloon hurtling over Colorado concocted the stunt to market themselves for a television show, a sheriff said Sunday.

Sheriff says officials have no indication Colo. family carried out hoax with balloon flight

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — A Colorado official said Friday there’s no indication a family was carrying out a hoax when they reported their 6-year-old son was in a helium balloon that floated away from their home, causing a massive rescue effort before the child was found hiding in the garage.

Boy, 6, said to have floated off in homemade hellium balloon found safe at his Colorado home

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — A 6-year-old boy was found hiding in a cardboard box in his family’s garage Thursday after being feared aboard a homemade helium balloon that hurtled 50 miles through the sky on live television.

6-year-old boy feared floating away aboard homemade balloon found safe at Colorado home

Boy feared floating away in homemade balloon found

Family of boy in Colorado who was thought to be in balloon featured twice on ABC’s ‘Wife Swap’

NEW YORK — The family of a 6-year-old boy who set off a nationally televised scramble when he was thought to be in a balloon over Colorado has been featured twice in the ABC show “Wife Swap.”

In Paraguay, secret archive may shed light on dictatorship-era repression in South America

ASUNCION, Paraguay — Human rights activists gained access Wednesday to a dictatorship-era military archive that appears to contain long-held secrets about Paraguay’s persecution of opponents during Alfredo Stroessner’s 1954-1989 rule.

Tough owl survives after crashing into pickup truck, which needs a tow from Indiana highway

HAYSVILLE, Ind. — Talk about one tough owl. Police in southern Indiana said a great horned owl flew through the pre-dawn darkness into the front of a moving Ford F-250 pickup truck — and survived even as the collision mangled the truck’s radiator.

EPA chooses $50 million plan to cap huge DDT deposit on ocean floor off Southern California

LOS ANGELES — Clean sand and silt will be used to cover a vast deposit of the pesticide DDT and toxic compound PCB on the ocean floor off Southern California, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Monday.

Fla. woman clawed, flown to hospital after trying to take wild emu to animal shelter

MOSSY HEAD, Fla. — A Florida Panhandle woman was flown to the hospital after being clawed by a wild emu she was trying to corral. The woman, who was not identified, purportedly wanted to take it to an animal shelter. An emergency responder said the incident didn’t seem like an attack — the animal was just trying to protect itself.

Migrating raptors take flight at Pa.’s Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, celebrating its 75th birthday

KEMPTON, Pa. — Peering through binoculars, Arlene Koch spies something tiny and dark on the horizon. Though it’s still a few miles away and difficult to see even with magnification, she can identify the shadowy figure by its shape and the characteristics of its flight.

AP answers your questions on the news, from wildlife and wind farms to unemployment benefits

Wind power has its fans, but the turbines that turn breezes into energy are also generating concerns: Some worry that the huge contraptions might put wildlife at risk.

Miss. police officers use Taser and handcuffs to capture emu running loose on a roadway

FOREST, Miss. — Officers had to use a stun gun and handcuffs to capture an emu running loose on Interstate 20 in central Mississippi on Sunday. Police Officer Kiley Culpepper told WLBT-TV in Jackson that motorists had been calling 911 since Friday to report sightings of two emus on I-20 and nearby U.S. Highway 80.

Yale lab tech awaits fate as it’s revealed graduate student was suffocated

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A Yale graduate student whose body was found hidden in a wall in her lab building was suffocated, according to autopsy released Wednesday, hours after a “person of interest” was questioned and released.

Conn. medical examiner says Yale grad student found in wall was asphyxiated

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A Yale graduate student whose body was found hidden in a wall in her lab building was asphyxiated, the state’s chief medical examiner said Wednesday, hours after a “person of interest” was questioned and released.

Conn. medical examiner says Yale grad student found in wall died of traumatic asphyxiation

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The chief state’s medical examiner said Wednesday that a Yale University graduate student whose body was found stuffed inside a basement wall died of traumatic asphyxiation.

CAT scans show extinct eagle in New Zealand may have eaten humans, researchers say

BANGKOK — Sophisticated computer scans of fossils have helped solve a mystery over the nature of a giant, ancient raptor known as the Haast’s eagle which became extinct about 500 years ago, researchers said Friday.

CAPITAL CULTURE: 1 measure of US-India relations? Trail of broken bread, crumbled Triscuits

Tammy the wild turkey who played chicken with NJ turnpike traffic finally caught

Turkey that played chicken with NJ Turnpike traffic and taunted toll collectors is captured

Tammy the wild turkey finally caught at NJ turnpike after motorists’ complaints intensify

Colorado parents charged in alleged balloon boy hoax; attorney says they’ll plead guilty

Lawyer: Colorado parents to plead guilty to some charges in alleged balloon boy hoax

Citing full recovery, government says it will take brown pelicans off endangered species list

Wyoming Game and Fish agency sets wildlife protection guidelines for wind energy developers

Pipeline company grants to pay for restoring, protecting Indiana bird habitats

UCLA study: Gay spouses similar to heterosexual married couples in age, income, parenting

If OK’d, new NJ panel would review, vote on development plans that impact Dismal Swamp area

Coast Guard scoops up hundreds of gallons of fuel after oil tanker spill in San Francisco Bay

Family’s attorney in boy-in-balloon case says clients are willing to turn themselves in