Friday,  May 25, 2012 • Vol. 12--No. 316 • 28 of 36 •  Other Editions

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ries for the conference crown.

AP News in Brief
NJ man arrested in disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz; NYC boy has been missing since 1979

• NEW YORK (AP) -- The timing couldn't have been more symbolic: On the eve of National Missing Children's Day, police said they'd at last cracked the case that started it -- the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz.
• After decades of inconclusive clues and stalled hopes, a former convenience-store stock clerk was arrested Thursday on a charge of murdering Etan, one of the first missing children ever to appear on a milk carton. He vanished while walking to his school bus stop alone for the first time.
• Pedro Hernandez, 51, told investigators this week he lured the little boy into the shop with the promise of a soda, then led him to the basement, choked him and put his body in a bag with some trash about a block away, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. Investigators hadn't determined any motive, he said.
• Kelly said there is no physical evidence. But authorities say they have a detailed, signed confession, as well as accounts of incriminating remarks Hernandez made to others.
• Hernandez didn't yet have a lawyer, police said. An arraignment was expected Friday afternoon.
• ___

AP NewsBreak: Maine churches taking collections to fund foes of gay marriage ballot question

• PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- Scores of Maine churches will pass the collection plate a second time at Sunday services on Father's Day to kick off a fundraising campaign for the lead opposition group to November's ballot question asking voters to legalize same-sex marriages.
• Between 150 and 200 churches are expected to raise money for the Protect Marriage Maine political action committee, said Carroll Conley Jr., executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine evangelical organization and a member of the PAC. Conley is also trying to drum up support for the Maine campaign from religious leaders from around the country.
• It's unusual, but not unheard of, for churches to take up collections for political

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