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• Dempsey "was nowhere near" the plane when the rockets hit near where the aircraft was parked, Graybeal said.
• The spokesman added that Dempsey had finished his mission in Afghanistan and had left by Tuesday morning, though it was unclear what plane he flew out on or how badly the targeted plane was damaged.
• ___

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republicans heading to their party convention are eager to hear an earful about the shortcomings of President Barack Obama's record, the woeful U.S. economy and the competing visions of the two presidential candidates. What they aren't looking for is any mention of compromise, which most Americans

say is necessary to get the nation back on track.
• The Republicans want a party like in 1980, when the GOP ousted a Democratic president after one term.
• Delegates from around the country have big dreams for the Aug. 27-30 gathering in Tampa, Fla., where Mitt Romney will accept the party's nomination and Republicans will kick off their final push to defeat Obama. They sketched out a sharp message they want to hear from speaker after speaker -- onetime White House hopefuls, GOP governors, congressional leaders and the party's top recruits angling to win a job in Washington.
• Conventions are four-day slugfests directed at the opposing party and its candidate. The rhetoric is brutal, vitriolic and far from conciliatory. Some lines are memorable.
• "Poor George, he can't help it -- he was born with a silver foot in his mouth," quipped Texas state treasurer Ann Richards to laughs and applause at the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta in 1988. Her target was the well-heeled GOP nominee, Vice President George H.W. Bush.
• ___

• MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- Hours after police released an autopsy report that ruled the shooting death of a young man in the back of a patrol car was a suicide,

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