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changes under a bipartisan Senate bill that puts a new focus on prospective immigrants' merit and employment potential, while seeking to end illegal immigration once and for all by creating legal avenues for workers to come here.
• The bill would put the 11 million immigrants in the country illegally on a 13-year path to U.S. citizenship that would cost each $2,000 in fines plus additional fees, and would begin only after steps have been taken to secure the border, according to an outline of the measure.
• The sweeping legislation also would remake the nation's inefficient legal immigration system, creating new immigration opportunities for tens of thousands of high- and low-skilled workers, as well as a new "merit visa" aimed at bringing people with talents to the U.S. Senators had planned to formally introduce the bill Tuesday, but after Monday's bombing at the Boston Marathon a planned press event was delayed until later in the week.
• Employers would face tough new requirements to check the legal status of all workers. Billions of dollars would be poured into border security, and millions of people who've been waiting overseas for years, sometimes decades, in legal immigration backlogs would see their cases speeded up.
• Overall, the changes represent the most dramatic overhaul to U.S. immigration law in more than a quarter-century.
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• WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican opposition is growing to a bipartisan Senate plan for expanding background checks for firearms buyers, enough to put the proposal's fate in jeopardy. But the measure may change as both sides compete for support in one of the pivotal fights in the battle over curbing guns.
• The Senate was continuing debate Tuesday on a wide-ranging gun control bill, with the focus on a background check compromise struck last week between Sens. Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. Manchin said the vote on that amendment was likely to be delayed from midweek to late in the week, a move that would give both sides more time to win over supporters.
• Underscoring the bargaining under way, the two sponsors seemed willing to consider a change to their deal that would exempt gun buyers from background checks if they live hundreds of miles from licensed firearms dealers, one Senate aide said.
• The change might help win support from senators from Alaska and perhaps

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