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• PRESCOTT, Ariz. (AP) -- They were fathers and expectant fathers. High school football players and former Marines. Smoke-eaters' sons and first-generation firefighters.
• What bound the members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots together was a "love of hard work and arduous adventure," and a willingness to risk their lives to protect others. And now, 19 families share a bond of grief.
• All but one of the Prescott-based crew's 20 members died Sunday when a wind-whipped wildfire overran them on a mountainside north of Phoenix. It was the nation's biggest loss of firefighters in a wildfire in 80 years and the deadliest single day for fire crews since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
• In the firefighting world, "Hotshot" is the name given to those willing to go to the hottest part of a blaze. They are the best of the best, crews filled with adventure-seekers whose hard training ready them for the worst.
• "We are routinely exposed to extreme environmental conditions, long work hours, long travel hours and the most demanding of fireline tasks," the group's website says. "Comforts such as beds, showers and hot meals are not always common."
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• WASHINGTON (AP) -- Pivotal developments on two cultural issues -- immigration reform and gay marriage -- offer an early preview of potential fault lines among Republicans weighing White House bids in 2016.
• When the Senate approved a comprehensive immigration reform measure, Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand Paul of Kentucky voted in opposite directions amid divisions in the party over how to curb the fast-growing flow of Latino voters to Democrats.
• At the same time, the Supreme Court rulings supporting gay marriage attracted broad criticism from most 2016 hopefuls, though Paul suggested that Republicans need to "agree to disagree on some of these issues." That foreshadows likely fissures ahead, as Republican contenders face increasing pressure to show more tol

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