LOS ANGELES – Michael Jackson’s personal chef described for jurors the home lives of the children during the final months of the singer’s life and their ongoing grief over their father’s death nearly four years ago.

Gone are the freewheeling days when the children, Prince, Paris and Blanket Jackson played with their father and traded jokes at the dinner table, chef Kai Chase told jurors Tuesday.

It has been replaced, Chase said, by a weight on eldest son Prince Michael Jackson’s shoulders. Daughter Paris Jackson cries and no longer wants parties for her birthday since her father hosted a private circus for her 11th birthday. Youngest son Blanket, who remains home-schooled, wears a T-shirt with his father’s image every Friday, she said.

Chase recounted for jurors her interactions with Jackson, his children and her ongoing work with the singer’s mother and children for jurors hearing Katherine Jackson’s negligent hiring case against concert promoter AEG Live LLC. The company denies all wrongdoing.

After weeks of testimony about Jackson’s business dealings with AEG, Chase’s testimony returned the trial’s focus to the King of Pop and his offspring.

“At 16, the weight of the world is on his shoulders,” Chase said of Prince Jackson, who is trying to figure out girls and all the challenges adulthood brings.

His younger brother, 11-year-old Blanket, has his older siblings to shield him from pain but had the least time to spend with his father. “He never really had a time when it was father-son because he was so tiny,” Chase said.

The singer’s only daughter seems to be having the hardest time, Chase said.

“Being daddy’s little girl, Paris is devastated,” Chase said. “She’s devastated and lost.”

Chase’s testimony provided a look into the lives of Jackson’s three children before and after their father’s death in June 2009. Michael Jackson was fiercely protected of their privacy, often using masks to hide their faces when they were in public.

She now has daily interactions with Jackson’s children since being hired to serve as their chef in July 2012. Of Paris, she said, “She’s trying to find herself and find who she is,” Chase said. “It’s taking a lot of love and understanding to keep her together. She breaks down, she cries, she talks about him.”

Earlier in her testimony, she described an April 2009 birthday party for Paris that included a private circus. The Cirque du Soleil-style show featured men on stilts and a woman performing in a giant balloon, Chase said.

Paris Jackson, who was turning 11, adored her father and Chase helped decorate a room filled with posters and photos of the “Thriller” singer. The singer’s music was played throughout the party.

It was the last birthday party the 15-year-old has had. “Paris hasn’t had any birthdays since,” Chase said. “She hasn’t wanted to celebrate since.”

She described the routines in Jackson’s home in the months before his death, describing him as a vibrant and hands-on father. But by June 2009, Chase said Jackson was deteriorating and she witnessed Prince having to help his father up a staircase to his bedroom.

She said she met AEG executives at the center of the case, including chief executive Randy Phillips and executive Paul Gongaware, when they came to Jackson’s home for meetings about the singer’s ill-fated “This Is It” comeback concerts. One tense meeting in June started with a vase being broken – she didn’t know by whom – and with Jackson and his personal physician storming out.

The doctor, Conrad Murray, told her as he left the home, “I can’t take this (stuff.)”

She described the Jackson family dynamic in happier times at the home. The entertainer wouldn’t allow his children to eat sweets and made sure they went to bed early so they would be alert for tutors who instructed them. Chase described Jackson as a prankster who ate meals with his children, exchanging jokes and stories.

When the singer entered the room, his children would run to their father when he came into a room. “They would take off like lightning,” she said, hugging their father’s ankles and legs.

If jurors determine AEG Live is liable for Jackson’s death, they will have to determine any damages awarded to his mother and his children.

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Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP

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But what the so-called “tranche 5″ transition actually will mean on the ground remains murky. Coalition officials have said for months that Afghans were already in the lead and struggled to quantify what had changed with Tuesday’s announcement. Neither Karzai nor coalition officials gave a firm timeline for when this phase would be complete.

Surrounded by dignitaries, including the head of NATO-led forces and the alliance’s secretary-general at Afghanistan’s National Defense University, Karzai said security for all of Afghanistan will be led by Afghan forces “in a few months.”

The announcement comes a year and a half before all foreign combat troops are scheduled to leave Afghanistan. They already have turned over much of the security responsibility to Afghan forces, who have been suffering heavy casualties as they do more of the fighting on their own.

Gen. Joseph Dunford, commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said there will be more international combat support available in the most violent areas, but added that even in those spots, Afghan forces would lead all operations.

Dunford said he is concerned about the number of Afghan troops being killed and wounded in combat, but added: “I don’t think at this point it reflects on their ability to secure the country.”

There are still roughly 100,000 international troops in the country, including more than 60,000 Americans, and ISAF troops still regularly patrol with their Afghan counterparts in some of the more violent parts of the country. Afghan forces also still rely heavily on ISAF for air support and logistics, as the fledgling Afghan Air Force lacks ground support jets and cargo planes.

ISAF is banking on rapid improvement of the Afghan National Security Forces, still beset by logistical problems, lack of equipment and high turnover.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen lauded the Afghan forces.

“Ten years ago, there were no Afghan national security forces,” he said. “Five years ago, Afghan forces were a fraction of what they are today. Now you have 350,000 Afghan troops and police, a formidable force.”

Tuesday’s announcement underscored that more than 11 { years after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan and ousted the Taliban regime following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the NATO-led force is asking the Afghan military to do what NATO has been unable to: defeat the Taliban.

The guerrillas are estimated to number between 20,000–25,000 fighters.

But for many, hopes for an end to the war hinge on potential peace talks with the insurgents, which Karzai said he hoped would begin soon. These hopes were bolstered Tuesday, with the Taliban announcing they had finally opened an office in Qatar, a long-expected step seen as crucial to beginning peace talks.

The Associated Press and The Washington Post reported Tuesday that U.S. representatives would begin formal meetings with the Taliban in a few days at the group’s new office.

The AP cited senior Obama administration officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record, describing the Taliban’s move to open a political office in Doha as a stepping stone to the movement’s full renouncement of al-Qaida.

During his speech, Karzai encouraged the Taliban to participate in next year’s elections, an idea he has floated in the past.

“I would, by all means, support Taliban representation in the elections next year,” he said at a news conference after his announcement.

But the challenges of fighting the insurgency were underscored by an attack just before Karzai’s announcement. A bomb targeting a member of parliament killed three people in the capital, the third attack in the capital in two weeks, including a massive blast last week that killed 17 people, mostly employees of Afghanistan’s supreme court.

Some experts both in Afghanistan and the United States were skeptical of the ability of Afghan forces to defend the country.

If the transition happens gradually, the Afghan forces should be able to stand on their own, but if ISAF tries to transition too quickly to Afghan control of security, some of the hardest fought areas could backslide, said Ahmad Majidyar, a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a frequent adviser to the U.S. Army.

“I don’t think this will be a full transition, in a way that the ANSF will continue to be supported, and it will continue to need the support of the coalition forces,” he said. “Without them the ANSF can’t function. It will be very dangerous if this transition is seen as a one-time event, and not as a process.”

Former Afghan National Army Col. Abdul Rahman Shaheed, who now serves in parliament, said Afghan soldiers need better training and more time to effectively defend their country.

“I personally thinks it’s going to be hard for the Afghan security forces to take this huge responsibility in defending the country against insurgents and keeping an eye on the long, open border.”

Mohammad Younas Fakor, an independent Afghan political analyst, said the announcement gives the country hope, but that problems remain.

“Our security forces are not yet very united,” he said. “Some of them are still working for their own internal group, language or tribe. But today’s announcement gives them morale and courage to work for the national interest.”

Ordinary Afghans also expressed mixed feelings about the ability of their forces to take over security for the country.

“I am excited because I feel Afghanistan is in full control of the country now,” said Mohammed Nasim, 36, a tailor in Kabul.

But Akbar Khan, a taxi driver in the eastern city of Jalalabad, said corruption is still a problem for the military and that meddling neighbors still threaten Afghanistan’s peace.

“Nothing will improve if our neighbors, like Pakistan, don’t stop intervening in Afghanistan’s affairs,” he said.

Stars and Stripes reporter Alex Pena contributed to this report.

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DETROIT – After initially defying federal regulators, Chrysler abruptly agreed Tuesday to recall some older-model Jeeps with fuel tanks that could rupture and cause fires in rear-end collisions.

But the recall, which came in an 11th-hour deal between the automaker and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, covers only 1.56 million of the 2.7 million Jeeps that the government wanted repaired. The rest are part of a “customer service action” and many may not get fixed.

By giving in to government pressure, Chrysler sidesteps a showdown with NHTSA that could have led to public hearings with witnesses providing details of deadly crashes. The dispute could have landed in court and hurt Chrysler’s image and its finances.

The deal still leaves some Jeep owners with gas tanks that NHTSA just two weeks ago said were risky. Chrysler maintains that they are safe and need no repairs.

Earlier this month, the automaker publicly refused the government’s request to recall Jeep Grand Cherokees from model years 1993 through 2004 and Jeep Libertys from 2002 through 2007.

NHTSA, the U.S. agency that monitors vehicle safety, contends that the Jeep gas tanks can rupture if hit from the rear, spilling gas and causing a fire. NHTSA said a three-year investigation showed that 51 people had died in fiery crashes in Jeeps with gas tanks positioned behind the rear axle.

Chrysler had until Tuesday to formally respond to NHTSA, but the deal made the response unnecessary.

Here’s how the recall will work, according to Chrysler:

– The company will recall 1.56 million Libertys from 2002 through 2007 and Grand Cherokees from 1993 through 1998. If they don’t have factory or Chrysler “Mopar” trailer hitches, dealers will install them. The heavy metal hitches bolt to the frame and help bolster protection for the gas tank.

– About 1.2 million Grand Cherokees from the 1999 to 2004 model years will be part of the “customer service action.” Owners will get notices saying their vehicles are fine if they have factory or Chrysler trailer hitches. Dealers will inspect other trailer hitches to make sure they’re secure. But if the Jeeps don’t have trailer hitches, Chrysler won’t do anything, maintaining that the Jeeps are safe and do not need any changes. A Chrysler spokesman was not sure how many of the SUVs are without trailer hitches.

In a letter to Chrysler dated June 3, NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation told the company that all of the Jeeps should be recalled. “The defects present an unreasonable risk to motor vehicles,” the letter said, “because people … have burned to death in rear impact crashes.”

A NHTSA spokeswoman said Tuesday evening that she was checking into details of the recall.

Chrysler Group LLC, which is majority owned by Fiat SpA of Italy, wouldn’t say how much the hitches would cost, although they sell for about $200 each on websites.

Erik Gordon, a law and marketing professor at the University of Michigan, said Chrysler realized it was headed for a public-relations disaster and decided to reverse course.

“What happened is they get surprised by how loud the hue and cry is,” Gordon said.

Chrysler’s image will still get dinged a little “because it looks as if they have done the right thing only because they were forced to,” he said.

Chrysler executives probably realized that their chance for success was slim because courts have given wide latitude to government regulatory agencies, said David Kelly, former acting NHTSA administrator under President George W. Bush.

“They have some very smart people at Chrysler and probably looked into a crystal ball and didn’t think this would end the way they wanted it to,” Kelly said.

NHTSA said in a statement that it’s pleased with Chrysler’s decision. The agency plans to keep investigating the issue as it reviews recall documentation from Chrysler.

NHTSA began investigating the Jeeps at the request of the Center for Auto Safety, a Washington, D.C., advocacy group. Clarence Ditlow, the center’s director, said the trailer hitch remedy should be tested by NHTSA before the repairs are made. He’s cautiously optimistic that the solution will make the Jeeps safer.

“We’re no longer arguing over whether Chrysler is going to do a recall, but we’re now discussing what we’re going to do,” he said.

Ditlow urged Chrysler to add Jeep Cherokee SUVs from 1993 through 2001 to the recall. The Cherokees are under investigation for the same problem.

Chrysler will begin notifying owners about the recall in about a month, the company said.

The last time an automaker defied a NHTSA recall request was early in 2011, when Ford refused to call back 1.2 million pickup trucks for defective air bags. Ford later agreed to the recall after NHTSA threatened to hold a rare public hearing on the issue.

In a statement on June 4, Chrysler said its review of nearly 30 years of data showed a low number of rear-impact crashes involving fire or a fuel leak in the affected Jeeps.

“The rate is similar to comparable vehicles produced and sold during the time in question,” the company said. It also said NHTSA left some similar vehicles out of its investigation.

But NHTSA found at least 32 rear-impact crashes and fires in Grand Cherokees that caused 44 deaths. It also found at least five rear crashes in Libertys that caused seven deaths. The agency calculated that the older Grand Cherokees and Libertys have fatal crash rates that are about double those of similar vehicles. It compared the Jeeps with the Chevrolet S10 Blazer, Ford Explorer, Toyota 4Runner, Isuzu Rodeo, Isuzu Trooper, Mitsubishi Montero, Suzuki Sidekick and Suzuki XL-7.

Among the 51 deaths was Remington “Remi” Walden, a 4-year-old boy from Bainbridge, Ga., who was killed when a 1999 Grand Cherokee driven by his aunt was hit from behind by a pickup truck in March, 2012. The child was on his way to a tennis lesson when the SUV was struck. The fuel tank leaked, engulfing the Jeep in flames and killing the boy, according to a lawsuit filed against Chrysler by his family.

“Numerous witnesses saw Remi struggling to escape and heard him screaming for help,” the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit alleges that Chrysler placed the gas tank in a “crush zone” behind the rear axle and knew the location was dangerous, and that the company failed to protect the gas tank against rupturing.

In court papers, Chrysler denied the allegations and said that the pickup truck driver’s negligence was the sole cause of the boy’s injuries.

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CLEVELAND – A mentally disabled woman and her young child were enslaved for more than a year, denied food and threatened with a pet python and pit bulls, and the woman was beaten and forced to get pain medication for her captors, authorities said Tuesday in announcing federal charges against three suspects.

The three invited the woman and her child, whose names were withheld, to live with them and, beginning in early 2011, forced the mother to do housework by threatening to hurt her and the girl, described as 5 or 6, federal authorities and Ashland police said.

The mother and child were freed in October after police investigated an abuse allegation one of the suspects made against her, authorities said, and they are doing well.

“The victim in this case is slowly recovering,” U.S. Attorney Steve Dettelbach said.

Jordie Callahan, 26, Jessica Hunt, 31, and Daniel J. “DJ” Brown, 33, all of Ashland, were charged with forced labor. They were being held, pending a federal court hearing. Callahan also was charged with tampering with a witness in the investigation.

No attorneys were listed for them in court records.

According to an FBI affidavit, the mother and child were denied food at times or given leftovers; on one occasion when they hadn’t eaten all day, the mother was given a plate of food and ordered to feed the pet dog.

The trio looted the woman’s bank account and public assistance and on several occasions injured her and ordered her to go to the emergency room for pain medication, according to the affidavit.

The woman told investigators the trio learned of her plan to try to escape and punished her by shaving her hair into a Mohawk and using a marker to write “slut,”"tramp” and “whore” on her face and chest. She was forced to clean up the hair without a broom or dust pan, according to the affidavit. The woman was forced to do house work and shop for her captors and clean up after pets, authorities said.

“They treated her with such cruelty that it is hard to comprehend,” Dettelbach said. “They tried to take away her human dignity.”

Police first got involved when the woman was charged with shoplifting a candy bar and asked to be jailed because the three suspects “had been mean to her,” said Ashland police Lt. Joel Icenhour.

Police checking into her claim went to the apartment after one of the suspects said it was the woman who was abusive. Authorities said the allegation was a ruse complete with a video staged by the suspects.

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Among the positions that could eventually open are those in the infantry, in armor units and on attack submarines, as well as in elite special operations units. The first of the closed combat jobs to become available might be on the Navy Riverine Force’s small craft, which the Navy says it wants to open to women later this year.

But the change will proceed far more slowly throughout most of the force. The integration of women into many of the units remains years in the future, officials told reporters at the Pentagon.

Defense officials said the individual plans have been reviewed by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey, and the services are now ready “move out” on implementing them.

In the near future, the plans call primarily for study of institutional and cultural factors of putting women into units closed to them under the 1994 combat exclusion policy, which former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta lifted in January.

In addition, a key step will be the establishment of gender-neutral physical and mental standards for each position, including infantry, artillery, armor and elite special operations forces.

The Army, which has hundreds of thousands of jobs in combat units closed to women, said in its plan that it would present gender-neutral standards to qualify for those positions during 2015.

“Our approach is integrated, it’s scientific, and it’s incremental (with) decisions points all along the way to get to the best soldier in 2020, and also expand these opportunities for women as we move forward,” said Lt. Gen. Howard Bromberg, U.S. Army deputy chief of staff for personnel matters.

The Air Force, which has fewer than 5,000 positions currently closed to women in special operations jobs, says it is moving toward allowing women in all of them — but because of joint operations, it must do so in consultation with SOCOM and the Army.

Because of the length of time needed to complete studies, as well as to recruit and train, five years will pass before women actually begin entering pararescue, special operations weather and other currently-closed Air Force jobs, an official said.

“We expect that between 1 January and 1 June, 2018, that we will be bringing women into these operational units,” said Brig. Gen. Gina Grosso, Air Force director of force management policy.

The Marine Corps, meanwhile, will begin testing 400 men and 400 women in five “proxy” tests to determine what physical abilities are needed for each occupational specialty, said Col. John Aytes, head of the Marine Corps military policy branch. The tests will include lifting tank and artillery shells and climbing over walls, Aytes said.

Maj. Gen. Bennet Sacolick, SOCOM director of force management and development, admitted concerns about integrating women because of the difficult missions special operators carry out in remote, rugged locations.

“At this point no decisions have been made,” he said. “We haven’t made any decisions whatsoever. We’re going to spend the next year collecting, analyzing data.”

Panetta and Dempsey forbade lowering of physical standards in order to ease women’s entry into combat units, but the services will have to settle on standards that will apply in many jobs.

After studying each position and its requirements, the services and U.S. Special Operations Command might still propose that women be excluded from some positions, but the exceptions would require approval from the secretary of defense and chairman of the joint chiefs.

Sacolick said servicemembers attached to Special Operations Command would be surveyed soon about their opinions on the prospect of women serving in their units. A potential lack of physical ability on the part of women servicemembers is less a concern to him, he said, than the social, cultural and behavioral challenges of integrating women into the elite units. Sacolick added that it was not the behavior of women that concerned him.

“I’m more concerned with the men, and their reactions to women in their formations,” he said.

Advocates of opening combat roles have pointed out that women have been exposed to combat throughout the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, even participating in intense fighting when assigned as military police or as members of female engagement teams that accompany combat patrols. About 150 women have been killed while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Top military leaders like Dempsey, meanwhile, have admitted that barring women from combat jobs consigns them to a separate class from the male majority in the armed forces, which could contribute to disrespect toward women.

The move to allow women into more combat jobs comes as the military is contending with a growing problem of sexual assault in the ranks. The Pentagon’s own statistics indicate the number of assaults has risen sharply in the last year.

In a memo released Tuesday, Hagel urged military officials to move forward with integrating women into combat units.

“The Department remains committed to removing all gender barriers, whenever possible,” he wrote, “and meeting our missions with the best and most capable personnel.”

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Twitter: @ChrisCarroll_

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FAIRPORT, Mich. – A wooden beam embedded at the bottom of northern Lake Michigan appears to have been there for centuries, underwater archaeologists announced Tuesday, a crucial finding as crews dig toward what they hope is the carcass of a French ship that disappeared while exploring the Great Lakes in the 17th Century.

Expedition leaders still weren’t ready to declare they had found a shipwreck or the long-lost Griffin. The ship, commanded by the French explorer La Salle, was never seen again after setting sail in September 1679 from an island near the entrance of Green Bay, in what is now northern Wisconsin, with a crew of a six and a cargo of furs.

But Michel L’Hour, director of France’s Department of Underwater Archaeological Research, said the timber appears to be a bowsprit, which is a spur or pole that extends from a vessel’s stem. It also appears to be attached to a hard surface below the lake bed.

“All the details could be interpreted as part of a bowsprit and there’s no details which contract this hypothesis,” said L’Hour, who inspected the beam Monday with two French colleagues. “It’s why it’s the main hypothesis now. A bowsprit which has been buried in the sediment of the lake for many centuries.”

Scientists and divers began excavating last week at the base of the wooden beam, hoping to determine whether it is part of the Griffin. Steve Libert, a diver and shipwreck enthusiast who has searched three decades for the Griffin, discovered the timber in 2001 and recently obtained state and federal permits to probe beneath the muddy surface.

The wooden beam extends 10.5 feet above the lake bed, and underwater excavators are opening a pit at the base of the beam to determine whether it’s attached to anything beneath. In another key development Tuesday, they reported that a probing device had detected a hard surface 18 to 20 feet below the lake bed.

“In essence, we have found a floor under that exposed wooden timber,” said Ken Vrana, the project manager. “We have more excavation to do before verifying what that surface is.”

Libert said he was excited by the reports and had “no doubt” the beam was part of a ship. But it remained uncertain when the team might be able to positively identify the vessel.

“I think that maybe Steve found the Griffin,” L’Hour said at a briefing for reporters. “I can’t be sure, which is why I’m waiting and waiting and waiting for the proof.”

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OGDEN, Utah – It was a quiet part of the Father’s Day Mass as about 300 people stood up in preparation for communion. A parishioner, known by many at the church as Ricky Jennings, entered through the glass doors in back, holding his wife Cheryl’s hand.

Seconds later, police say Jennings fired a single shot at the back of Cheryl’s father’s head, nearly killing him. The loud bang pierced the silence, sending people diving for cover beneath pews and the priest behind the altar.

“It was echoing in my head so loud,” said Rebecca Ory Hernandez, who was only a few feet away with her 5-year-old son. She grabbed the boy, threw him under the pew and got on top of him. She heard the pastor blurt out an expletive into his microphone. “I was waiting for another gunman,” she said.

The shooter ran from the church, the pastor and a half dozen other men close on his heels. Ory Hernandez and other parishioners went to James Evans. They used scarves and a shirt to help soak up the blood, and she cradled his head. His wife, Tara, who had been standing next to him, and others prayed.

“I’m OK, I’m OK,” Evans kept saying, as blood spilled from his mouth.

Meanwhile, Charles Richard Jennings Jr., 35, stole a truck from a nearby neighbor at gunpoint and led police on a highway chase, police said. He was caught hours later on foot after the truck ran out of gas.

Jennings was charged Tuesday with attempted murder. The Weber County attorney also charged him with two counts each of aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery and possession of a firearm by a restricted person.

Jennings made a brief court appearance by video. Bail was set at $105,000.

Police are still trying to determine why Jennings shot his father-in-law, said Ogden Police Lt. Danielle Croyle on Tuesday. They think he may have been drinking or on drugs, and detectives know the couple had a history of domestic disputes that may have triggered Sunday’s shooting, she said. But, she said Jennings has not given any specific confession as to why he shot Evans.

The Evans family, meanwhile, is grateful for a small miracle.

Evans, who turns 66 on Tuesday, was struck at the side of his head, the bullet going through near his ear and out his cheek and missing his brain, said Dr. Barbara Kerwin, the director of the intensive care unit at McDay-Dee Hospital in Ogden.

“He turned his head just at the right time,” his wife said Monday, crying at a hospital news conference. “If didn’t turn his head, he would have been hit in the back of the head and he would have been dead.”

He was in critical condition Monday but doctors say he’s expected to live, although he’ll need reconstructive surgery and rehab to learn to swallow and speak again, Kerwin said. He was awake on Monday, nodding yes and no, writing and using hand signals to communicate.

Jennings was booked on suspicion of attempted aggravated criminal homicide, aggravated robbery and possession of a firearm by a restricted user. Charges are expected to be filed Tuesday, and Jennings will appear by video for arraignment in Ogden, said Weber County deputy county attorney Dean Saunders.

Court records show Jennings has a criminal record going back to 1996, when he pleaded no contest to several traffic-related misdemeanors. Over the years, he’s pleaded no contest to felony charges of failing to yield to police and attempting to receive a stolen vehicle, and misdemeanor charges for traffic violations, criminal trespassing and theft. He’s also pleaded guilty to theft charges and a felony charge of attempting to tamper with a witness or juror.

Lt. Croyle said his wife, Cheryl, stayed inside the church after her husband fled. There is no indication she knew what her husband was going to do, and authorities don’t expect to file any charges against her, Croyle said.

After paramedics rushed James Evans to the hospital, the Rev. Erik Richtsteig returned to the brick church that sits on the east side of Ogden at the foot of a steep rock mountain called Jumpoff Canyon, surrounded by middle-class houses with manicured lawns and rose bushes.

As doctors operated on James Evans, who had recently accompanied the priest on a trip to the Holy Land in Jerusalem, Richtsteig told his congregation who the shooter was, and asked them to pray for the couple and their 3-year-old son.

Then, for those who stayed, he finished the Mass, explaining his reasons matter-of-factly, Ory Hernandez said.

“Evil will not prevail,” Richtsteig said.

The congregation is shaken, Richtsteig said Monday: “They were a mess – they were worshipping God and this man came in and did an act of violence.”

Ory Hernandez says she has cried, enraged that violence came to the house of worship, and was at a loss for words when her son told her, “I didn’t know there were any bad guys in this town, mommy.”

But it won’t stop her from coming back to church.

“The bad guy doesn’t get to win this time,” she said.

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NEW YORK – The New York Police Department’s widespread spying programs directed at Muslims have undermined free worship by innocent people and should be declared unconstitutional, religious leaders and civil rights advocates said Tuesday after the filing of a federal lawsuit.

“Our mosque should be an open, religious and spiritual sanctuary, but NYPD spying has turned it into a place of suspicion and censorship,” Hamid Hassan Raza, an imam named as a plaintiff, told a rally outside police headquarters shortly after the suit was filed in federal court in Brooklyn.

The city’s legal department responded with a statement calling the intelligence-gathering an appropriate and legal tactic that helps keep the city safe from terrorism.

The suit asks a judge to order the nation’s largest police department to stop their surveillance and destroy any related records. It’s the third significant legal action filed against the NYPD Muslim surveillance program since details of the spy program were revealed in a series of Associated Press reports starting in 2011.

The lawsuit alleged that Muslim religious leaders in New York have modified their sermons and other behavior so as not to draw additional police attention. The suit was filed against Mayor Michael Bloomberg, police commissioner Raymond Kelly and the deputy commissioner of intelligence, David Cohen.

“Through the Muslim surveillance program, the NYPD has imposed an unwarranted badge of suspicion and stigma on law-abiding Muslim New Yorkers, including plaintiffs in this action,” according to the complaint, which was filed on behalf of religious and community leaders, mosques, and a charitable organization. The plaintiffs are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility project at CUNY School of Law and the New York Civil Liberties Union.

Bloomberg and Kelly have defended the department’s actions as necessary to identify and thwart terrorist plots, though a senior NYPD official testified last year that the unit at the heart of the program never generated any leads or triggered a terrorism investigation.

“The NYPD’s strategic approach to combating terrorism is legal, appropriate and designed to keep our city safe,” a top city lawyer, Celeste Koeleveld, said in a statement Tuesday. “The NYPD recognizes the critical importance of `on-the-ground’ research, as police need to be informed about where a terrorist may go while planning or what they may do after an attack, as the Boston Marathon bombing proved.”

The lawyer apparently was referencing reports that the Boston attackers had contemplated blowing up their remaining explosives in New York before one of the brother was killed and the other captured.

“Cities cannot play catch-up in gathering intelligence about a terrorist threat,” Koeleveld added. “Our results speak for themselves, with New York being the safest big city in America and the police having helped thwart several terrorist plots in recent years.”

The lawsuit, which accuses the city of violating the First and Fourteenth amendments, is the latest legal challenge to the activities of the NYPD Intelligence Division. A year ago, the California-based civil rights organization Muslim Advocates sued the NYPD over its counterterrorism programs. This year, civil rights lawyers urged a judge to stop the NYPD from routinely observing Muslims in restaurants, bookstores and mosques, saying the practice violates a landmark 1985 court settlement that restricted the kind of surveillance used against war protesters in the 1960s and `70s.

The lawsuit describes a pattern of NYPD spying directed at Muslims in New York since the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Raza said he began taping his sermons at a Brooklyn mosque because of concerns that the NYPD was monitoring what he said and would take his words out of context. In addition, Raza and other religious leaders became highly suspicious of new members eager to join their communities because of the department’s rampant use of secret informants, the complaint said.

Since news spread that an informant had infiltrated Raza’s mosque, “attendance has declined, and everyone in the congregation has become afraid to talk to the newcomers,” Raza told dozens of supporters of the lawsuit at Tuesday’s rally. “A once-vibrant community has become even more scared and suspicious. I cannot believe this has happened in a country that I know and love.”

The lawsuit also details how the NYPD used an informant to spy on 20-year-old Asad Dandia, a college student who ran a charitable organization called Muslims Giving Back. Dandia’s group gave food to the needy. An NYPD informant, Shamiur Rahman, acknowledged last year in an interview with the AP that he had spied on Dandia on others.

The informant had approached Dandia, claiming he “had a very dark past and he wanted to be a better practicing Muslim,” Dandia said at the rally. He invited the informant to volunteer and they “bonded,” he added.

Once the he learned of Rahman’s true identify, he said, “I felt betrayed and hurt because someone I had taken as a friend and brother was lying to me and used me.”

Dandia told the crowd that the charity’s ability to raise money and help the community has declined because it’s been targeted by NYPD counterterrorism programs.

The plaintiffs asked a judge to appoint a monitor to ensure the police department follows the law. This is second time this month that the prospect of a court-appointed monitor has been raised for the NYPD. The department’s stop-and-frisk tactic that overwhelming targets minorities has come under fire, with a trial recently ending in federal court that could decide whether the policing practice is unconstitutional. If the judge rules against the NYPD in the stop-and-frisk case, the Justice Department said it would support appointing a federal monitor. Kelly and Bloomberg defend that program as well and have said federal oversight would put the city in danger.

Asked about the recent uproar once-secret surveillance by the National Security Agency, Kelly told reporters that he believes most Americans are accepting of the fact that the government collects data on phone calls and Internet usage but deserved to know it was happening.

“I don’t think it ever should have been made secret,” he said.

—

Contact the Washington investigative team at DCinvestigations(at)ap.org. Follow Goldman and Sullivan at http://twitter.com/adamgoldmandap and http://twitter.com/esullivanap

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.

NEW YORK – U.S. stocks were up in early trading Tuesday, boosted by government reports of gains in home construction and low inflation. Expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep in place programs meant to prop up the economy also drove the market higher.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 75 points, or 0.5 percent, to 15,253 after the first hour of trading.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index edged up five points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,644. All 10 industry groups in the index rose, led by telecommunications.

The Commerce Department said that the pace of new home building was up in May, helped by more buyers and a scarcity of houses for sale.

The Fed has had an outsized effect on the stock market in recent weeks, with major indexes getting yanked back and forth after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said May 22 that the central bank could pull back on its bond-buying program, which is meant to help the economy by driving investors into stocks and keeping interest rates low. Fed policymakers began meeting Tuesday, but it won’t be until Wednesday that they announce their latest policy decisions.

For many investors, Tuesday was just a holding pattern ahead of Wednesday’s Fed news.

“The big wind blowing is what’s coming from the Fed meeting, and right now the wind is not blowing,” said Brian Doe, wealth adviser at Gratus Capital in Atlanta. “We have this little calm where everybody can be optimistic.”

Despite Tuesday’s report on a pickup in home building, many analysts think Fed leaders will determine that the economy is still weak enough to need Fed stimulus, which has generally made them send stocks higher. That’s largely because the government’s jobs report earlier this month showed that, while the U.S., economy is still adding jobs, it’s not at a rate fast enough to bring down the unemployment level.

The Labor Department reported Tuesday that U.S. consumer prices rose in May, but only slightly. That’s also likely to weigh in on the Fed’s decision making: The Fed knows that its stimulus programs can boost inflation. If inflation is in check, that gives the Fed more leeway to continue the programs.

Stocks were up throughout most of Europe, despite reminders that the economy there is still far from healed. European car sales hit their lowest level for the month of May in 20 years. In Greece, bickering continued over the prime minister’s decision last week to shut down state TV in an effort to try to save money.

In other U.S. stock trading, the Nasdaq composite index rose 15 points, or 0.4 percent, to 3,467.

Among stocks making big moves:

-Hormel Foods, the maker of Spam and Skippy peanut butter, slipped after the company said it expects lower profits for the year. The stock fell $2.01, or 5 percent, to $38.63.

-Jack in the Box was up after announcing it will close about 20 percent of the Qdoba Mexican Grill restaurants that it owns. Jack in the Box rose 97 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $37.96.

-Signet Jewelers, which runs the Kay Jewelers and Jared brands, rose after announcing that it plans to buy back up to $350 million of its own stock. Signet rose $1.05, or 1.5 percent, to $69.02.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.

NEW YORK – It’s all about the Fed. Still.

U.S. stocks moved higher Tuesday, helped by news of a pickup in home building and low inflation. But the Federal Reserve loomed large, with investors trying to guess what the central bank will say Wednesday about how long it plans to keep stimulus programs in place. For many, Tuesday was just a holding pattern as they waited for Wednesday’s announcement.

The market gains were steady for most of the day. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was up 11 points, or 0.7 percent, at 1,650 at mid-afternoon. All 10 industry sectors rose, led by telecommunications.

The vibe on Tuesday came from a familiar template. The Federal Reserve has had an outsized effect on the stock market in recent weeks, with the major indexes getting yanked back and forth as investors guess how long the Fed will keep supporting the U.S. economy. Some investors say it’s troubling that the market is relying more on the central bank for direction than economic fundamentals. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke startled markets when he said May 22 that the central bank could pull back on one of those programs, in which the Fed buys bonds to keep interest rates low and drive investors into the stock market.

“Here we are again,” said Gregg Fisher, founder and chief investment officer of Gerstein Fisher in New York. “We don’t know what the actions will be. We’re all trying to figure that out.”

Analysts predicted that Bernanke would use his Wednesday news conference to cast a reassuring tone and make it clear that the Fed won’t pull back on any of its programs until it’s sure the economy can handle it. He’s also likely to drop more hints about when the Fed could start trimming its stimulus programs. Some said that recent market volatility hasn’t been caused by fear that the Fed will pull back on its stimulus programs – most everyone expects that to happen eventually. It’s that investors don’t want to be surprised when it does.

Brian Doe, wealth adviser at Gratus Capital in Atlanta, described the Fed’s policy announcements as “the big wind” that could push the market around.

“Right now the wind is not blowing,” Doe said. “We have this little calm where everybody can be optimistic.”

The pace of new home building increased in May, helped by more buyers coming to the market and a scarcity of houses for sale. Investors described the report as good enough to send the market up, but not good enough to force the Fed to have to immediately slash its stimulus efforts.

U.S. consumer prices also last month, but only slightly. That’s also likely to influence the Fed’s decision. The Fed knows that its stimulus programs can lead to inflation. If inflation is in check, that gives the Fed more leeway to continue the programs.

Stocks were up throughout most of Europe, despite reminders that the economy there is still far from healed. European car sales hit their lowest level for the month of May in 20 years. In Greece, bickering continued over the prime minister’s decision last week to shut down state TV in an effort to save money.

In other U.S. stock trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 152 points, or 1 percent, to 15,335. The Nasdaq composite index rose 31 points, or 0.9 percent, to 3,483.

The Russell 2000, an index of small-company stocks, rose 13 points, or 1.4 percent, to 1,001. The index hasn’t closed above 1,000 before.

Among stocks making big moves:

-Hormel Foods, the maker of Spam and Skippy peanut butter, slipped after the company said it expects lower profits for the year. The stock fell $1.73, or 4.2 percent, to $38.92.

-Jack in the Box was up after announcing it will close about 20 percent of the Qdoba Mexican Grill restaurants that it owns. Jack in the Box rose $1.40, or 3.8 percent, to $38.39.

-Signet Jewelers, which runs the Kay Jewelers and Jared brands, rose after announcing that it plans to buy back up to $350 million of its own stock. Signet rose $1.43, or 2.1 percent, to $69.40.

-Newfield Exploration was up after a Stifel Nicolaus analyst boosted the stock to “Buy” from “Hold.” Shares of the oil and natural gas company rose 79 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $23.80.

-Sprint and Dish Network were both up after Sprint sued Dish Network to try to stop its purchase of wireless data network provider Clearwire. Sprint Nextel was up 10 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $7.32. Dish Network was up 48 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $39.31.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.