Jade Walker

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington D.C., has officially opened to the public. The memorial will be formally dedicated on Aug. 28 — the anniversary of his 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech — and will cap a five-day celebration that could draw as many as 250,000 people.

The FBI has captured William Walter Asher III, a convicted killer who escaped from prison and spent three decades on the lam. The case broke wide open when Asher’s mother put the word out that she wanted to speak with him one last time before she died.

Authorities along the Atlantic seaboard are closely monitoring Hurricane Irene’s projected path, and preparing for the powerful storm’s arrival later in the week. The first major hurricane of the season became a Category 2 storm on Aug. 22, and could strengthen even more in the coming days.

The areas surrounding the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan may be uninhabitable for decades. That’s the word from the Japanese government after a survey found dangerously high levels of radioactive contamination.

Passengers who rode on Amtrak’s northeast regional train No. 171 last Wednesday  may have been exposed to the measles. Virginia health officials issued the alert after a foreign visitor came down with the highly contagious illness.

After six months of civil war, Libyan rebels swept into Tripoli on Sunday and laid claim to most of the city. Government troops and snipers loyal to Moammar Gadhafi continued to put up a last-ditch resistance near his compound, though it is unknown if the Libyan leader was still inside.

The FBI is investigating a threat made against talk show host David Letterman on a popular Internet destination for radical Muslims.

Barack Obama’s approval rating on the economy has fallen to the lowest level of his presidency. That’s the latest word from a Gallup poll released on Wednesday.

In June, the Food and Drug Administration released nine new warning labels that depict in graphic detail the negative health effects of tobacco use. Now, four of the five largest US tobacco companies want a judge to stop the government from using them.

The attempted kidnapping of a six-year-old New Mexico girl was thwarted on Monday when a concerned citizen jumped into action and chased after the perpetrator.