The deaths of five members of a Utah family found last month do not appear to be accidental or natural and may be the result of poison, search warrants indicate.

The bodies, including three children, were found covered in bedding in a single bedroom with cups of liquid next to them, according to the warrant filed in Utah court.

Police in Springville aren't saying who killed the Strack family or whether one of the parents may have been involved. Toxicology results have not determined an exact cause of death, but search warrants obtained Wednesday say the family was probably poisoned.

Benjamin and Kristi Strack were in bed, with children ages 11 through 14 lying around them, tucked in bedding up to their necks, according to the search warrants. Kristi Strack had a red liquid coming out of her mouth. Some of the bodies looked to have been positioned after they died on Sept. 27. 

"It is probable that these deaths were not accidental or natural in any way," Det. Jeff Ellsworth wrote in the...

A former TV pitchman in Utah is facing federal charges that he chased and kicked an owl while in a motorized paraglider, prosecutors said.

The purported incident was taped and surfaced online last year.

Dell "Super Dell" Schanze was charged Tuesday with using an aircraft to harass wildlife and pursuing a migratory bird, both misdemeanors, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Utah.

Authorities said the 2011 action by Schanze, 45, violated the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1919.

Schanze was a pitchman for Totally Awesome Computers, a Utah retail chain that closed its doors in 2006, the Associated Press reported. He is also a paragliding instructor who came under fire when one of his rookie students died in a crash in Imperial Beach in San Diego County last year.

Schanze faces up to one year in jail and a $100,000 fine for using an aircraft to harass wildlife and up to six months in jail and a $5,000 fine for pursuing a migratory bird, authorities said.

Authorities are also...

Threats have been made against several students who belong to the same Native American tribe as the 15-year-old who gunned down several classmates before shooting himself inside a Washington high school last week, tribe and school officials said Wednesday.

Jaylen Fryberg, a member of a prominent family within the Tulalip Tribe, opened fire on five classmates inside the cafeteria of Marysville-Pilchuck High School on Oct. 24, killing two and seriously wounding three others. 

The tribe denounced Fryberg's actions on Wednesday and expressed concern about threats lobbed at Native American students in the school district.

"While some have been directed at Native children, we are concerned for the safety of all of the children. Many of our kids are fearful to return to school, and some parents are reluctant to send them," the statement read. "The Tulalip Tribes denounce the horrific actions of Jaylen Fryberg. ... All of the young people he attacked were his friends, and two were his cousins....

Outgoing Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. said Wednesday that there was an obvious need for "wholesale change" in the Ferguson, Mo., Police Department.

The Justice Department is conducting a broad investigation into the practices of the Police Department following the Aug. 9 fatal police shooting of an unarmed black 18-year-old, Michael Brown. That investigation focuses on alleged patterns of racial discrimination and on how officers in the predominantly white department use force and search and arrest suspects.

Local and federal authorities are also continuing to investigate the shooting of Brown by Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson to determine whether to pursue criminal charges. A St. Louis County grand jury is expected to decide by mid-November whether to indict Wilson.

In a question-and-answer session with a newspaper columnist at the Washington Ideas Forum, Holder would not say what the reforms should be or discuss potential leadership changes at the department. But he did say, "I...

A Colorado man who made national headlines after vanishing from a Denver Broncos game Thursday night has been found safe, Denver police said Tuesday night.

Paul Kitterman was located in Pueblo, Colo., police said.

Authorities said no foul play was involved in Kitterman's disappearance. 

No additional details were released. Police said any additional information would have to come from Kitterman’s family, which could not immediately be reached for comment.

Kitterman, 53, is from Kremmling, a town of 1,400 people about two hours northwest of Denver. 

He attended the game with his stepson, Jarod Tonneson.

Tonneson went to the bathroom at halftime, and when he returned, Kitterman was gone. Family and authorities had been looking for him since.

Follow Ryan Parker for breaking news at @theryanparker and on Facebook.

A 13-story rocket bound for the International Space Station exploded just after liftoff Tuesday evening off the coast of Virginia, marking the first time a resupply mission contracted by NASA to a private company has failed.

Orbital Sciences Corp.’s unmanned Antares rocket, which departed from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, was carrying a Cygnus capsule with about 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments.

The explosion took place seconds after the rocket's launch at 6:22 p.m. Eastern time. Nobody was injured, but the craft and the flight facility sustained significant damage, officials said.

A few hours later, Orbital and NASA officials said at a news conference they had no early indications of what caused the problem.

Frank Culbertson, Orbital’s executive vice president, said that after things “began to go wrong,” a safety officer sent a destruct command to the rocket. He could not say how much of the explosion was caused by the failure and how...