Senate confirms Goss as new chief of CIA

WASHINGTON -- The Republican-led Senate approved President Bush's choice to head the CIA, Rep. Porter Goss, over protests from some Democrats who said he has too many Republican ties for a job that requires independence. The nomination of the Florida congressman, who had planned to retire after eight terms, was confirmed Wednesday by a vote of 77-17. A former CIA and Army intelligence officer during the 1960s, Goss would be only the second congressman to take over the helm of the CIA, following former President and House member George H.W. Bush.

Family confirms identity of Iraq hostage's body

MARIETTA, Ga. -- The family of hostage Jack Hensley has received confirmation that the headless body handed over to U.S. officials in Iraq is his, a family spokesman said Wednesday. The family was told the news Wednesday, the day Hensley would have turned 49, Cobb County police spokesman Robert Quigley said outside Hensley's Marietta home. The body was handed over to American authorities in Baghdad, the U.S. Embassy said.

Two reported killed walk away from plane crash

KALISPELL, Mont. -- Two people who were reported killed in a plane crash on Monday emerged alive from rugged Montana wilderness Wednesday, authorities said. The two U.S. Forest Service employees reached a highway after making their way on foot through mountains, said a spokeswoman for the Flathead National Forest. Three others died in the crash.

Attorney: Rosa Parks has dementia, can't testify

DETROIT -- Civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks has dementia and should not be forced to answer questions in her lawsuit over a rap song named for her, her doctor has told a federal magistrate. Parks, 91, rarely has been seen in public since 2001. Her attorneys said this summer that she has been in frail health, but Monday's court filing is the first public description of her health problems. Parks' lawsuit says that the 1998 song "Rosa Parks" by OutKast violated her publicity and trademark rights and defamed her.

Calif. attorney general charges 20 dentists

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Twenty dentists were charged Wednesday with performing unnecessary and shoddy work on healthy teeth, skimping on anesthesia and filing phony bills to a state health insurance program for the poor. The dentists are accused of defrauding the health program of $4.5 million. They also face charges of fraud, theft, child abuse, elder abuse and assault, Attorney General Bill Lockyer said.

-- From wire reports