Woman knocked down, unconscious at Wal-Mart

ORANGE CITY, Fla. -- A mob of shoppers rushing for a sale on DVD players trampled the first woman in line and knocked her unconscious as they scrambled for the shelves at a Wal-Mart Supercenter. Patricia VanLester had her eye on a $29 DVD player, but when the siren blared at 6 a.m. Friday announcing the start to the post-Thanksgiving sale, the 41-year-old was knocked to the ground by the frenzy of shoppers behind her. Paramedics called to the store found VanLester unconscious on top of a DVD player. Hospital officials said Saturday they did not have any information on her condition.

Ballistics link two of 11 highway shootings

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Tests on bullet fragments definitively link only two of 11 shootings along a five-mile stretch of highway circling Columbus, authorities said Saturday. A Franklin County sheriff's deputy said two fragments were "a definite match," but not enough was recovered from similar shootings to verify further matches. The string of highway violence began in May, but most of the shootings have taken place in the last seven weeks.

N.D. kidnapping, Minn. abduction occur close by

FERTILE, Minn. -- A teenager told police she was kidnapped while leaving work at a store 45 miles from where a North Dakota college student recently disappeared, but authorities said Saturday the two apparent abductions were not related. The latest reported kidnapping, outside a grocery store as the girl was leaving work Friday, had raised speculation about a connection to Nov. 22 disappearance of Dru Sjodin, a University of North Dakota student who was last heard from outside the Grand Forks, N.D., mall where she worked.

Billy Graham defends Gibson film on Christ

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Rev. Billy Graham gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up to Mel Gibson's biblical epic, "The Passion of the Christ," after a private screening with the movie star. The film, which describes the hours before Jesus Christ's crucifixion, has generated complaints from some Jewish leaders, who say it suggests Jews were responsible for Christ's death. Conservative Catholics who have seen the film have called it powerful. "The film is faithful to the Bible's teaching that we are all responsible for Jesus' death, because we all have sinned," the 85-year-old evangelist said. "It is our sins that caused his death, not any particular group."

Civil War-era shipwreck starts showing richesJACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Historical records indicate the side-wheel steamer SS Republic was carrying 20,000 gold coins -- worth $120 million to $180 million today -- when a hurricane sent it to the bottom of the Atlantic in 1865. But there could be more. Based on early examination of the sunken wreck by the crew of the ship Odyssey Explorer, a coin expert thinks there could be close to 30,000 gold pieces down there, 1,700 feet beneath the surface. The Republic wreck, about 100 miles southeast of Savannah, was made in July after more than a decade of searching.

-- From wire reports