KRGV.com

DALLAS (AP) The deal hasn't even been announced yet but some consumer advocates are already expressing concerns about the merger of American Airlines and US Airways. People familiar with the agreement say the airlines' two boards agreed to the merger late Wednesday. The Consumer Travel Alliance says that with just four big airlines instead of five, it will be easier to raise fares.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) President Barack Obama has left Washington to enlist the support of Americans in getting Congress to back causes he listed in his State of the Union address. Obama pitched his plan to jump-start manufacturing during a Wednesday visit to a North Carolina auto parts plant. On Thursday he'll promote expanded access to pre-school during a visit to a school near Atlanta.

BIG BEAR, Calif. (AP) A California sheriff says there wasn't a deliberate effort to start the fire that destroyed a mountain cabin where an ex-police officer was apparently holed up. The San Bernardino County sheriff says his deputies did lob pyrotechnic tear gas into the cabin. The cause of the fire is being investigated. And officials have yet to confirm that the charred body recovered is that of Christopher Dorner. He's believed responsible for four deaths.

SYDNEY (AP) Australia's has canceled a planned visit by North Korean diplomats in the wake of the regime's recent nuclear test. Officials from the secretive nation had been scheduled to visit Canberra (KAN'-behr-uh) this weekend to try to reopen its embassy. North Korea's nuclear testing has drawn international condemnation.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Epic Records is apologizing for the release of a remix leaked over the weekend with a vulgar lyric by rapper Lil Wayne that has offended the family of Emmett Till. The African American 14-year-old was tortured, mutilated and shot in the head in Mississippi in 1955 after being accused of whistling at a white woman. The remix contains a crude sexual reference to the Till case. Epic says the official version of the song won't.