QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Without the team, there could be no Medal of Honor. I wear this medal for my team.”

Kyle White, former U.S. Army sergeant, who became the seventh living Iraq or Afghanistan veteran to receive the Medal of Honor for his actions after his 14-member team was ambushed by the Taliban

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Man says he’s God, rams into TV station

TOWSON, Md. — A man claiming to be God rammed a truck through the front of a Baltimore-area television station Tuesday, leaving a gaping hole as reporters and other staff members fled the building.

Police took a suspect into custody Tuesday afternoon, about five hours after the crash, officials said at a news conference. The suspect was not injured but has been taken for mental-health treatment, Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz said.

Michael Marion was in his office off WMAR-TV’s lobby when he heard someone rattling violently against the security door about 11:45 a.m. The man demanded to be let in, claiming “I am God, I am God,” Marion said.

“I heard a series of crashes,” Marion said. “The next thing, I looked in the lobby, and the only thing between truck and the lobby was the final door. I heard one final crash. I looked through the door, and by then the truck was pulling in the lobby.”

Trials set for bombing suspect’s friends

BOSTON — Three college friends of the Boston Marathon bombing suspect will be tried separately, but those trials do not need to be moved out of Massachusetts, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. Judge Douglas Woodlock ruled that Azamat Tazhayakov will stand trial June 30, followed by Dias Kadyrbayev on Sept. 8 and Robel Phillipos on Sept. 29. Their lawyers had asked the federal judge to move the trials out of state, saying that overwhelming media coverage of the case would mean that their clients won’t receive fair trials in Massachusetts. Woodlock said the defendants could receive fair trials in Boston, or if need be, in Springfield, 80 miles west of Boston. Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov are Kazakhstan nationals who are charged with tampering with evidence for reportedly removing Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s laptop and a backpack containing fireworks from his college dorm room shortly after last year’s fatal bombing.

Court asked to bar Arizona abortion law

SAN FRANCISCO — Planned Parenthood on Tuesday asked a federal appeals court to roll back Arizona limits on drug-induced abortions that the women’s health advocacy group said are among the most stringent in the nation.

In March, a federal judge in Tucson refused to block the statute, which bars medicinal abortions after the seventh week of pregnancy. A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco then ordered the state not to enforce the law while an appeal is pending. That court heard arguments about the law Tuesday.

Alice Clapman, an attorney for Planned Parenthood, which is representing Arizona abortion providers in a bid to overturn the law, said the statute illegally places an undue burden on women seeking abortions by requiring them to pay more, travel farther for an abortion and potentially face greater risks.

The Arizona law, while allowing surgical abortions, prohibits previously allowed medicinal abortions, including the use of the drug RU-486, in the eighth and ninth weeks of pregnancy.

Robert Ellman, an attorney representing the state’s public health department, said women are guaranteed the right to terminate their pregnancies, not the right to choose the method by which they can do so.

Tax-break bill moves forward in Senate

WASHINGTON — A bill to renew more than 50 expired tax breaks for businesses and individuals cleared a key hurdle in the Senate on Tuesday, giving hope to millions of taxpayers who will otherwise be hit with tax increases next spring.

The Senate voted 96-3 to open debate on the bill, which has strong backing from the business community but would add about $85 billion to the budget deficit.

Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., voted with the majority; Republican Sen. John Boozman, who last month underwent emergency heart surgery, did not vote.

Congress routinely renews the tax breaks, but they were allowed to expire at the start of the year. The Senate bill would extend the tax breaks through 2015.

The package includes a business tax credit for research and development and a sales tax deduction for individuals who live in states without an income tax. There is a tax credit for using wind farms and other renewable energy sources to produce electricity, and several provisions that allow businesses to write off capital investments more quickly.