In the Nation

WASHINGTON - President Obama honored the nation's top police officers on Saturday, paying tribute to their sacrifices and "quiet courage" in the line of duty.

Obama, joined by Vice President Biden, praised the winners of a national police association award at a White House ceremony that honored 34 officers who showed valor in an assortment of tense standoffs, shootings, and rescues.

Recipients included 15 Detroit officers who confronted a gunman who opened fire in a local precinct station; five Las Vegas officers who stopped an assailant who shot an officer at a Wal-Mart; and five New York City police detectives who rescued two cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point who had become disoriented while rock climbing. - AP

GREENSBORO, N.C. - The historic action that four North Carolina college students took that led to desegregation at lunch counters shows what young people can do to change their world for the better, first lady Michelle Obama said during a commencement speech Saturday.

Obama addressed a crowd of about 15,000 at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, one of the state university system's historically black schools.

In 1960, four of the school's students sat down at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter a few miles away, asked to be served coffee, and were refused. The company eventually was forced to end separate treatment for black and white customers.

Obama steered clear of references to her husband's reelection bid, though the audience cheered when the first lady told graduates: "We have the responsibility to protect the ground that has already been won, because it can just as easily be lost." - AP

CHICAGO - Jurors shrugged off Jennifer Hudson's star status and insisted it played no role in their decision to convict her former brother-in-law of killing the Oscar winner's mother, brother, and nephew.

"This wasn't about her," juror Jacinta Gholston said. "It was a case about William Balfour."

Hudson and her sister, Julia, released a statement late Friday extending a prayer to the Balfour family, saying, "We have all suffered terrible loss in this tragedy." - AP