In the Nation

WASHINGTON - President Obama led a Kennedy Center crowd in a performance of "Happy Birthday" last night, capping a star-studded musical birthday tribute to ailing Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

The Massachusetts Democrat was honored at the Kennedy Center at an event hosted by comedian Bill Cosby. Caroline Kennedy presented her uncle with her family's Profile in Courage Award, paying tribute to his efforts to reform the U.S. health-care system.

Kennedy, who turned 77 last month, is battling brain cancer. He returned to Washington for a White House health-care summit last week from Florida, where he has been continuing his treatment and physical rehabilitation.

- AP

LOS ANGELES - Police following an anonymous tip sent by fax to a television station found a dead woman in the trunk of her car, and are looking for the sender and two men alleged in the message to have been involved in the crime.

Officers discovered the body Saturday in a Valley Village neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley soon after being notified by KTLA-TV staff members about the faxed letter, Officer April Harding said. The sender described himself or herself only as "someone trying to help."

The sender wrote that a woman was killed Feb. 28 and that her body was in a black trash bag in a car. The sender said the car would be within a two-square-mile area of a specific address; police found it several blocks away. "She should be reported missing by her family," said the letter provided by KTLA.

- AP

RICHMOND, Va. - What began 60 years ago as a humble television store in this sleepy Southern capital ended yesterday as Circuit City closed its doors for good - its 567 remaining U.S. stores to be left broom clean and vacant.

For the last month and a half, a group of four liquidators have conducted going-out-of-business sales for what was the nation's second-largest consumer-electronics retailer, selling its remaining $1.7 billion worth of inventory weeks sooner than expected.

In its wake, Richmond-based Circuit City Stores Inc. will leave more than 18 million square feet of vacant space in a faltering real estate market. And more than 34,000 employees, some who worked through the liquidation announced in January, will be jobless.

- AP

The average price of gasoline continues to creep upward and is about 1.8 cents a gallon higher now than it was two weeks ago, according to the national Lundberg Survey of fuel prices. The U.S. average price for regular gasoline, according to the survey released yesterday, is $1.96 a gallon.

A Connecticut man already accused of keeping a collection of wild animals including a river otter and a two-toed sloth has been cited for owning an endangered ape. Pierce Onthank of Stamford is charged with illegal possession of a primate for keeping a siamang, a type of gibbon. The charge against Onthank, who could face a fine of less than $500, comes a month after a Stamford woman, Charla Nash, was mauled by a 200-pound chimpanzee owned by a friend.