BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- A line of severe storms swept across the Southeast on Thursday, damaging homes and businesses in at least three states. No injuries were reported.

In Alabama, at least 15 school systems released students early, while others held students late as squalls passed. Winds blew a piece of metal roofing off Hamilton High School, about 90 miles northwest of Birmingham.

"For 10 minutes, it was pretty good wind with lightning and thunder and rain blowing sideways," said Todd Page, who works at a car dealership in Hamilton.

There were no confirmed reports of tornadoes in Alabama but winds gusting up to 60 mph flipped a mobile home, said George Grabryan, emergency management director in Lauderdale County. A house and a building in the rural county were also damaged.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A former Alaska legislator convicted of taking bribes to push legislation for a major natural gas pipeline was sentenced Thursday to 3 1/2 years in federal prison.

Former state Rep. Vic Kohring continued to proclaim his innocence and read a statement in court repeating his claim that the judge should have removed himself from the case.

Kohring was convicted in November of accepting at least $2,600 from executives of an influential Alaska company that provided engineering, construction and facility maintenance services to oil producers.

Prosecutors say Kohring used VECO Corp. CEO Bill Allen as a human ATM machine, tapping him for $600 to $700 at a time. One such transaction was caught on video by FBI agents in March 2006.

After the sentencing, Kohring acknowledged only that he had been naive.

"I should not have taken the gifts even though they were from a longtime friend," he said.

Kohring is one of three former Republican state lawmakers indicted in the VECO probe, and the second convicted.

Allen and Rick Smith, a former VECO vice president, have pleaded guilty to bribery charges. Their sentencings have been delayed as they continue to work as prosecution witnesses in the ongoing federal investigation of corruption in Alaska politics.

BENSALEM, Pa. -- Police say they had no trouble tracking down a robbery suspect, because the victims had taken his picture while chatting with him at a bar a short time before the theft.

The suspect, Andre Smith, struck up a conversation with a group of women at a bachelorette party at the Bensalem Township taproom early Sunday morning, the township's public safety director, Fred Harran, said Wednesday. The women were taking photos of each other when Smith jumped in front of the camera, Harran said.

Smith later was ejected from the bar for allegedly harassing customers.

When two women in the group left the bar to go to a nearby convenience store, Smith robbed them of their purses, Harran said. The women recognized Smith -- who apparently didn't recognize them -- and gave investigators a copy of their photo, Harran said.

Later Sunday, a detective went around to local apartment complexes looking for Smith and spotted him, Harran said.

Smith was arrested on robbery and theft charges and is being held on $50,000 bail. Electronic court records did not list an attorney for him.

BILLINGS, Mont. -- A federal judge in Montana has rejected a request by the government to delay a lawsuit seeking to place the gray wolf back on the endangered species list, saying he's "unwilling to risk more deaths."

At least 39 of the Northern Rockies' 1,500 gray wolves have been killed since they lost federal protection in March. That action placed wolves under the authority of state wildlife agencies in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.

The three states have relaxed rules for killings wolves that harass or harm livestock. The states are also planning public hunts later this year -- the first in decades.

Environmental and animal rights groups sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last week, claiming the loss of federal protection threatens the wolf's successful recovery. They also asked for a court injunction to restore federal control over wolves while the case is pending.

In rejecting the agency's request for a two-week extension in the case, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy set a hearing for May 29 in Missoula.

"The court is unwilling to risk more deaths by delaying its decision on plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction," Molloy wrote in Wednesday's court order.

ATLANTA -- More than half of U.S. adults with diabetes also have arthritis, raising a serious obstacle for diabetic patients urged to exercise, according to a government study.

The survey of nearly 800,000 people is the first extensive look at the overlap between the two conditions, said Dr. John Klippel, president of the Arthritis Foundation.

And its findings highlight a significant challenge: Most diabetics are told exercise is important to their health, but experts say many of them don't do it.

People with diabetes who exercise have better control of their blood sugar and a much lower risk of heart disease complications. But the new research suggests many diabetics see themselves as unable to exercise because of arthritis, said Julia Simard, a Harvard School of Public Health researcher who has studied rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes.

"If you have this perception of ill health, it may affect your willingness to be active," said Simard, who was not involved in the new research.

More than 46 million Americans have some form of arthritis, and nearly 21 million have diabetes. Other research indicates exercise is important in managing both conditions.

WASHINGTON -- Cindy McCain says she will never make her tax returns public even if her husband wins the White House and she becomes the first lady.

"You know, my husband and I have been married 28 years and we have filed separate tax returns for 28 years. This is a privacy issue. My husband is the candidate," Cindy McCain, wife of Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting John McCain, said in an interview aired on NBC's "Today" on Thursday.

Asked if she would release her tax returns if she was first lady, Cindy McCain said: "No."

The Arizona senator released his tax return last month, reporting he had a total income of $405,409 in 2007 and paid $84,460 in federal income taxes. He files his return separately from his wife, an heiress to a Phoenix-based beer distributing company whose fortune is in the $100 million range.

Sen. McCain is routinely is ranked among the richest lawmakers in Congress, but he and his wife have kept their finances separate throughout their marriage. A prenuptial agreement left much of the family's assets in Cindy McCain's name.