The BCS conference commissioners announced the name of the new postseason system that starts in 2014 on Tuesday, the first of three days of meetings at a resort hotel in the Rose Bowl's backyard.

They also will choose the remaining three sites for the six-bowl semifinal rotation and the site of the first championship game to be held Jan. 12, 2015, this week.

The website www.collegefootballplayoff.com is already up and running and allowing fans to vote on a new logo. And there also is a Twitter handle: (at)cfbplayoff.

"It's really simple. It gets right to the point," BCS executive director Bill Hancock, who will hold the same position in the playoff system, said at a short news conference with the 10 commissioners of the FCS conferences.

"Nothing cute. Nothing fancy. We decided it would be best to call it what it is."

Premiere Sports Management in Overland Park, Kan., was hired to help come up with a name and brand the new system. A committee of commissioners handled the naming of the new system. Hancock said they ran through "in the neighborhood of three dozen" names.

Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said, "We're clearly trying to make a clear break from the BCS."

Before the news was reported, Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said he'd be happy with whatever was selected.

"I'm am not good with names obviously," Delany said with a smile, referring to the Big Ten's division names, Legends and Leaders, that produced so much negative feedback the conference has already decided to change them.

The new postseason format will create two national semifinals to be played New Year's Eve or New Year's Day, with the winners advancing. The six bowls in the playoff rotation will host marquee, BCS-type games on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day during the seasons they do not host a semifinal.

"I don't think you can ever go too wrong calling something what it is," Scott said. "Things that make sense tend to stand the test of time."

Three semifinal spots have already been decided: the Rose, Orange and Sugar bowls.

Four other bowls have bid for the final three spots. The clear front-runners are the Cotton, Chick-fil-A and Fiesta. The Holiday Bowl in San Diego also put in a bid, but even its organizers have acknowledged they are a long shot at best to land the game.

Those decisions will be announced Wednesday.

The coaches on the Big 12's spring teleconference were already talking about the Cotton Bowl having a spot in the rotation as if it was a done deal.

"I think it's really exciting for this region, for everybody, and I think all of the schools in this region, to have Dallas as one of those sites is great for everybody in this region, and exciting for everybody," Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. "Obviously, everybody knows what a great and quality, what an awesome stadium it is, then the location for us is an advantage, or should be."

The first semifinals will be played at the Rose and Sugar bowls.

The site of the first national championship game in the new system will also be determined at these meetings and the finalists are Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the billion dollar home of the NFL team and the Cotton Bowl, and Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., home of the Buccaneers.

Arlington is the favorite to land that first championship game, but the competition from Tampa has been serious.

"I'm glad it has," Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said Tuesday. "I think it will give us a better outcome."

Also on the agenda this week for the commissioners will be the composition of the selection committee that will set the field for the playoff. They have said they would like the committee to be similar to the one that picks the teams for the NCAA basketball tournament, made up of conference commissioners and athletic directors.

Bowlsby said he expected both current and former administrators to have a spot on the committee.

"The hardest thing is making sure we're arming whoever is on the committee with the tools that it takes to differentiate among closely proximal teams," Bowlsby said. "You have to have some metrics available to differentiate between three, four, five, six and seven."

"You can't just say we like blue uniforms and not gold uniforms. You've got to arm the committee with the tools that it takes to do their job."

The Senate Agriculture Committee will mark up its bill on Tuesday, and the House Agriculture Committee will follow suit on Wednesday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has said he would like to finish the bill on the floor in May. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., who held up the bill last yearprobably in hopes of electing a Republican-controlled Senate and a Republican presidentsuddenly declared this month that he wants to bring the bill to the House floor this summer. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., has suggested that the leadership should bring it up in June.

Why, after Congress missed the deadline to pass the bill last year and had to extend the 2008 bill for another year, and after negotiations have been going on behind the scenes for more than four months, is the bill finally moving?  And could the bills still stall?

The reason the bills are moving seems to be that each chamber has gotten tired of the farm bill hanging on and has something more interesting to move on to. Reid has told the Senate that he wants the farm bill passed in May because he wants to devote June to immigration reform. Since exit polls showed that President Obamas election percentage in rural America went from 50 percent in 2008 to 41 percent in 2012, while Hispanic voters have become the new hope of the Democratic Party, it seems that Reid has a logical reason to get the farm bill done quickly and move on to something that interests more Democratic voters. Agricultural employers will encourage this movement, too, since they are promoting provisions for immigrant farm workers and meat-company employees that are included in the immigration-reform bill.

House Republicans want to move on to the periodic reauthorization of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the House Agriculture Committee has to do it. Most of the futures industry today is financial, but the commission, which regulates the industry, falls under the jurisdiction of the Agriculture committees because the exchanges that engage in financial futures started out trading in agricultural commodities and minerals.

The House and Senate Agriculture committees wrote the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, which so deregulated the futures industry that it played a major role in the 2008 financial crisis. Those committees also wrote Title VII of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which gave the CFTC new regulatory powers and for the first time regulated the high-earning swaps industry. The financial-services industry hates the Dodd-Frank Act and is chomping at the bit to restrict the CFTCs ability to finalize some of the regulations the agency has proposed.

It did not seem to be a coincidence that last Thursday, when Lucas scheduled the House panels farm-bill markup for Wednesday, he also announced that the committee will hold the first of a series of CFTC reauthorization hearings on May 21.

Lucas could barely contain his enthusiasm in an e-mail he sent out. The committee will kick off its series of CFTC reauthorization hearings with a broad range of market participants to comment on the current state of the marketplace, Lucas wrote. Extremely pressing issues face the futures and swaps markets, and the committee will hold several hearings to examine customer protections, review the commissions operations, and evaluate how regulations are impacting end-users and the agricultural community.

The Republicans believe, perhaps accurately, that Americans have forgotten that the lack of regulation of futures and swaps was key to the 2008 crisisor that at least the public will not follow the complicated issues of regulating or deregulating futures, derivatives, and swaps.

Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee seem to love to compete to cut food stamps. Lucas has called for a $20 billion cut over 10 years in the farm bill, while other proposals would cut as much as $36 billion. But its really more fun to sit around and help out the well-dressed financial-services executives, especially when they bring along those generous campaign contribution checks.

Farm lobbyists have been frustrated in their inability to get Congress moving on the farm bill, but between immigration and CFTC reauthorization, Congress may have found its own motivation to act.

There are still plenty of big fights ahead over food stamps, dairy, sugar, crop-support programs, and crop insurance, as well as the question of whether farmers should have to follow federal conservation rules to get premium subsidies.

And, as Lucas put it in a recent interview, Conference may be quite an experience.

The bill could still stall, but there is a sense of optimism and compromise in the air on Capitol Hill, along with the desire to move.

This time I know the lay of the land in the committee, Lucas said. Ive had a year to work with leadership, a year to bring them along in understanding.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., wants no cut to food stamps, but she said in an interview that she hopes to vote for a final bill even if there is a small cut to food stamps, as there was in the Senate bill she voted for last year.

Noting that current dairy policy is not working, Gillibrand said, there is a need to refine agricultural policy in this country.

Contributing Editor Jerry Hagstrom is the founder and executive director of The Hagstrom Report, which may be found at www.HagstromReport.com.

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - Fox has ordered the drama series "Almost Human," "Rake," "Gang Related" and "Sleepy Hollow" for the 2013-14 season, the network announced.

"Almost Human," a working title, comes from J.J. Abrams and J.H. Wyman and stars Karl Urban, Michael Ealy and Lili Taylor. It follows police partnered with lifelike androids, 35 years in the future.

"Gang Related," from Chris Morgan ("Wanted," "Fast Five") follows a gang task force and features Ramon Rodriguez, Terry O'Quinn, and The Rza.

"Rake," from "Rescue Me" co-creator Peter Tolan and Peter Duncan, who created an Australian show of the same name, features Greg Kinnear making his broadcast television series debut playing a brilliant attorney and addict.

"Sleepy Hollow," from "Transformers" team Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, finds Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) being resurrected to find a world on the brink of doom.

The announcements come days before Fox's upfront to advertisers. Fox is also expected to announce comedy pickups soon.

Fox had been considering 16 shows overall for next season.

Here are the shows, as described by Fox:

ALMOST HUMAN (working title)

From Emmy Award-winning executive producer J.J. Abrams and creator/executive producer J.H. Wyman and starring Karl Urban, Michael Ealy and Emmy Award nominee Lili Taylor, ALMOST HUMAN (working title) is an action-packed police drama set 35 years in the future, when police officers are partnered with highly evolved human-like androids. An unlikely connection is forged when a cop with an aversion to robots and a robot with unexpected emotional responses investigate cases in a brave new world.

ALMOST HUMAN (wt) is produced by Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Bad Robot Productions and Warner Bros. Television. The series is created by J.H. Wyman, who wrote the pilot. The series is executive-produced by Wyman, J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk. Kathy Lingg ("Person of Interest," "Revolution," "Fringe") and Reid Shane ("Fringe") are co-executive producers. Brad Anderson ("Fringe," "The Killing") directed and served as co-executive producer on the pilot.

GANG RELATED

GANG RELATED, a gritty new action drama, follows Ryan Lopez (Ramon Rodriguez), a rising star in Los Angeles' elite Gang Task Force - led by SAM CHAPEL (Emmy Award winner Terry O'Quinn) - who teams up with longtime Task Force member CASSIUS GREEN (RZA) to take on three of the city's most dangerous gangs, including one he has ties to.

GANG RELATED is from Chris Morgan Productions, Skeeter Rosenbaum Productions, Imagine Entertainment and 20th Century Fox Television. The series is created and written by Chris Morgan ("Wanted," "Fast Five"). The series is executive-produced by Morgan, Scott Rosenbaum ("The Shield," "Chuck"), Academy Award-winning producer Brian Grazer ("24," "A Beautiful Mind") and Francie Calfo ("The Great Escape," "The Playboy Club"). Allen Hughes ("Dead Presidents," "Book of Eli," "Menace II Society") directed and served as an executive producer on the pilot.

RAKE

Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner Greg Kinnear makes his broadcast television series debut with the bold new legal drama RAKE, from executive producer Peter Tolan and creator/executive producer Peter Duncan, who created the hit Australian series of the same name. RAKE centers on Keegan Deane, one of life's great addicts, a brilliant and frustratingly charming criminal defense attorney, whose chaotic and self-destructive personal life often gets in the way of his professional one. He takes on the cases that nobody else will touch, ruled by a resolute optimism, belief in justice and dogged determination to defend those who seem beyond redemption - much like himself.

RAKE is produced by Fedora Entertainment and Essential Media & Entertainment Pty Ltd., in association with Sony Pictures Television. The series is created and written by Peter Duncan (creator of the original Australian series). The series is executive-produced by Duncan, Peter Tolan ("Rescue Me," "Analyze This"), Michael Wimer ("2012"), Richard Roxburgh ("Rake," "Mission: Impossible II," "Moulin Rouge") and Ian Collie ("Rake"). Kinnear and Leslie Tolan ("Rescue Me," "The Job") are co-executive producers. Sam Raimi ("Oz the Great and Powerful," "Spider-Man" franchise) directed and served as an executive producer on the pilot.

SLEEPY HOLLOW

From co-creators/executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (the "Star Trek" and "Transformers" franchises, "Fringe"), the thrilling new action-adventure SLEEPY HOLLOW is a modern-day retelling of Washington Irving's classic. ICHABOD CRANE (Tom Mison) is resurrected and pulled two and a half centuries through time to find that the world is on the brink of destruction and that he is humanity's last hope, forcing him to team up with a contemporary police officer (Nicole Beharie) to unravel a mystery that dates all the way back to the founding fathers.

SLEEPY HOLLOW is from K/O Paper Products in association with 20th Century Fox Television. The series is co-created by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Phillip Iscove and Len Wiseman ("Hawaii Five-0," "Underworld" and "Total Recall"). The series is executive-produced by Kurtzman, Orci and Wiseman and Heather Kadin. Iscove serves as supervising producer. Wiseman directed the pilot.

Association's Most Valuable Player award.

2012-13 LeBron James (Miami)

2011-12 LeBron James (Miami)

2010-11 Derrick Rose (Chicago)

2009-10 LeBron James (Cleveland)

2008-09 LeBron James (Cleveland)

2007-08 Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers)

2006-07 Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas)

2005-06 Steve Nash (Phoenix)

2004-05 Steve Nash (Phoenix)

2003-04 Kevin Garnett (Minnesota)

2002-03 Tim Duncan (San Antonio)

2001-02 Tim Duncan (San Antonio)

2000-01 Allen Iverson (Philadelphia)

1999-00 Shaquille O'Neal (Los Angeles Lakers)

1998-99 Karl Malone (Utah)

1997-98 Michael Jordan (Chicago)

1996-97 Karl Malone (Utah)

1995-96 Michael Jordan (Chicago)

1994-95 David Robinson (San Antonio)

1993-94 Hakeem Olajuwon (Houston)

1992-93 Charles Barkley (Phoenix)

1991-92 Michael Jordan (Chicago)

1990-91 Michael Jordan (Chicago)

1989-90 Magic Johnson (Los Angeles Lakers)

1988-89 Magic Johnson (Los Angeles Lakers)

1987-88 Michael Jordan (Chicago)

1986-87 Magic Johnson (Los Angeles Lakers)

1985-86 Larry Bird (Boston)

1984-85 Larry Bird (Boston)

1983-84 Larry Bird (Boston)

1982-83 Moses Malone (Philadelphia)

1981-82 Moses Malone (Houston)

1980-81 Julius Erving (Philadelphia)

1979-80 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Los Angeles)

1978-79 Moses Malone (Houston)

1977-78 Bill Walton (Portland)

1976-77 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Los Angeles)

1975-76 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Los Angeles)

1974-75 Bob McAdoo (Buffalo)

1973-74 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Milwaukee)

1972-73 Dave Cowens (Boston)

1971-72 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Milwaukee)

1970-71 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Milwaukee)

1969-70 Willis Reed (New York)

1968-69 Wes Unseld (Baltimore)

1967-68 Wilt Chamberlain (Philadelphia)

1966-67 Wilt Chamberlain (Philadelphia)

1965-66 Wilt Chamberlain (Philadelphia)

1964-65 Bill Russell (Boston)

1963-64 Oscar Robertson (Cincinnati)

1962-63 Bill Russell (Boston)

1961-62 Bill Russell (Boston)

1960-61 Bill Russell (Boston)

1959-60 Wilt Chamberlain (Philadelphia)

1958-59 Bob Pettit (St. Louis)

1957-58 Bill Russell (Boston)

1956-57 Bob Cousy (Boston)

1955-56 Bob Pettit (St. Louis)

(Compiled by Julian Linden, editing by Gene Cherry)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top Republican in Congress demanded on Thursday that the Obama administration release emails about its handling of last year's deadly attack in Libya, after a dramatic congressional hearing breathed life into the party's accusations of negligence and cover-up.

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner called on the White House to order the State Department to make public more internal emails sent after the killings in Benghazi of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.

Boehner's remarks kept up pressure a day after the hearing - dismissed by Democrats as mostly partisan posturing - won front-page headlines following months of Republican accusations that Washington failed to respond quickly enough to the assault by suspected Islamist militants on the U.S. mission in Benghazi.

"Last November, the president said he was 'happy to cooperate in any way Congress wants,'" Boehner told a news conference. "This is his chance."

Republican critics believe the emails could reveal evidence that the administration initially tried to play down the assault in Benghazi as stemming from spontaneous demonstrations by Libyans, as opposed to being a planned militant operation.

The emails are believed to detail senior diplomats' views of who was behind the September 11, 2012, attacks and how administration officials discussed ways to present the incident to the public.

The State Department said it had already been working with Congress to provide the emails it wants - a process complicated by secrecy rules.

Republicans have been complaining loudly about the Benghazi attack for eight months, often without much attention in the mainstream media.

The killings and their aftermath have - until this week at least - failed to inflict much political damage on President Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, who headed the State Department at the time of the attack and is considered the top Democratic prospect for the 2016 presidential race.

Clinton is clearly a major focus of Republicans' attempts to get to the heart of what they believe is a national security scandal.

Foreign Policy magazine counted 32 separate discussions mentioning Clinton during Wednesday's hearing of the House Oversight Committee. The featured witness was Gregory Hicks, a former top U.S. diplomat in Libya who gave a dramatic account of the night that Ambassador Christopher Stevens was killed.

Congressional committees have held about a dozen hearings on Benghazi and more are in the works. There are five different committees of the Republican-led House investigating Benghazi: Oversight, Intelligence, Armed Services, Foreign Affairs and Judiciary.

PLAYING POLITICS?

Chris Lehane, a veteran of congressional investigations of former President Bill Clinton's White House, said Republicans were using the hearings just to pressure the Obama administration.

"Congress using and sometimes abusing the investigative process is about as predictable as the cicadas coming to D.C., although it happens much more frequently," said Lehane, referring to an insect that emerges in huge numbers on the East Coast periodically.

The White House dismissed suggestions of a cover-up, noting that administration officials had testified at 11 congressional hearings and provided more than 25,000 pages of documents.

Republicans deny political motivation, and say any information that explains what happened in Benghazi is worthwhile.

Email traffic is central to what they say is the administration's attempt to diminish the seriousness of the assault in Benghazi at the height of the U.S. presidential election campaign.

"The story of Benghazi is that after the attack, seven weeks before an election, there was an effort by some senior people to put a political spin on this," Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "Rather than tell the story that it was a terrorist attack from the get-go because it was so close to the election."

At Wednesday's hearing, Republican Representative Trey Gowdy of South Carolina read what he said was an email sent by Acting Assistant Secretary of State Beth Jones on September 12 blaming the violence in Benghazi on a group affiliated with Islamist militants.

Boehner said the State Department did not let House committees keep copies of the email and urged Obama to order State to release it.

He also called for the release of emails that a House report said showed that Obama's White House and State Department were involved in rewriting "talking points" on Benghazi used by U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice to give the administration's version of events on television talk shows shortly after the attack.

Former Ambassador Thomas Pickering, who helped lead an investigation into the attack, scoffed at Republican allegations. "From my own personal perspective, it was tantamount to Pulitzer Prize-level fiction if one could find a cover-up here," Pickering said.

Lehane, a crisis communications specialist, said Clinton appeared to be shielded from accusations that she handled Benghazi badly because she was careful right after the attack not to misspeak.

"This is a basic principle of crisis management," he said. "It's a complicated world and it's a dangerous world, but the way they evaluate you is how you handle it in the aftermath. If you do it in an honest way, then you protect yourself."

(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell, Mark Felsenthal and Paul Eckert; Editing by Alistair Bell and Peter Cooney)

So before deploying to Afghanistan last year for her second war tour, she legally changed her name to Naida Christian Nova.

This did not solve her problems.

Instead, matters escalated. Nova complained to her superiors about constant anti-Muslim slurs and jokes. She says they responded with a series of reprisals intended to drive her out of the Army, leading her to consider suicide.

"My complaints fell on deaf ears every time," said Nova, 41, a member of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division based at Fort Bragg, N.C. "Any time I would say something about it I was treated like I didn't know what I was talking about or that I'm an idiot or that I was a Muslim sympathizer. It was just a very lonely feeling."

Determined to remain in the service for at least eight years, until she is eligible for retirement, Nova recently re-enlisted. But she agreed to tell her story to The Associated Press because "I don't want this to happen to anyone else if I can help it. It's a horrible to feel like people are against you when you are supposed to be on the same team."

Fort Bragg spokeswoman Sheri L. Crowe said the Army would not comment on the case, and referred questions to the U.S. Department of Justice. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina, assigned to defend the Army, also declined comment.

But her account is supported by an affidavit filed by an old friend, Sharon Deborah Sheetz, who said that Nova had confided in her about the harassment she had suffered, telling Sheetz that she was so unhappy that she no longer wanted to live.

A Farsi linguist who works in military intelligence, Nova's multicultural background exemplifies the kind of soldier Army recruiters prize U.S. citizens with ethnic ties to a part of the world many Americans can't find on a map.

Nova's father, Roy Hosein, was born into a Muslim family on the Caribbean island of Trinadad, where his parents had emigrated from India. He converted to Christianity after meeting Nova's mother, a Catholic from the Philippines, and became a U.S. citizen shortly after his daughter was born in New York. He changed the spelling of his family name to Hosan in the hope his children would avoid discrimination.

"He Americanized it," his daughter explained. "He got Hosan from Hosanna. He kept hearing it in church."

She reported for basic training two months after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

"Before 9-11, my last name never raised an eyebrow," she said. "But after 9-11, I felt compelled to tell people I am a Christian and felt I had to prove I was loyal to the United States."

Her first deployment was to Iraq in 2005. She said other soldiers, including her supervisors, mocked her family name and made crude jokes.

"I was called Sgt. Hussein, as in Saddam Hussein," she said. "Even when I would correct them on the pronunciation of my name, I was still called Sgt. Hussein. I was asked what God I pray to. And there were a lot of references to hajjis, used as a derogatory term."

Hajiis, in fact, are Muslims who have made the pilgrimage to the Saudi Arabian birthplace of the prophet Muhammad. But Nova said she regularly heard U.S. troops use the word as racist slang for enemy, terrorist or suicide bomber.

"My uncle is a hajji, because he made the pilgrimage to Mecca in 2005," Nova said. "I would stand up for what I thought was right and say, 'Not all terrorists are Muslims and not all Muslims are terrorists.' That just opened the door for more harassment."

Mikey Weinstein, a former U.S. Air Force officer who founded Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said Nova's experience is not uncommon. Military personnel who are Muslim or perceived to be of Middle Eastern descent are often targets for discrimination, he said.

"When a Muslim soldier, sailor or airman stands up for themselves, they are the subject of vicious reprisal and retribution," said Weinstein, who is Jewish. "What (Sgt. Nova) has gone through is horrible, but it is typical."

In 2007, while serving in Harrogate, England, Nova said co-worker told her and others a racist joke about Muslims. When she objected, Nova said, a supervisor warned her to stop making trouble. Instead, she filed a formal complaint with the Army's Equal Opportunity Branch, the program charged with ensuring the military provides an environment "free of unlawful discrimination and offensive behavior."

Within days, Nova said she was removed from her job and ordered to take a "command directed" mental health evaluation.

"In writing, the referral said my values were not in line with mission," she said. "They considered me a 'Muslim sympathizer,' that I was too loyal to Muslims."

Rather than address her complaint, Nova said, the Army transferred her to the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg. Though she hoped to make a fresh start with her new unit, word of her complaint followed her to North Carolina.

That treatment worsened after a November 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood in Texas. Maj. Nidal Hasan, a Muslim, is charged with killing 13 people. His name sounded a lot like hers.

Nova changed her name shortly before deploying to Afghanistan last year.She arrived just after worn copies of the Quran were found to have been burned with trash from a U.S.-run prison outside the capital of Kabul, a widely reported incident that triggered violent protests.

The Army responded by initiating a new training program on the proper handling and disposal of Islamic materials. But Nova said she discovered that her unit trashed and burned documents collected through intelligence gathering that contained what could be considered sacred writings.

Nova conferred with an on-base military chaplain, and suggested designating a special box for Islamic materials so they could be disposed of in a more appropriate manner.

"When I brought this up, I was told 'Sgt. Nova, you can't bring your religion to work ...,'" she recalled. "I changed my name, but that didn't change other people's ignorance."

After just two months in Afghanistan, she said her commanders removed her from her job and ordered her back to Fort Bragg.

With the help of a Fayetteville lawyer, Mark Waple, she filed a formal complaint with the Army's Inspector General in October seeking a voluntary discharge due to being subjected to "adverse treatment and negative, prejudicial remarks ... concerning the Muslim faith."

Nova said she grew so depressed that she considered suicide. She checked herself into an on-base hospital for treatment, staying for about a week before returning to duty.

After learning of her IG complaint and hospitalization, Nova's commanders at Fort Bragg responded by filing paperwork to involuntarily end her military career and bar her from reenlistment for "ineffective leadership."

Nova's Army performance review from a few months earlier, a copy of which she provided to AP, shows her as meeting expectations in all categories, with her senior commander rating her potential for promotion and increased responsibility as "superior."

The forced discharge could have imperiled Nova's ability to get a civilian job, denied her Veterans Affairs medical care and educational benefits.

After exhausting her administrative options for fighting her case, Waple helped Nova filed a complaint in federal court alleging discriminatory treatment and asking a judge to prevent her discharge.

Rather than fight the case in court, the Army retreated. Shortly before a key hearing before the judge, Waple says he got a call from Army lawyers informing him that the disciplinary action against Nova was "completely off the table." She, in turn, agreed to drop the lawsuit.

Nova re-enlisted in the Army on April 8. She recently married, and is preparing to ship out next month to attend a senior leadership course and then report to a new assignment in Germany.

"I want to put all this behind me. I want to move on to my next duty assignment ...," said Nova. "My beliefs aren't any different from what the Army states as its beliefs and values. I would like to be treated fairly."

___

Follow Associated Press writer Michael Biesecker at twitter.com/mbieseck

The first lady is asking children ages 8 to 12 and their parents to create nutritious lunch recipes that represent each of the food groups for "The Healthy Lunchtime Challenge."

Winners will travel to Washington to sample some of the original dishes at the second White House kids' "state dinner" luncheon this summer.

The deadline to submit recipes is May 12. Last year's challenge received more than 1,200 entries.

The contest, created by Epicurious.com, is a partnership among the food website, Mrs. Obama and the departments of Education and Agriculture.

___

Online:

http://www.recipechallenge.epicurious.com

That's why the fall-winter 2013-14 show saw the Belgian designer explore his usual menswear-womenswear tailoring via the frivolity of ballroom dancing, feathers and the dancing two-some Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

Wednesday's show was proof again of Van Noten's mastery when it comes to the art of clashing styles.

"I started from the menswear pants, and then the opposite is ballroom dancing ... big feathers," he said backstage at Paris' grand Hotel de Ville. "Fashion is so serious, so the hints of the Fred and Ginger story were fun."

Who better to represent the Van Noten universe, where men's and women's styles merge together, than one of the most iconic and inseparable male-female couple in Hollywood history?

Ostrich feathers in midnight blue, faded gray and tea rose billowed like 1930s boas with large vivid embroideries, vintage fur alongside men's baggy pants, club stripes and Prince of Wales check.

Some of the feathered fringing floated past wistfully, only to be reined in by the humorous juxtaposition of a menswear cut.

One fantastic look said it all: a sumptuous navy feathered skirt (Ginger), and a large tuxedo shirt (Fred.)

In Van Noten's world, like in Hollywood, there's no man without the woman, no Ginger without Fred.

___

Thomas Adamson can be followed at http://Twitter.com/ThomasAdamsonAP

ROME (Reuters) - Pope Francis stressed the "fundamental" importance of women in the Roman Catholic Church on Wednesday, a message hailed as a significant shift from the position of his predecessor Benedict.

Supporters of liberal reform of the Church have called on it to give a greater voice to women and recognize their importance to the largest religious denomination in the world, and some groups call for women to be ordained as priests.

The head of the Women's Ordination Conference, which calls for women to be treated equally in the Church and to be allowed to become priests and bishops, said Francis's words were the most encouraging she had heard in her lifetime, but did not go far enough.

"While the pope was trying to be positive about women's role, where he's actually wrong is that women were actually disciples, like Mary Magdalene," WOC Executive Director Erin Saiz Hanna told Reuters.

"He said women are able to communicate Christ's words, but actually women can't preach so that's a false statement."

The Vatican says woman cannot be priests as Jesus Christ willingly chose only men as his apostles. Advocates of a female priesthood reject this position, saying Jesus was merely conforming to the customs of his times.

Francis, elected last month as the first non-European pope in 1,300 years, said women had always had a special mission in the Church as "first witnesses" of Christ's resurrection, and because they pass belief onto their children and grandchildren.

"In the Church, and in the journey of faith, women have had and still have a special role in opening doors to the Lord," Francis told thousands of pilgrims at his weekly audience in S. Peter's Square.

He said that in the Bible, women were not recorded as witnesses to Christ's resurrection because of the Jewish Law of the time that did not deem women or children to be reliable witnesses.

"In the Gospels, however, women have a primary, fundamental role ... The evangelists simply narrate what happened: the women were the first witnesses. This tells us that God does not choose according to human criteria," Francis said.

REFORM

The address was the second time Francis had spoken of women's role as witnesses to the resurrection of Christ, a subject of bedrock importance to the Catholic faith.

His Easter Vigil address on Saturday made prominent mention of women and urged believers not to fear change.

Francis's decision a week ago to include women in a traditional foot-washing ritual drew ire from traditionalists, who see the custom as a re-enactment of Jesus washing the feet of his apostles and said it should therefore be limited to men.

Marinella Perroni, a theologian and leading member of the Association of Italian Women Theologians, which promotes female experts on religion and their visibility in the Church, said the pope's words marked a significant shift from the previous pope.

"The fact that the Pope acknowledges that the progressive removal of female figures from the tradition of the resurrection ... is due to human judgments, distant from those of God...introduces a decidedly new element compared to the previous papacy."

The election of Francis, an Argentinian, last month came in the wake of another break with tradition when predecessor Pope Benedict became one of the few pontiffs in history to resign.

His 76-year old successor has set a new tone for the papacy, earning a reputation for simplicity by shunning some ornate items of traditional dress, using informal language in his addresses, and so far choosing to live in a simple residence rather than the regal papal apartments.

Sources inside the Vatican have said Francis could reform the Vatican's bureaucracy and restructure or even close down the Vatican's bank after a series of scandals at the heart of the Holy See that damaged the Church's reputation.

(Editing by Mark Heinrich)

There was more humor than sadness at Jones' funeral Thursday at the Grand Ole Opry House as thousands gathered in Nashville some arriving hours before sunrise to pay their respects to the man whose voice has defined country music for more than half a century.

Friend after friend related stories of Jones' kindness, his love for his widow, Nancy, who's credited with helping him survive his personal demons later in life, and the funny little moments that will stick with them always.

Barbara Mandrell remembered the kindnesses he gave a scared 13-year-old girl just getting her start in the business. Former first lady Laura Bush remembered dumping quarter after quarter into the jukebox to hear "The Race Is On." Wynonna Judd remembered his perfect hair and his friendship. And Vince Gill remembered the man who gave him the nickname "Sweet Pea," a moniker he wasn't sure he liked at first but now treasures.

"The great thing is every time someone calls me Sweet Pea, I'll get to think about him," Gill said before earning a standing ovation for his rendition of "Go Rest High on That Mountain" with Patty Loveless.

The nearly 3-hour memorial was attended by several major country stars and political figures. Nancy Jones sat flanked by Bush and Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood. Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam spoke, as did former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. CBS host Bob Schieffer recalled a 2009 interview with Jones where the singer's true personality seemed to show through.

"I came away feeling his whole life was a surprise to him and he never quite believed any of it," Schieffer said.

Each of the stars who performed had a personal connection to Jones. Randy Travis, who was anointed a traditional country voice by Jones, sang "Amazing Grace," a song Jones had once put his own personal stamp upon.

"When I heard him do this song, it literally gave me chills," Travis said.

Paisley remembered Jones allowing him to house his first horse on the Jones family farm and the visits the two would have, then sang "Me & Jesus." Kid Rock asked Nancy Jones to imagine Jones was actually singing as he performed "Best of Me," before checking himself to the delight of the crowd.

"I know that's a huge (leap of) imagination," Kid Rock said with an embarrassed smile. "Unshaven, long-haired confused country hip-hop rock 'n' roller trying to sing George Jones."

But it may have been Charlie Daniels who summed up Jones best in a long, beautifully rendered tribute. He noted Jones was probably the most imitated country singer of all time.

"George Jones' voice was a rowdy Saturday night uproar at a back-street beer joint, the heartbroken wail of the one who wakes up to find the other side of the bed empty, the far-off lonesome whistle of the midnight train, the look in the eyes of a young bride as that ring is placed on her finger, the memories of a half-asleep old man dreaming about the good old days," Daniels said. "Lost love, lost innocence, good and bad memories, and experiences that are just too much for a human being to deal with. He sang for us all, the non-stop partiers, the guys who are alone and the girl done wrong, the puppy lovers, the extrovert, the introvert and the guy at the end of the bar who never seems to go home ... George had a song for everybody."

The funeral was broadcast live on cable music television channels CMT and GAC and in a nod to simpler times when Jones was at his biggest on all local television networks.

The Beaumont, Texas, native was in the midst of a farewell tour that was to have wrapped up with an all-star salute in November in Nashville when he died. He postponed two performances two weeks ago and entered the hospital with a fever and irregular blood pressure. He'd been ill off and on over the previous year.

Jones' pure, matchless baritone defined the sound of country music for a half century, and his death brought universal reaction from the music community and fans. Known for hits like "Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes," ''White Lightning" and "He Stopped Loving Her Today," which Alan Jackson used to close the memorial, Jones had No. 1s in four decades from the 1950s to the 1980s and "Possum" remained a popular figure in Music City until his death.

"Brother George taught us how to sing with a broken heart," Gill said.

Paisley said even though Jones has passed on, his legacy is still there, ready to inspire. He urged young viewers who might be tuning in to check out Jones' music.

"You must be thinking, 'Boy, they're making a ruckus,'" Paisley said. "I would encourage you if you don't know him, go find him now. Go buy his records and see what all this ruckus is about because it's worth it."

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Follow AP Music Writer Chris Talbott: http://twitter.com/Chris_Talbott.