Dozens of illnesses have been reported, and federal officials have recalled a frozen berry mix sold by Costco and Harris Teeter in seven states.

Soza, a semi-retired contractor, was resting at his Encinitas home this week after an ordeal that threatened to put him on a liver transplant list.

He hadn't felt right in the weeks before leaving for Yellowstone on May 29 but his lack of appetite and disorientation didn't merit canceling the trip.

"I thought, 'I'm getting something. I'm coming down with something' and I thought I'd just ride it out and live with it," he said.

His wife, Rita, said he doesn't complain much as "a very active, tough kind of person," but he seemed lethargic when they flew to Salt Lake City and rented a car to drive to the park.

On the second night of their trip, the Sozas called paramedics who examined Geoff and recommended he visit St. John's Medical Center. They didn't think a medical evacuation was necessary.

They thought they could wait until morning, but after a few hours, Rita drove three hours on dark rural roads to Jackson, Wyo.

Doctors initially thought Geoff Soza's gall bladder needed to be removed after finding signs of inflammation and stones.

But general surgeon Dr. Michael Rosenberg halted the surgery, scheduled for June 1, because of Soza's elevated liver enzymes.

After more tests, Soza was diagnosed with hepatitis A, Rosenberg said.

Soza could have suffered liver damage or excessive bleeding if the surgery had gone ahead as planned, Rosenberg said.

Doctors told Soza they could treat him, but if it didn't go well, they would have him taken to a regional liver transplant center in Utah.

"That's when it really struck me, like, 'Really? Liver transplant?' " Geoff Soza said.

Luckily, such measures are rarely, if ever, necessary for hepatitis A, Rosenberg said.

Hepatitis A can be spread by the ingestion of a microscopic amount of fecal matter from an infected person, typically a food worker who hasn't washed their hands.

Symptoms include fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, abdominal pain and jaundice a yellowing of the skin or eyes. There is no specific treatment. The ill can feel sick for weeks or up to six months as their body heals itself.

Healthy and health-conscious, the Sozas always inspect their foods and select organic produce. They were surprised to learn that some of the fruit from Townsend Farms of Fairview, Ore., was from outside the United States.

The Centers for Disease Control said the recalled berries included products from Argentina, Turkey and Chile, in addition to the United States.

But the packaging convinced the Sozas the fruit was all-American because it bears the slogans "Grower. Processor. Distributor." and "Field to Farm to Family, since 1906."

"It was our distinct impression that these are raised under U.S. standards, especially organic food standards," Rita Soza said.

Geoff Soza said he chose the berries to have for breakfast for about 6 months. The Sozas are fairly adventurous eaters who like to experiment with new foods. Frozen berries were the last thing he thought would make him sick.

"I would have thought it would be from fish or something like that, but not ever from fruit, especially berries," Soza said.

Rita Soza said after she learned of the berries, she was upset by Costco's response, saying she unsuccessfully tried to call the number on her membership card for information but she couldn't get a live person on the phone. She returned home to find a message on her answering machine Tuesday.

Costco Vice President for food safety Craig Wilson said the company contacted 240,000 members with information about the outbreak and received more than 10,000 calls over the weekend.

Some of those sickened by the berries have filed lawsuits seeking medical costs and damages, and at least one suit filed in Los Angeles this week seeks class action status. The Sozas say they haven't decided to take legal action.

___

Tayefe Mohajer reported from Los Angeles.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Gas prices in Rhode Island are staying steady this week and remain lower than this time a year ago.

AAA Southern New England says Monday that its weekly survey finds the average cost of a gallon of self-serve, regular gasoline was $3.59. That's the same price as a week ago.

The local price is 3 cents below the national average.

Prices are up by 10 cents in the past month, but they remain 13 cents lower than this time a year ago, when Rhode Island motorists were paying $3.72 a gallon.

In a first-of-a-kind study, Canadian researchers tested children born to obese women, plus their brothers and sisters who were conceived after the mother had obesity surgery. Youngsters born after mom lost lots of weight were slimmer than their siblings. They also had fewer risk factors for diabetes or heart disease later in life.

More intriguing, the researchers discovered that numerous genes linked to obesity-related health problems worked differently in the younger siblings than in their older brothers and sisters.

Clearly diet and exercise play a huge role in how fit the younger siblings will continue to be, and it's a small study. But the findings suggest the children born after mom's surgery might have an advantage.

"The impact on the genes, you will see the impact for the rest of your life," predicted Dr. Marie-Claude Vohl of Laval University in Quebec City. She helped lead the work reported Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Why would there be a difference? It's not that mom passed on different genes, but how those genes operate in her child's body. The idea: Factors inside the womb seem to affect the dimmer switches that develop on a fetus' genes chemical changes that make genes speed up or slow down or switch on and off. That in turn can greatly influence health.

The sibling study is "a very clever way of looking at this," said Dr. Susan Murphy of Duke University. She wasn't involved in the Canadian research but studies uterine effects on later health. She says it makes biological sense that the earliest nutritional environment could affect a developing metabolism, although she cautions that healthier family habits after mom's surgery may play a role, too.

It's the latest evidence that the environment in this case the womb can alter how our genes work.

And the research has implications far beyond the relatively few women who take the drastic step of gastric bypass surgery before having a baby. Increasingly, scientists are hunting other ways to tackle obesity before or during pregnancy in hopes of a lasting benefit for both mother and baby.

What's clear is that obesity is "not just impacting your life, it's impacting your child," Duke's Murphy said.

More than half of pregnant women are overweight or obese, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. But it's not just a matter of how much moms weigh when they conceive doctors also are trying to stamp out the idea of eating for two. Gaining too much weight during pregnancy increases the child's risk of eventually developing obesity and diabetes, too.

What's too much? Women who are normal weight at the start of pregnancy are supposed to gain 25 to 35 pounds. Those who already are obese should gain no more than 11 to 20 pounds. Overweight mothers-to-be fall in the middle.

Sticking to those guidelines can be tough. The National Institutes of Health just began a five-year, $30 million project to help overweight or obese pregnant women do so, and track how their babies fare in the first year of life.

Called the LIFE-Moms Consortium, researchers are recruiting about 2,000 expectant mothers for seven studies around the country that are testing different approaches to a healthy weight gain and better nutritional quality. They range from putting pregnant women on meal plans and exercise programs, to weekly monitoring, to peer pressure from fellow parents trained to bring nutrition advice into the homes of low-income mothers-to-be.

It's best to get to a healthy weight before conceiving, noted Dr. Mary Evans of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, who oversees the project.

Just how much mom has to lose for a healthier baby is "obviously a research gap," she said.

Monday's research findings from Canada may shed some new light. Consider: Overweight mothers have higher levels of sugar and fat in the bloodstream, which in turn makes it to the womb.

Fetuses are "marinated, and they're differently marinated" depending on mom's weight and health, said Dr. John Kral of New York's SUNY Downstate Medical Center, who co-authored the Canadian study.

That may do more than overstimulate fetal growth. Scientists know that certain molecules regulate gene activity, attaching like chemical tags. That's what Laval University lead researcher Dr. Frederic Guenard was looking for in blood tests. He took samples from children born to 20 women before and after complex surgery that shrank their stomachs and rerouted digestion so they absorb less fat and calories. On average, they lost about 100 pounds.

Guenard compared differences in those chemical tags in more than 5,600 genes between the younger and older siblings. He found significant differences in the activity of certain genes clustered in pathways known to affect blood sugar metabolism and heart disease risk.

Only time will tell if these youngsters born after mom's surgery really get lasting benefits, whatever the reason. Meanwhile, specialists urge women planning a pregnancy to talk with their doctors about their weight ahead of time. Besides having potential long-term consequences, extra pounds can lead to a variety of immediate complications such as an increased risk of premature birth and cesarean sections.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The head of New Zealand's America's Cup team has sharply rejected the idea of major changes to the sailing competition's high-tech catamarans in the wake of an accident that killed a British sailor.

Grant Dalton, managing director of Emirates Team New Zealand, told Reuters on Thursday that he supported new safety rules put forward last week by event organizers. But he dismissed suggestions by some sailors, including members of the Artemis Racing team that suffered the accident, that big changes such as smaller sails or power-assisted on-board controls were necessary.

"That's not going to happen. That's a fundamental change to systems that if they couldn't get right in the first place, that's their problem," Dalton said before heading out for a practice session on San Francisco Bay.

Artemis' 72-foot (22-metre) catamaran capsized and broke apart on May 9 during a training session and killed British Olympian Andrew Simpson, who was trapped under the wreckage. The accident raised questions about the fundamental soundness of the huge, lightweight boats, which can reach speeds of close to 50 miles per hour (80 kmh).

Software mogul Larry Ellison won the cup in 2010, and the defending champion is entitled to choose the venue and set the rules for the next competition. Ellison and his sailing team hoped the big, fast boats, called AC72s, would boost interest in the event, but their cost and complexity kept some competitors away, and only four teams are competing for the trophy.

The competition is scheduled to kick off in July and culminate in a final match in September.

Dalton and his team, which arrived in San Francisco earlier in May, are prepping eagerly for the competition. Emirates Team New Zealand and Oracle Team USA were both blazing around San Francisco Bay in moderate winds on Thursday, practicing their turns, monitoring boat performance and spying on one another.

REGATTA IN FLUX

The new safety rules include lower wind limits for racing, improved personal safety gear for sailors and reducing the number of qualifying races to allow more time for boat maintenance.

Sweden's Artemis, which has a second boat that it has yet to sail in San Francisco Bay, has said it may not compete if its sailors feel the rule changes are insufficient. The fourth team in the competition, Italy's Luna Rossa, has also expressed serious concerns about safety and has declined to comment on whether it considers the new rules sufficient.

The New Zealand team designed and built its AC72 specifically to withstand the strong gusts and currents of San Francisco Bay, Dalton said. Making significant rule changes now that require altering the boats would be unfair, he said.

"Anything that increases the safety for the guys on board is a good thing. If it doesn't benefit one team over another then we're in favor of that," he said.

Still, he warned that the big catamarans, which use hard "wing" sails and are estimated to cost $8 million to build, are inherently difficult to make and sail.

"As Artemis has shown, if you get this engineered wrong - and it's not hard, we could have yet, we just haven't seen that boundary - they just disintegrate," he said.

Dalton said the carbon-fiber boats have shown themselves to be a poor choice for the cup races.

"Much of this is a folly. There's nothing more easily seen than that there are only three teams (challenging Oracle), now sort of two and a half teams," Dalton said.

(Editing by Jonathan Weber and Eric Walsh)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rapper Pitbull has taken his blend of American pop music fused with Latin beats from the clubs of Miami to international pop charts, but he now is crossing into film with his first acting role as an animated character in the upcoming movie, "Epic."

Pitbull, whose real name is Armando Perez, has become a staple in the pop music field with lively dance-floor tracks including recent chart hits "Feel This Moment" with Christina Aguilera and "Live it Up" with Jennifer Lopez.

The rapper, 32, plays street-smart frog Bufo in "Epic," due to be released on Friday and which explores a secret universe where the natural world is battling evil forces.

Pitbull talked to Reuters about his film debut, working with Lopez and the origins of his numerous nicknames.

Q: What do you make of this whole animation world you got a chance to work in?

A: Before I didn't understand what it meant to put a voice to animation and see it come to life. But I'm always game for trying new things. I love how those artists could see my voice on the character before it was even drawn up.

Q: How did the animators bring your influence to the character of Bufo the frog? Did they capture your essence?

A: They captured a piece of my essence, absolutely. The suits, the business/hustler, knowing how to navigate his way through the good and bad. Bufo knows how to play the middle. It's business, not personal for him. I think they captured about 75 percent of my essence. The gestures, the hand movements, the way he walks - I think they watched me a lot in the studio when I was there.

Q: Many musical artists have made their way to film. Why haven't you transitioned sooner?

A: It's all about timing. I've had projects on the table but I didn't have the time to do them. This caught me at the right time ... I hope there's a sequel because I would love to see more of Bufo in number two. I have a lot of good ideas for them, ideas that would capture the rest of that 25 percent of the essence they may have missed.

Q: Your stage moniker 'Pitbull' is named after a dog that tends to get a lot of bad press unfortunately.

A: Pitbulls are misunderstood and that's the same thing with me when I first came into the music business. Being Cuban-American made me politically incorrect. My whole life was trying to make people understand that we all come from the same place. It's the same with the dog. The pitbull is a very loyal, very loving dog that doesn't understand the concept of losing. I believe in fighting hard for what you believe in and never giving up.

Q: How important is your Cuban heritage?

A: It's very important. I'm Cuban-American, first generation. The Latin culture is everything. But I'm very careful to not let that box me in. I want to represent (my heritage) and I'm proud of who I am, but it's about letting others know that we are just like everybody else. We don't want people to judge us, we want people to understand us, to see that we've gone through the same things everybody else has gone through and suffered the same struggles.

Q: What were some of the pivotal moments in your career that really changed things for you?

A: The record that took it global was "I Know You Want Me" (in 2009). Before that, I lived in the clubs and in the streets as far as my music. But that song took it to the next level. "Give Me Everything" (in 2011) was a turning point. This record coming out (on May 28) called "Outta Nowhere" will be another turning point I think.

Q: How so?

A: It's a different side of me. It's going to show everything that we've been speaking about here - motivation, believing in yourself, not giving up. With this record, I wanted to come out of nowhere, which is why the name is perfect.

Q: "Live It Up" is your third collaboration with Jennifer Lopez, following "On The Floor" and "Dance Again." What's your partnership like?

A: Jennifer is a hard worker, very professional, gorgeous and she's a walking empire. Anytime I'm around her, I'm watching, learning, studying. It's a natural combination, like a student and teacher. I'm a student all day. I think it would be an honor for Jennifer to watch me grow and say, That kid did learn.'

Q: With all your recent success, do you feel like you've gotten the respect you deserve? Do you feel more relaxed now and less needing to prove yourself?

A: No, I'm never relaxed. I think complacency is a cousin of death. As far as respect, whether they do or don't, to each his own. But I do tell you this much, this is just the beginning. I promise you, it's just the beginning.

(Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Paul Simao)

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Former NBA player Mookie Blaylock was charged on Monday with vehicular homicide after a head-on traffic crash in Georgia that left a 43-year-old woman dead, police said.

Blaylock, 46, was driving a 2010 Cadillac Escalade on Friday in Clayton County, south of Atlanta, when he crossed over the center line into oncoming traffic and struck a minivan carrying the woman, police said.

In addition to facing a second-degree vehicular homicide charge, Blaylock has been charged with driving with a suspended license and failure to maintain his lane.

Authorities are investigating whether drugs or alcohol contributed to the accident and whether Blaylock suffered from a medical condition that caused seizures, Jonesboro Police Chief Frank Allen said on Monday.

The woman's husband, who was driving the van, was not seriously hurt.

Blaylock remains hospitalized in stable condition after being injured in the crash. He refused to talk to police investigators who attempted to interview him on Monday, Allen said.

"His attorney had advised him not to speak with us," the police chief said.

Blaylock's attorney was not publicly identified and could not be contacted for comment.

Blaylock had already been the subject of an arrest warrant before Friday's accident. A warrant was issued on May 21 for failure to appear in court on drug possession and drunken- driving charges in a nearby county, Allen said.

Upon his release from the hospital, Blaylock will be jailed in one of the two counties where he faces charges, Allen added.

Blaylock played in the National Basketball Association from 1989 to 2002. His ability to shut down opposing players twice earned him a place on the NBA All-Defensive First Team, and he was an NBA All-Star in 1994.

He played with the Atlanta Hawks from 1992 to 1999 and also spent time with the New Jersey Nets and Golden State Warriors.

(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Leslie Adler)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Actress Jean Stapleton, best known for her Emmy-winning role as the good-hearted housewife Edith Bunker in the groundbreaking 1970s television comedy "All in the Family," has died at age 90, her family said on Saturday.

Stapleton died on Friday of natural causes at her home in New York City, her son, film and television director John Putch, said in a statement.

"It is with great love and heavy hearts that we say farewell to our collective Mother, with a capital M," Putch and his sister, Pamela Putch, said in a joint statement. "Her devotion to her craft and her family taught us all great life lessons."

The actress won three Emmys, U.S. TV's highest honor, for her role as Edith, the long-suffering, unsophisticated but understanding wife of the reactionary and often racist Archie Bunker, played by the late Carroll O'Connor, in the hit TV sitcom.

"All in the Family," inspired by the British program "Till Death Us Do Part," was a success with audiences even as it helped usher in a new era for U.S. television by confronting contentious topics such as racism, the Vietnam War and the feminist movement.

Archie, a working-class New Yorker, often clashed over politics and social issues with his adult daughter, Gloria, and his liberal son-in-law, Michael Stivic, whom he called "Meathead."

Edith spoke in a nasal, high-pitched voice, and seemed confused at times by the social changes going on around her. Her gentle nature contrasted with her husband's mean streak. Although Archie often called her a "dingbat," she patiently stood by him.

In a nod to the generational conflict on display in the show, the program, aired on CBS, began with Archie and Edith at a piano singing the nostalgic "Those Were the Days."

"No one gave more profound 'How to be a Human Being' lessons than Jean Stapleton," Norman Lear, the producer of "All in the Family," said in a written statement released to Reuters.

Film director Rob Reiner, who played Edith's son-in-law, said in a statement to CBS News that Stapleton was "a brilliant comedienne with exquisite timing."

Stapleton appeared in "All in the Family" from 1971 to 1979, and continued her role for a time in the 1979 spinoff show "Archie Bunker's Place."

MAKING EDITH FUNNY

Stapleton was born Jeanne Murray in New York in 1923 to an opera singer mother and a businessman father. She would later use her mother's maiden name, Stapleton, as her stage name.

She worked during World War Two as a typist for the British War Ministry Office in New York and made her professional stage debut in 1941. In the 1950s and 1960s, she acted in a number of Broadway productions, including a part in "Damn Yankees" that got Lear's attention and her role in "All in the Family."

Sitting alongside O'Connor for a 2000 interview on the talk show "Donny & Marie," Stapleton said she developed her nasal voice to play an oddball in "Damn Yankees" and decided to use it again in "All in the Family," after behind-the-scenes work that saw Edith go from abrasive to daffy.

"As we developed and found the characters, which was in the rehearsal process and which was very stimulating, very exciting and a learning process, as these elements came to us, something else developed," Stapleton said. "And one was, I think I'll use that nasal voice because it's funny."

O'Connor, who died in 2001, said in the same interview that if Stapleton had followed the British version of the show and played Edith as sharp-tongued, the program would have been less successful. "She had to be what she created in order to make Archie work," he said.

After "All in the Family," Stapleton played former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt in a 1982 television movie, and had a supporting role in the 1998 romantic comedy "You've Got Mail."

She maintained a lifelong love of the theater, and in 1990, received the Village Voice newspaper's Obie Award for her performances in Harold Pinter's Off-Broadway plays "Mountain Language" and "The Birthday Party."

She spent a number of years living and working in Los Angeles, but returned to her native New York in 2002 to live permanently.

Stapleton is survived by her son and daughter. Her husband, William Putch, died in 1983.

(Writing and additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Peter Cooney)

Fred put the five-time world champions ahead in the 57th minute after Hernanes' shot hit the crossbar. England took a 2-1 lead on goals by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the 67th and Wayne Rooney in the 79th.

About 66,000 fans attended the match at Maracana, which had closed for reconstruction in September 2010. The work, estimated to cost up to $1 billion, turned the stadium into a venue with a capacity of about 79,000.

Maracana was site of Brazil's loss to Uruguay in the final game of the 1950 World Cup, which FIFA says drew 173,850 and other sources list at up to 199,854.

The stadium will host the final of this year's Confederations Cup and next year's World Cup.

A powerful new ultraviolet laser that fires into the night sky is helping scientists take their most detailed look yet at a distant star cluster.

A team of astronomers at the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope and the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile used an instrument called SOAR Adaptive Module, or simply SAM, to peer deep inside the crowded NGC 6496 cluster to understand how itsevolved.

The researchers measured the color and brightness of over 7,000 stars in NGC 6496, and determined that the star cluster is 10.5 billion years old and 32,600 light years away from Earth the most exact measurement yet of the star cluster's key parameters. []

The study also suggests that NGC 6496s stars have a much higher proportion of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium than most clusters of its kind. The research will be detailed in an upcoming edition of the Astronomical Journal.

Star clusterscome in two types: globular clusters, which are home to hundreds of thousands of gravitationally bound and very ancient stars, many of them nearly 10 billion years old; and open star clusters, which are normally very young and contain only a few hundred stars.

NGC 6496 is a globular cluster. According to study team member Andrea Kunder of CTIO, such clusters are "some of the most interesting objects in the Milky Way, because they are so old, and also because they are some of the few visible objects in the galactic halo."

The galactic halo extends beyond the visible part of a galaxy and is composed mainly of , which cannot be observed directly, researchers said.

"Just like archaeologists use fossils to reconstruct the history of the Earth, astronomers use globular clusters to reconstruct the history of the galaxy," Kunder said. "There are only about 150 globular clusters known in the , so each of these globular clusters is an important tracer of the galactic halo and the formation of the Milky Way Galaxy."

NGC 6496 lies on the other side of Milky Way's center, so when you look at it from Earth, you have to peer through a lot of gas and dust. That is why during previous ground-based observations it was tricky to measure with certainty its basic parameters, such as its distance from the Earth and precise age, said study team member Luciano Fraga from the National Astrophysics Laboratory (LNA) in Brazil.In 2003 the cluster had been studied with the Hubble Space Telescope, and the new observations using SAM have made it possible to improve the original measurements.

It took a decade to develop and build SAM, at a cost of $4.5 million. And on its very first use it already helped to improve the image quality from observations.

"Quite honestly, this cluster was chosen because it was visible in the night sky when SAM was being commissioned. We needed a target to observe, and this cluster was up at the right time. We also knew that it hadn't been studied very extensively, so we thought we could contribute to a further understanding of the properties of this cluster," Kunder said.

Twinkling artificial stars

SAM is a type of a Laser Guide Star (LSG) a powerful laser that creates an . It is used as a reference star to help astronomers get a better image of the celestial object they wish to observe.

Most skywatchers are likely used to seeing stars twinkle. That twinkling appears because of the turbulence of the Earth's atmosphere. The atmospheric interference can make the image of a distant celestial object eyed with a ground-based telescope blurry. This fuzziness is especially unwelcome when looking at star clusters, where stars are close together and several stars may appear as one big one.

To sharpen the images, astronomers have to correct for atmospheric turbulence. To do so, they need to measure the blurring of a bright reference star in the vicinity of the object being observed. Telescopes with a so-called deformable mirror are then adjusted to cancel out the atmospheric distortion. This is called "," and makes it possible to achieve an image quality that is similar to that of telescopes in space. []

But natural stars are not always available to act as a reference. According to astronomers only about 1 percent of stars are bright enough to be used for adaptive optics. So in the vast majority of cases, they need to create a star from scratch by using lasers.

However, the wavelength of the laser has to be close to the wavelength observed by the telescope. On some major telescopes, such as the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Paranal Observatory in Chile, astronomers use a powerful near-infraredat an altitude of about 90km, which allows them to make observations in the infrared range.

SAM, the new instrument, shoots an ultraviolet laser to the "ground layer" of the atmosphere at about 10km above sea level. That helps to guide the adaptive optics of telescopes working at visible wavelength. It is also cheaper to use, and covers a wider field of view (3 arc minutes).

Kunder said with its sharper images, the system made it possible to see that objects previously appearing as single bright stars were actually groups of two, three or even four stars.

"Stars that were otherwise compromised by light smearing out from the atmosphere were sharpened, allowing us to observe more stars with better precision," she added. "We could therefore peer into the heart of the cluster without worrying about the smearing out of light from the high density of stars in the very center of the cluster."

Editor's Note: This story was updated to correct an error in a press release describing the technology. The instrument is located at theSouthernAstrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope, not theSouthern Observatory for Astrophysical Research (SOAR), as was orignally stated.

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The new Common Core standards replace a hodgepodge of educational goals that had varied greatly from state to state. The federal government was not involved in the state-led effort to develop them but has encouraged the project.

While proponents say the new standards will better prepare students, critics worry they'll set a national curriculum for public schools rather than letting states decide what is best for their students.

There was little dissent when the standards were widely adopted in 2010, but that begun changing last year and debate picked up steam this year. The standards have divided Republicans, with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush championing them and conservatives such as Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, opposing them.

Lawmakers and governors are reviewing the standards in Kansas, Missouri, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Indiana, Alabama, South Carolina and Utah. Grassley, meanwhile, persuaded eight other senators to sign onto a letter in April asking the Senate Appropriations Committee to stop the Education Department from linking adoption of the standards to eligibility for other federal dollars. That same month, the Republican National Committee passed a resolution calling the standards an "inappropriate overreach."

Kristy Campbell, a spokeswoman for the Bush-backed Foundation for Excellence in Education, said conservatives historically have supported higher standards and greater accountability.

"The fact that they are opposed to Common Core now is a little surprising and disappointing given the fact that states came together to solve a need," Campbell said, adding that the new standards will allow for state-by-state comparisons that haven't been possible before. "We are going to have more rigorous assessments that are going to test kids against those higher standards and hopefully achieve what we all want, which is a dramatically greater quality of education in America."

The American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative, Washington-based think tank that espouses conservative policies in state legislatures, debated in November whether to oppose the Common Core standards. The group ultimately decided to remain neutral, but its discussion, along with concerns raised by conservative groups such as the Goldwater and Pioneer institutes, caught the attention of lawmakers.

States that adopt the standards are supposed to use them as a base on which to build their curricula and testing, but they can make their benchmarks tougher than Common Core. While the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, found the new standards to be more rigorous than those that had been used by three-quarters of all states, critics question what will happen in states whose previous standards were tougher.

"So in that regard we really viewed Common Core as the race to the middle, not to the top," said Jamie Gass, director of the Center for School Reform at the Pioneer Institute.

Questions about testing also have arisen. In New York, among the first states to test students based on the standards, some students complained this spring that the Common Core-aligned English exams were too difficult to complete in the allotted time, and there were reports of students crying from stress.

Jonathan Butcher, education director for the Goldwater Institute, based in Phoenix, said opposition also is gaining traction because states and districts are at the point where money has to be appropriated to pay for the standards.

"As soon as states had to start spending money on the Common Core, as soon as it became a line item in the budget, people sit up and take notice," Butcher said. "And that wasn't going to happen until now, until states started to implement it. So it's unfortunate that there is so much attention to it so late in the game but that's kind of where we are. As soon as it starts to become a money issue people will pay attention."

Calculations on the cost of implementing the standards vary, with the Pioneer Institute and two other anti-Common Core conservative think tanks estimating it will cost $16 billion over seven years. Meanwhile, the Fordham Institute, which is pro-Common Core, said the cost over a one-to-three-year transition period could range from $8.3 billion to breaking even or even saving money, depending on things like whether the states purchase hard-copy textbooks or use open-source learning material written by experts, vetted by their peers and posted for free downloading.

One issue is that new tests tied to the standards will be computerized, requiring some states and districts to make technology upgrades. The Pioneer analysis included those technology costs; the Fordham one didn't.

In backing ultimately unsuccessful anti-Common Core legislation in Missouri, Rep. Kurt Bahr, a Republican from the St. Louis suburb of O'Fallon, said he was concerned that many communities lacked the bandwidth and hardware to administer the tests.

"We don't have that connectivity," Bahr said. "It's about to become a massive pocketbook issue."

The standards are the result of an initiative sponsored by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers. Carrie Heath Phillips, who oversees implementation of the standards for the council, played down the concerns about cost, noting that states periodically update their standards and that spending money to implement new ones is nothing new. She also acknowledged that technology upgrades can be a real issue for states that haven't invested in it, but asked, "If you're not moving into the 21st century now in 2013, when are you going to?"

The standards have a long list of supporters, including the National Parent Teacher Association, several education associations and businesses such as the Boeing Co. and Microsoft Corp.

Literacy teacher Jessica Cuthbertson said she attempted to fully implement the new standards in her sixth-grade Aurora, Colo., classroom for the first time this year and found her students' writing was "substantially better."

"I feel that often the debate isn't about the learning," said Cuthbertson, who also trains teachers to use the new standards as part of her job with a virtual teacher leadership initiative called the Center for Teaching Quality. "We're not talking about what the kids are producing and doing with these cool standards. We're talking about the big brother federal government controlling curriculum. I don't think it's really grounded in student learning, and yet in the hands of teachers focused on student learning, I just think there is nothing but hope."

While the federal government wasn't involved in developing the standards, it has provided $350 million to two consortiums developing Common Core tests. The federal Education Department also encouraged states to adopt the standards to compete for "Race to the Top" grants and seek waivers around some of the unpopular proficiency requirements of the No Child Left Behind federal education act.

"They have done some things that have kind of muddied the waters at the very least," said Butcher of the Goldwater Institute. "It's hard for me to say, 'Well, clearly the federal government has no interest in this.'"

But in Michigan, where the Republican-led Legislature is taking steps aimed at halting the standards, Republican Gov. Rick Snyder is defending them as a "really important opportunity" for the state.

"Unfortunately, it's been too much about politics," he said. "It's being viewed as the federal government putting another federal mandate on us. ... It was the governors of the states getting together ... to say we want a partner at the national level and all levels to say, 'Let's raise the bar.'"

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Associated Press writers Chris Blank in Jefferson City, Mo., John Milburn in Topeka, Kan., Alanna Durkin in Lansing, Mich., Christina A. Cassidy in Atlanta, Tom LoBianco in Indianapolis, Phillip Rawls in Montgomery, Ala., Seanna Adcox in Columbia, S.C., Michelle Price in Salt Lake City, Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pa., and Karen Matthews in New York contributed to this report.