NEAR JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. -- Investigators are trying to identify a skull found by a passerby on Wednesday afternoon.

Officials said a civilian who had stumbled onto the base found the skull near the east gate at approximately 1 p.m. 

Investigators said they've not made any determination about the found bone, and are combing the area for additional clues. The area has been cordoned off. 

"We're treating this as a possible crime scene," said base spokesman Joseph Piek. 

Officials said because the base, which borders the Nisqually Indian Reservation, houses ancient burial grounds, it is common to find remains in the area. However, they added the skull doesn't appear to be old enough to have surfaced from the burial grounds. 

"Right now, don't know what we've got," said Piek. 

Before they begin reviewing missing persons cases that could be a match, investigators want to make sure they've gathered every piece of evidence. For the time being, the investigation is staying on base.    

SALT LAKE CITY - Army officials knew a distraught and AWOL soldier recently back from Afghanistan was headed to Utah with ammunition, weapons and a grudge but didn't warn local authorities, a newspaper reported.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported Tuesday that Army Spc. Brandon Barrett sent text messages to fellow soldiers warning that he was preparing for death in Utah with "one hell of an argument and about 1,000 rounds to prove my point." The newspaper reported that military records show Army investigators were worried that Barrett might commit a mass shooting.

A spokeswoman for Barrett's commanders said Tuesday that she doesn't believe such records exist and that Barrett wasn't considered a risk to others.

Maj. Jenny Willis, of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, said Barrett told a chaplain he planned to answer for his desertion and face a charge of drunken driving the day after his return from Afghanistan.

Barrett was classified as a deserter when he dressed in full combat gear and engaged in a gunfight with a Salt Lake City police officer in late August. He was shot and killed by the officer, whom he wounded.

Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank told The Associated Press that detectives never determined why Barrett chose Utah for a fatal encounter with police or how long he had been in town.

Burbank told reporters Tuesday that his department wasn't notified by Army officials of Barrett's intentions, but said the military's failure to notify authorities was understandable.

To read the entire story, click here.

This from The Salt Lake Tribune: The Army knew days ahead of time that a distraught soldier, recently home from the war in Afghanistan, intended to come to Utah to "make a statement," but officials investigating a series of alarming messages from Spc. Brandon Barrett did not warn local law enforcement of the threats.

Barrett, wearing full body armor and carrying hundreds of rounds of ammunition, shot a Salt Lake City police officer in the leg during a gunfight that ended when the wounded officer fired back, killing the soldier with a shot to the head.

"The first thing we knew about Mr. Barrett was when he encountered him on the street," Salt Lake City police spokeswoman Lara Jones said Monday - the same day the department provided The Salt Lake Tribune with scores of photos and several videos that further emphasize how narrowly the city came to an even greater tragedy on the afternoon of Aug. 27.

To read more from the story, click here.

SAN DIEGO (AP) - A federal judge issued a worldwide injunction Tuesday stopping enforcement of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, ending the military's 17-year-old ban on openly gay troops.

U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips' landmark ruling was widely cheered by gay rights organizations that credited her with getting accomplished what President Obama and Washington politics could not.

"This order from Judge Phillips is another historic and courageous step in the right direction, a step that Congress has been noticeably slow in taking," said Alexander Nicholson, executive director of Servicemembers United and the sole named veteran plaintiff in the case along with the Log Cabin Republicans.

Servicemembers United is the nation's largest organization of gay and lesbian troops and veterans.

U.S. Department of Justice attorneys have 60 days to appeal. Legal experts say the department is under no legal obligation to do so and could let Phillips' ruling stand.

Phillips declared the law unconstitutional after a two-week nonjury trial in federal court in Riverside. She said the Log Cabin Republicans "established at trial that the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Act irreparably injures servicemembers by infringing their fundamental rights."

She said the policy violates due process rights, freedom of speech and the right to petition the government for redress of grievances guaranteed by the First Amendment.

"Furthermore, there is no adequate remedy at law to prevent the continued violation of servicemembers' rights or to compensate them for violation of their rights," Phillips said.

She said Department of Justice attorneys did not address these issues in their objection to her expected injunction.

Before issuing her order, Phillips had asked for input from Department of Justice attorneys and the Log Cabin Republicans, the gay rights group that filed the lawsuit in 2004 to stop the ban's enforcement.

A new first-person shooter video game has some up in arms about some of the game's features.

By allowing players to assume the role of Taliban fighters killing U.S. troops, Redwood City-based (Calif.) Electronic Arts may have crossed the line with its latest first-person shooter game, a line that Mountain View resident Karen Meredith says was drawn with the blood of soldiers like her only son, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

For more on the story, click here.