This is a rush transcript from “The Big Story With John Gibson and Heather Nauert,” February 19, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated. JOHN GIBSON, HOST: GIBSON: Many Cubans have died trying to reach our shores to taste freedom. Will their dreams …

RENO, Nev. – Reno police released a composite sketch of a suspected rapist linked to a sexual assault in the area where a 19-year-old college student disappeared. The sketch is “not inconsistent” with suspect descriptions in three other sexual assault cases near the University of Nevada, Reno campus, investigators say. …

MINNEAPOLIS – The Metropolitan Airports Commission has spent more than $28,000 prosecuting Idaho Sen. Larry Craig and fighting his appeal. Craig has asked the state Appeals Court to let him withdraw his guilty plea to misdemeanor disorderly conduct after an airport bathroom sex sting. KSTP-TV reports that as of February …

ISTANBUL, Turkey – Truckloads of weary and unshaven Turkish troops returned Friday from Iraq as Turkey ended an eight-day cross-border offensive against Kurdish rebels, meeting U.S. demands for a quick campaign. Washington and Baghdad welcomed the move, but Turkey warned that the forces would return if necessary. A key test …

An Indiana woman was arrested Wednesday on charges she gave her 11-year-old daughter alcohol and marijuana as a birthday gift, according to reports. Davita Fuller, 26, of Anderson, Ind., has been charged with one felonious count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor after cops alleged the woman offered …

Hillary Clinton’s campaign on Sunday accused Barack Obama of “flip-flopping” on the use of public financing in the general election campaign, claiming he has abandoned an earlier “unequivocal” pledge from a year ago to do use public funds. Obama said last year he would accept public financing in the general …

OXNARD, Calif. – A 15-year-old boy who was shot in the head at school was declared brain dead Wednesday but was kept on a ventilator for possible organ donation, a medical examiner said. Eighth-grader Lawrence King, who was shot Tuesday, was pronounced brain dead at 2 p.m. at St. John’s …

CANTON, Ohio – The mother of the pregnant Ohio woman killed by former police officer Bobby Cutts Jr. told him minutes after a jury spared him the death penalty that she had already forgiven him and she hoped he would one day get out of jail. “I do forgive you,” …

SALT LAKE CITY – Thomas S. Monson, a leader who became known for his folksy storytelling as he ascended through church ranks, was introduced Monday as the 16th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Monson, 80, succeeds Gordon B. Hinckley, who died last month at age …

TOPEKA, Kan. – An Army specialist refiled a religious freedom lawsuit Wednesday, alleging among other violations that his promotion was blocked after Fort Riley’s commanding general sent a post-wide e-mail about him. Attorneys for Spc. Jeremy Hall and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation filed the new complaint in U.S. District …