WASHINGTON -- NAACP leaders have a message for the members of the tea party movement: We're watching you.

The civil rights group has partnered with three liberal media websites to form a "tea party tracker" intent on monitoring "racism and other forms of extremism" within the tea party movement.

The online project, developed and branded by the NAACP's new media staff, has already drawn strong criticism from tea party supporters, who have said repeatedly that racism plays no role in their movement.

Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington bureau, said the project was started because NAACP leaders kept hearing from its members that they were seeing racist signs, T-shirts and commentary coming from the tea party movement.

NEW YORK -- Two-thirds of New York City residents want a planned Muslim community center and mosque to be relocated to a less-controversial site farther from Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan, including many who say they favor the project, according to a New York Times poll.

Nearly nine years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks ignited a wave of anxiety about Muslims, one-fifth of New Yorkers acknowledged still having animosity toward them. Thirty-three percent said that compared with other U.S. citizens, Muslims were more sympathetic to terrorists.

SILVER SPRING, Md. -- As the three hostages at Discovery Channel's headquarters appeared ready to make a run for it, police said Thursday that a SWAT team officer quickly shot and killed the increasingly agitated gunman who had explosives strapped to himself, ending the four-hour standoff Wednesday.

After several hours of negotiations, authorities saw the hostages begin to move on building security cameras and heard a "pop" they believed to be a gunshot or an explosive device, Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger said. That's when an officer shot the gunman, James J. Lee, in the lobby of the building. None of the hostages was hurt.

CHICAGO -- Parents of children murdered in Chicago voiced anger over a news conference called Thursday by self-proclaimed former and current West Side gang members who claimed they're being treated unfairly by police.

"My first impression was, 'How dare they?' " said Annette Holt, whose son Blair was gunned down on a city bus three years ago.

Two weeks ago, several law enforcement agencies warned West Side gang members to control violent members.

On Thursday, people claiming to be former members of gangs and one claiming to be associated with a gang said they and other gang members were disrespected by police and that their rights were violated.

MIAMI -- Palm Beach billionaire Jeff Greene accused The Miami Herald and St. Petersburg Times in a libel lawsuit filed Wednesday of orchestrating a "plan to assassinate [his] character" that cost him the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate in Florida.

Mr. Greene, who lost to Miami U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek by 26 percentage points, said the newspapers published stories about his real estate dealings in California and his 145-foot yacht Summerwind that were "knowingly based on false information." He is seeking a total of $500 million in damages from the two papers. -- Compiled from news services

Washington correspondent Daniel Malloy writes the "Pittsburgh On The Potomac" blog exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.