The PFC Auction house said in a statement that the seller had withdrawn the item, which was linked to the 1981 assassination attempt on Reagan, and plans instead to donate it to the former president’s foundation.

The statement said the seller, who has remained anonymous, had obtained the vial at a U.S. auction earlier this year.

The decision not to sell the controversial item was praised by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation in California, which had earlier announced plans to try to stop the sale through legal means.

“We are very pleased with this outcome and wish to thank the consignor and PFC Auctions for their assistance in this matter,” said John Heubusch, executive director of the foundation. He added that he was pleased the late president’s blood will be kept “out of public hands.”

The item being donated is a five-inch (12.5-centimeter) glass vial that is one half-inch in diameter and has a green rubber stopper. The auction house said it clearly contains traces of dried blood. It is said to have been taken from a laboratory that tested Reagan’s blood for lead in the days after he was seriously wounded by a would-be assassin.

“While we contend that the removal of the vial from the hospital laboratory, and the U.S. auction sale in February 2012, were not legal acts in our opinion, we are grateful to the current custodian of the vial for this generous donation to the Foundation,” Heubusch said.

Reagan’s family, his foundation and his surgeon had earlier this week criticized the proposed sale. They said it was a violation of the family’s privacy for medical items linked to his treatment to be sold on the open market.

Online bidding on the item had reached more than $30,000 when the sale was suspended. It had been set to conclude Thursday evening.

In its statement, the auction house, which is based in the Channel Islands between England and France, revealed new details about the aborted sale.

It said the seller had purchased the item at a public auction in the United States earlier this year for $3,550. It quoted the seller as saying he was a serious collector of presidential memorabilia who had donated to museums in the past.

“I would personally be delighted to see this important artifact put on public display by the Foundation,” the seller said.

Reagan required emergency surgery after he was shot by John Hinckley Jr. outside the Washington Hilton Hotel shortly after speaking to labor union officials on March 30, 1981. Hinckley fired six shots at the president from close range. All six missed, but one bullet ricocheted and hit Reagan.

The president was wounded just two months after taking office. He suffered a punctured lung and severe internal bleeding that required life-saving surgery.

His popular press secretary, James Brady, was left paralyzed after being shot. Two people protecting Reagan also were wounded.

Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He remains in a psychiatric facility in the Washington area but has been allowed to spend some time outside the facility with his family.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

HONOLULU (AP) — Honolulu has surpassed Los Angeles as having the worst traffic in the country.

That’s according to a report released Tuesday by INRIX, a Kirkland, Wash.-based traffic research firm, analyzing the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas in 2011.

Honolulu is No. 1 on the list, with drivers wasting 58 hours in traffic. The report says the worst time to be on Honolulu roads is Tuesday from 5:15 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Los Angeles drivers spent 56 hours in traffic.

The previous year, Honolulu ranked second behind Los Angeles.

According to the report, Los Angeles is still home to the worst traffic corridor — a 13-mile stretch of the San Diego Freeway from the Imperial Highway interchange through the Getty Center Drive exit.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 1,600 museums across the country will offer free admission to active-duty military personnel and their families this summer in a program that has more than doubled in size since 2010.

The expanded Blue Star Museums initiative was announced Tuesday at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York where more than 40 museums are participating. The offer of free admission runs from Memorial Day until Labor Day.

The program began in 2010 as a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families and the Defense Department. It’s adding 300 new museums this year.

New participants include the American Civil War Center in Richmond, Va., the New Mexico Museum of Space History, San Francisco’s Children’s Creativity Museum and the World Figure Skating Museum in Colorado.

Click here for a state-by-state list of participating museums.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

For the second time in a year, a South Carolina officer has ticketed a motorist for displaying a replica of testicles on a vehicle.

A Spartanburg County sheriff’s deputy stopped a truck Sunday evening after noticing the display on the rear bumper. The incident report says the driver removed the display after being stopped but he was arrested for driving without a license. He was also given a warning ticket for having an obscene display.

Last July, a Berkeley County, South Carolina woman was ticketed for having a similar display on the back of her truck. That case is to go to trial in municipal court in the town of Bonneau. That trial has been delayed three times and no new trial date has been set.

CBS13 contacted the Joaquin Jeepers, a 4×4 owners group located in Stockton, to find out what they thought about the ticket, and if they knew of any California residents who had been also ticketed for displaying the testicles.

“I’ve never heard of anyone being pulled over,” said Joaquin Jeepers club member, Ken Rowe. “I’ve seen it, and it’s like, oh yeah, okay. But maybe people take it a little too far.”

We called the CHP to find out if displaying the testicles could lead to a ticket in California, but our call was not immediately returned.

(TM and © Copyright 2010 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new study shows the number of Mexican immigrants living illegally in the U.S. has dropped significantly for the first time in decades. The figures represent a dramatic shift as many illegal workers, already in the U.S. and seeing few job opportunities, are returning to Mexico.

The analysis of census data from the U.S. and Mexican governments finds that roughly 6.1 million unauthorized Mexican immigrants were living in the U.S. last year. That’s down from a peak of nearly 7 million in 2007.

The Pew Hispanic Center report attributed much of the drop to a weak U.S. economy, which has shrunk construction jobs attractive to Mexican workers. But increased deportations, heightened U.S. patrols and violence along the border as well as Mexico’s declining birth rate, also have played a role.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

Top U.S. military and civilian officials rushed to condemn the soldiers’ actions Wednesday, calling them repugnant and a dishonor to the sacrifices of hundreds of thousands of Americans who have served in the war there.

The photos were published by the Los Angeles Times, which said one shows members of the 82nd Airborne Division posing in 2010 with Afghan police and the severed legs of a suicide bomber.

The newspaper says the same platoon a few months later went to investigate the remains of three insurgents reported to have accidentally blown themselves up — and that soldiers again posed and mugged for photographs with the remains.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.