Officials say arson is suspected in five east Texas church fires since the beginning of the year. Three have been in one town and two came in one night this week.Sus...

Hundreds of parents whose children enjoyed the opportunities of Beverly Hills' coveted schools turned out for a meeting Tuesday to watch the school board vote on a controve...

Danglass Gregoire headed to Florida for a business trip Tuesday, leaving his wife and young daughter behind in Haiti, close to the center of a major earthquake that has dev...

A former Army captain has been sentenced to four years and two months in federal prison for stealing $400,000 from the U.S. government while stationed at Kandahar Air Base ...

A New York City cabbie said he returned a lost purse containing more than $21,000 in cash and expensive jewelry because his mother always advised him to be honest."I...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency Tuesday in the Northern California county struck by a weekend earthquake, saying damage from the magnitude-6.5 temb...

An estimated 142,800 gallons of diesel fuel spilled from a storage tank on an island in Alaska's remote Aleutian chain.The Coast Guard says 1,000 gallons from the Mo...

The Kansas Supreme Court has ordered the judge in the murder trial of the man who has confessed to killing an abortion provider to reconsider a decision to ban reporters fr...

Four illegal immigrants are accused of running brothels out of a pair of South Philadelphia houses.Three of the men were arrested Monday, the same day a federal indi...

The school complex built on the site of Los Angeles' Ambassador Hotel where Robert F. Kennedy was killed will be named after the senator.Los Angeles Unified school b...

Sarah Palin accounts for the controversy she attracts by saying her opponents don't like the "commonsense, conservative solutions" she represents. Debuting as a Fox News an...

A Yale professor testifying in a case challenging California's same-sex marriage ban said Tuesday that the 2008 campaign to pass Proposition 8 played on stereotypes histori...

Officials say New York Gov. David Paterson's teenage son was taken into police custody after he was seen rolling dice near his high school.The two officials say poli...

North Korea's envoy to the United Nations said Tuesday his nation is willing to conduct parallel talks on its nuclear program and on formally ending the Korean War, but onl...

Convicted killer Gary Johnson was executed Tuesday for fatally shooting a ranch foreman and another man who interrupted his burglary of a southeast Texas ranch nearly 24 ye...

A woman has been charged with trashing a McDonald's restaurant in Missouri because she was unhappy with her cheeseburger. Police said they received many tips after releasin...

Key parts of a $10 million lawsuit filed by the families of two students slain in the mass shootings at Virginia Tech can go forward, a judge in Virginia ruled Tuesday....

A Missouri funeral director who deliberately gave the wrong ashes to grieving families and discarded decaying corpses in his basement deserves a harsher punishment than hou...

The remains of an Air Force pilot who went missing in action during the Vietnam War have been identified, the Department of Defense said Tuesday.The ashes of Air For...

DNA from the invasive Asian carp has been found closer to Lake Michigan than ever before, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Tuesday, renewing fears that the fish have b...

A poverty-stricken Indian tribe that holds the sun and nature's other gifts sacred sees a brighter future for itself in solar power.The 3,000 members of the Jemez Pu...

Federal prosecutors closed a two-year rape investigation of magician David Copperfield on Tuesday without filing charges, and police in nearby Bellevue say his accuser made...

A judge in Virginia says parts of a $10 million lawsuit filed by the families of two students slain in the mass shootings at Virginia Tech can go forward.Visiting Ci...

A man who had hundreds of live and dead Chihuahuas and Chihuahua mixes in his Detroit-area home has pleaded guilty to an animal cruelty charge in a deal that keeps him out ...

He's the father of a war hero whose name is familiar to anyone who has flown in and out of Chicago, and his death has been linked to one of the city's most famous residents...

A woman has been charged with trashing a McDonald's restaurant in Missouri because she was unhappy with her cheeseburger. Police said they received many tips after releasin...

Conservation groups and scientists want federal agricultural authorities to start regulating shipments of commercially domesticated bumblebees — used to pollinate crops â...

Los Angeles County prosecutors have charged two men with killing a 6-year-old boy who was shot as he played in the driveway of his home.Investigators believe one of ...

A judge turned away objections from prosecutors Tuesday, allowing confessed killer Scott Roeder the chance to build a defense to the slaying of a Kansas abortion provider b...

Wildlife officials from the United States and Canada plan to encourage conservation groups to buy key parcels of grizzly bear habitat in order to gauge how climate change i...

Ten-year-old Drew Buckley loves ballet so much that she wants other kids to feel the excitement — starting with the tips of their toes.Drew recently collected $1,7...

A former Eagle Scout and U.S. Air Force Academy cadet was convicted Tuesday on federal weapons charges after being caught up in an undercover sweep of white supremacists wh...

A disgruntled ex-employee stormed a truck rental business in camouflage and opened fire with a handgun, killing two people and critically wounding three others at his forme...

A student at a northeastern Pennsylvania Roman Catholic college has apologized for urinating on a public nativity scene. The student, 22, said Monday he "was being a drunke...

A police spokesman is now saying two people have been killed and three others are injured after a disgruntled former employee opened fire at a suburban Atlanta business.States seek to shift some health costs to feds, Michael Gormley

New York Gov. David Paterson, far from alone in leading a state with a growing budget deficit and few options, is trying to build a coalition of several big states as he se...

Like thousands of other Texans living atop one of the country's most productive natural gas fields, folks in this tiny town were giddy when drillers started offering up the...

Officials shut down a busy port and urged people to get out of town Tuesday after a forklift operator accidentally punctured containers of PETN, the highly explosive substa...

Officials lifted a voluntary evacuation order and opened roads late Tuesday around a busy North Carolina port that remained closed after a forklift operator accidentally pu...

A former Blackwater contractor charged in the shooting deaths of two Afghans will be held in custody until his trial because his history of disregarding authority suggests ...

Court papers allege that an Olympia woman, angry that her husband left her, tampered with his power tools so that he received a powerful electric shock. Carolyn Paulsen-Ria...

A Massachusetts delivery driver growing his hair out for charity said he has been told by his employer to cut it. Brad Siscoe, a contractor employee who makes deliveries fo...

A spokesman for a truck rental company says a gunman accused of shooting three people to death is a former employee.Police say five people were shot Tuesday the Pens...

Unruly passengers on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit were interviewed by Customs and Border Protection officials after the plane landed Tuesday, but n...

A bill seeking to legalize marijuana in California won initial approval from a legislative committee Tuesday in what may be a purely symbolic vote because a second committe...

A Kansas judge refused again on Tuesday to block confessed killer Scott Roeder from arguing at trial his belief that the shooting death of an abortion provider was a justif...

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday the Obama administration feels assured of Japan's commitment to a continuing security alliance with the United States...

Schools in parts of Utah kept students inside for sports and recess Tuesday after soaring pollution levels prompted state health warnings on driving and outdoor activity.Ohio man pleads not guilty in pipe bomb case

An Ohio man injured in November when two explosions rocked his apartment has pleaded not guilty to a federal charge of possessing dozens of pipe bombs.Fifty-six-year...

One Broward County couple decided to tie the knot where they first met: Whole Foods Market. Jack Frankel, 75, and 67-year-old Fina Nikolos met in May at the supermarket sto...

Police say two people have been killed and at least two others are injured in a shooting at a truck rental office in suburban Atlanta.Officer Joe Hernandez with Cobb...

Police spokesman now says 2 killed, 3 hurt in shooting at Ga. business; previously said 3 dead....

Residents in a Knoxville's wealthy Sequoyah Hills neighborhood are alarmed that a man wants to convert his home into a duplex and run a music studio and fertility service o...

The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said Tuesday it is pulling an ad campaign that used the likeness of first lady Michelle Obama without he...

A Delta Airlines spokeswoman says the crew of a Northwest Airlines flight requested that authorities meet the plane when it landed in Detroit because four passengers did no...

Maryland highway officials have a bridge in Cecil County they want to sell you. The State Highway Administration said the Maryland Route 545 bridge over Little Elk Creek in...

Carnival Cruise Lines won't be sailing anymore with a boatload of "cougars" and their willing prey. The Miami-based company has turned down a request from a singles travel ...

California's nonpartisan legislative analyst says Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to close a $20 billion budget gap is overly optimistic.Legislative Analyst Ma...

Convicted terrorism plotter Jose Padilla's attorneys asked an appeals court on Tuesday to throw out his conviction, arguing that he was the victim of "outrageous government...

Former U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. began crafting his argument Tuesday for a potential bid to unseat Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, reinventing himself as an independent thinker ba...

Forecasters say hazardous surf will roll ashore along parts of the California coast and Hawaii's north and west shores.The National Weather Service says big surf wil...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday it will set aside critical habitat for the endangered jaguar and develop a recovery plan for the elusive animal once thought...

Chicago police have agreed to look into the 1939 gangland-style slaying of the father of the city's most famous war hero.Deputy Chief Al Wysinger said Tuesday his co...

A grand jury in Tennessee has indicted an Army officer on federal charges of smuggling more than $100,000 out of Iraq.The U.S. Department of Justice said in a news r...

Punxsutawney Phil will text his weather prediction this year.Mickey Rowley, Pennsylvania's deputy tourism secretary, says he realizes that not everyone can come to P...

An international chain store says it will no longer sell a charm bracelet that lab testing reported by The Associated Press showed was laden with toxic cadmium.In a ...

The earthquake damage estimate in the Northern California city of Eureka has climbed to $21.9 million, officials said Tuesday.The latest figure from the weekend's ma...

A Somali man charged with piracy has pleaded not guilty to new charges he led the capture of two other vessels in the Indian Ocean.A federal indictment unsealed Tues...

A mystery object from space is about to whizz close by Earth on Wednesday. It won't hit our planet, but scientists are stumped by what exactly it is.Astronomers say ...

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says more DNA from the invasive Asian Carp has been found near Lake Michigan.Major Gen. John Peabody said Tuesday that carp DNA — ...

A Harvard professor testifying in a case challenging California's gay marriage ban presented a centuries-old history lesson Tuesday on government regulation of marriage, ev...

Conservation groups and scientists want federal agricultural authorities to start regulating shipments of commercially domesticated bumblebees — used to pollinate crops â...

Jean Finnegan Biden, mother of Vice President Joe Biden, was remembered Tuesday as a strong-willed woman of unshakable faith who instilled a sense of loyalty and courage in...

A defense attorney says a teenager accused in the stabbing death of a Texas high school teacher will get mental health treatment after being declared unfit to proceed in th...

Officials shut down a North Carolina port and urged people to leave the area Tuesday after a forklift operator punctured at least one container filled with a powerful explo...

An Alaska man who killed his father with a machete and attacked his dad's fiancee was given a 189-year sentence for murder and attempted murder.Christopher Erin Roge...

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected convicted killer Gary Johnson's plea for a halt to his execution scheduled for Tuesday night in the Texas death chamber for killing a ranch ...

New York City says the government of Nigeria owes it millions of dollars in unpaid taxes on the Manhattan building that houses the Nigerian Consulate.According to a ...

A federal trial to determine whether the U.S. Constitution prohibits states from banning gay marriage has resumed.Nancy Cott, a U.S. history professor at Harvard, st...

It was lobsters versus crabcakes in Sunday's NFL playoff game, and Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley says he wants his lobsters.O'Malley and fellow Democratic Gov. Deval...

The brother of an aspiring 26-year-old model whose burned body was found in a Miami-area trash bin is pleading for anyone with information about the case to contact authori...

Vice President Joe Biden is praising his late mother as a fiercely protective woman and says courage was her greatest virtue.The vice president delivered a eulogy Tu...

Legislative officials says a special New York Senate committee is recommending either censuring or expelling a senator following his misdemeanor assault conviction.T...

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced a settlement Tuesday with five health care facilities that flushed pharmaceutical waste into the New York City watersheds.<...

The Supreme Court on Tuesday reinstated for a second time the death sentence of a neo-Nazi convicted of murdering three men in Ohio more than a quarter century ago.T...

Hundreds of parents whose children enjoyed the opportunities of Beverly Hills' coveted schools are finding out whether they can stay enrolled, as the school board votes on ...

President Barack Obama plans to address an issues retreat of House Democrats this week, but will also speak later to House Republicans in a fresh gesture of bipartisanship....

There was no last second proclamation of innocence or even a statement to the handful of reporters waiting in the freezing cold for the man who pleaded guilty to orchestrat...

The father who orchestrated the balloon boy hoax is taking advantage of his final days of freedom by making the rounds on news shows and telling anyone who will listen that...

Officials shut down a North Carolina port and urged people to leave the area Tuesday after nine containers with highly explosive materials were punctured.Morehead Ci...

Oil prices fell Tuesday as a global cold spell eased its grip, weakening demand for crude that had hit a 15-month high.Chevron, the nation's second largest oil compa...

Hundreds of people are gathering in Delaware to pay their respects to Vice President Joe Biden's mother.The 92-year-old Jean Finnegan Biden died Friday after a brief...

The Legislature on Monday approved a bill that would make the state the 14th to allow chronically ill patients access to marijuana for medical reasons.Democratic Gov...

A California congresswoman said she's alarmed by the number of people killed by police in the Southern California city of Inglewood and will look into getting a federal cou...

A New York City cab driver is being praised for returning over $21,000 lost by a visitor from Italy.Seventy-two-year-old Felicia Lettieri, of Italy, left her purse i...

The former director of a central Missouri funeral home where rotting bodies were found in the basement was sentenced to 60 days of house arrest and five years of probation ...

Today is Wednesday, Jan. 13, the 13th day of 2010. There are 352 days left in the year.Today's Highlight in History:On Jan. 13, 1794, President George Washing...

A judge in Massachusetts has denied a bid to dismiss murder charges against parents accused of killing their 4-year-old daughter by overmedicating her with prescription dru...

A funeral service will be held in Delaware for Jean Finnegan Biden, the mother of Vice President Joe Biden.The Tuesday morning service will be at the Immaculate Hear...

Stock futures fell Tuesday, pointing to a lower opening, after Alcoa Inc. disappointed Wall Street as it kicked off earnings season.Overseas markets also mostly fell...

Decades ago, poor children became known as "disadvantaged" to soften the stigma of poverty. Then they were "at-risk." Now, a Washington lawmaker wants to replace those euph...

Snow showers were expected to diminish over the Great Lakes as precipitation strengthened over the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday.A low pressure system spinning off th...

The U.S. Coast Guard is responding to a report that an underground diesel tank on Alaska's Adak Island has leaked fuel.Adak Petroleum personnel said Monday night tha...

Prosecutors are challenging a Kansas judge's decision to allow a confessed killer to present a voluntary manslaughter defense in the slaying of one of the few late-term abo...

A judge's decision to allow a confessed killer to argue that he believes the slaying of one of the nation's few late-term abortion providers was a justified act aimed at sa...

A federal trial to determine whether the U.S. Constitution prohibits states from banning gay marriage resumed Tuesday with testimony from a professor who said the historic ...

The Obama administration's decision not to interfere in states' medical marijuana laws has emboldened a citizens' initiative to get the state of Oregon involved in providin...

Leaping into a deepening dispute with a longtime Asian ally, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is meeting with her Japanese counterpart to discuss the future of a U...

A rarely seen 400-year-old map that identified Florida as "the Land of Flowers" and put China at the center of the world went on display Tuesday at the Library of Congress....

Federal and state watchdogs opened a new front Monday in the campaign to keep poisons out of Chinese imports, launching inquiries into high levels of cadmium in children's ...

Sobbing and sniffling, Mark McGwire finally answered the steroid question.Ending more than a decade of denials and evasion, McGwire admitted Monday what many had sus...

The parents of a 4-year-old boy disciplined for having long hair have rejected a compromise from a Texas school board that agreed to adjust its grooming policy.The i...

A Texas school board is adjusting its grooming policy after a 4-year-old boy's long, flowing hair got him suspended. But his parents say it isn't enough.Pre-kinderga...