CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - A top-secret mini-space shuttle has blasted off from Cape Canaveral.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Your medical plan is facing an unexpected expense, so you probably are, too. It's a new, $63-per-head fee to cushion the cost of covering people with pre-existing conditions under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. The charge, buried in a recent regulation, works out to tens of millions of dollars for the largest companies, employers say. Most of that is likely to be passed on to workers. Employee benefits lawyer ...
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Republican National Committee on Monday announced an inquiry to look at what went wrong in 2012's presidential election and how the GOP can respond to the nation's shifting demographics and adopt smarter political strategies.
PORTERVILLE, Calif. (AP) - Hector Celaya had the name of his 8-year-old daughter, Alyssa, tattooed on his right leg. She and her younger sister were found shot and wounded in a car that their father attempted to flee as officers surrounded them, authorities said.
DENVER (AP) - Marijuana for recreational use became legal in Colorado Monday, when the governor took a purposely low-key procedural step of declaring the voter-approved change part of the state constitution.
NEW YORK (AP) - The crowning spire of the World Trade Center's tallest building arrived in New York on Tuesday - in giant steel pieces on a barge that floated in past the Statue of Liberty.
WASHINGTON (AP) - HSBC, the British banking giant, will pay $1.9 billion to settle a money-laundering probe by federal and state authorities in the United States, a law enforcement official said Monday.
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Gov. Rick Snyder says one reason he supports right-to-work legislation in Michigan is the economic boost a similar law has given Indiana, although officials have provided no conclusive evidence that the policy by itself has drawn new businesses to the state next door.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's cancer relapse and his sudden announcement that he will undergo a fourth cancer-related surgery in Cuba have thrown the country's future into question, and his designated political heir has begun trying to fill the void.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The government is investigating whether software companies that make cellphone apps violated the privacy rights of children by quietly collecting personal information from mobile devices and sharing it with advertisers and data brokers, the Federal Trade Commission said Monday. Such apps can capture a child's physical location, phone numbers of their friends and more.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea is pressing ahead with preparation for a long-range rocket launch after extending its liftoff window by another week until Dec. 29 because of technical problems.
PHOENIX (AP) - The second winner of the $587.5 million Powerball jackpot is a 37-year-old electronics industry professional who grew up in a modest home in Pennsylvania and moved to an affluent Phoenix suburb last year before striking it rich in the lotto.
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) - It is an unlikely tale: Orthodox Jew from New York City comes to Bolivia to rescue a rice-growing venture, gets thrown in jail on suspicion of money laundering and, aided by actor Sean Penn, winds up triggering perhaps the biggest scandal yet for the country's president.
SYCAMORE, Ill. (AP) - A former Washington state policeman was sentenced Monday to life in prison for kidnapping and killing a 7-year-old girl more than 50 years ago in the small Illinois town where he grew up.
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - A Nevada woman who survived six frigid days in the mountains said in an interview aired Monday that she had asked her boyfriend not to venture out for help after their Jeep became mired in mud on a back road.
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - A 37-year-old man was arrested Wednesday in connection with a case in which a pair of letters containing the deadly poison ricin were discovered in Washington state last week.
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) - The U.S. and several key allies looked again Wednesday for a strategy to end Syria's civil war, their united efforts unable at the moment to stem the Assad regime's military gains and Washington still unwilling to join those providing the rebels with lethal military aid.
GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) - The Boy Scouts of America's national leadership will vote Thursday on whether to allow openly gay Scouts in its ranks, a critical and emotionally charged moment for one of the nation's oldest youth organizations and its millions of members.
DUARTE, Calif. (AP) - Officials say a woman in a Los Angeles suburb found a bear cub sitting on her kitchen counter.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - A Chechen immigrant shot to death in Florida after an altercation with an FBI agent implicated himself in a triple slaying that officials believe may have been connected to Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, authorities said.
KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - An 80-year-old Japanese mountaineer on Thursday became the oldest man to reach the top of Mount Everest, a Nepali official and Miura's Tokyo-based support team said.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that four American citizens have been killed in drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen since 2009. The disclosure to Congress comes on the eve of a major national security speech by President Barack Obama in which he plans to pledge more transparency to Congress in his counterterrorism policy.
A Los Angeles Unified School District teacher, who lives in Valencia, has pleaded not guilty to charges of possessing child pornography, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office said.
EAST AURORA, N.Y. (AP) - Toy maker Fisher-Price said Wednesday it's moving or eliminating roughly 100 jobs from its operations in the state as part of restructuring by parent company Mattel Inc.
LAKELAND, Minn. (AP) - When high school student Zach Sobiech learned he didn't have much longer to live, his mother suggested he write letters to tell his loved ones goodbye. Instead, the Minnesota teenager turned to writing music - and his farewell song, "Clouds," became a YouTube sensation that has attracted more than 4 million views.
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - A volunteer searcher who broke his back while looking for a teenager who was lost in Orange County wilderness wants restitution if the teen is convicted on drug charges.
In a medical first, doctors used plastic particles and a 3-D laser printer to create an airway splint to save the life of a baby boy who used to stop breathing nearly every day.
NEW YORK (AP) - In running for mayor, Anthony Weiner is seeking to get past the tawdry-tweeter punch line that has dogged him since his congressional career imploded two years ago. And while he's facing an uphill sprint, his campaign could help his long-term prospects even if he loses, some experts say.
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - A dam that threatened to give way and flood a North Dakota town was holding back the water on Wednesday, though the 1,300 residents of Cavalier were still being told to stay away from their homes.
PHOENIX (AP) - Jurors in the Jodi Arias murder trial told the judge Wednesday they are unable to reach a unanimous verdict on whether the convicted murderer should be sentenced to life in prison or death for killing her one-time boyfriend, prompting the judge to send them back to the deliberation room to work through their differences.