NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The Coast Guard was searching Friday for two workers missing after a fire erupted on an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico, sending an ominous black plume of smoke into the air reminiscent of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion that transformed the oil industry and life along the coast.
NEW YORK (AP) - Twinkies may not last forever after all. Hostess Brands Inc., the maker of the spongy snack with a mysterious cream filling, said Friday it would shutter after years of struggling with management turmoil, rising labor costs and the ever-changing tastes of Americans even as its pantry of sugary cakes seemed suspended in time. Some of Hostess beloved brands such as Ding Dongs and Ho Ho's likely will be snapped up by ...
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - A California slaughterhouse where videotaped mistreatment of cows prompted the largest meat recall in U.S. history has reached a symbolic $500 million settlement with an animal welfare group and the federal government.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - San Francisco's sheriff is telling Mayor Ed Lee he won't give up oversight of his department's domestic violence prevention program despite being on probation in such a case.
SAN DIEGO (AP) - U.S. Rep. Brian Bilbray lost his re-election bid to represent a wide swath of San Diego, marking the latest blow to the Republican delegation in California.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Gov. Jerry Brown has told attendees at an environmental conference that climate change must be solved or humans may one day be forced to live on another planet.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Ex-CIA Director David Petraeus told lawmakers Friday that classified intelligence showed the deadly raid on the U.S. Consulate in Libya was a terrorist attack, but that the administration withheld the suspected role of specific al-Qaida affiliates to avoid tipping off the terrorist groups.
PARIS (AP) - France raised the possibility Thursday of sending "defensive weapons" to Syria's rebels, but Russia warned that such a move would violate international law.
JERUSALEM (AP) - Palestinian militants fired a rocket aimed at Jerusalem on Friday, setting off air raid sirens throughout the city and opening a new front in three days of fierce fighting between Israel and armed groups in the Gaza Strip.
NEW YORK (AP) - The nation's diabetes problem is getting worse, and the biggest jump over 15 years was in Oklahoma, according to a new federal report issued Thursday.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Union Station in downtown Los Angeles has reopened after a bomb scare forced a temporary shutdown of the bus, train and subway hub.
CHICO, Calif. (AP) - Chico State University suspended all Greek activities Thursday after the death of a student who drank too much alcohol while celebrating his 21st birthday.
SAN DIEGO (AP) - The nation's eighth-largest city has elected a veteran congressman as its first Democratic mayor in two decades.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A review of the Los Angeles Fire Department's response times has found that the agency used inaccurate data from its 30-year-old computerized dispatch network that should not be relied upon until they are recalculated.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The struggling U.S. Postal Service on Thursday reported an annual loss of a record $15.9 billion and forecast more red ink in 2013, capping a tumultuous year in which it was forced to default on billions in payments to avert bankruptcy.
PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) - Ahead of a judge's decision on whether to release Oscar Pistorius on bail, South African police on Thursday appointed a new chief detective in the murder case, replacing a veteran policeman who was himself charged with attempted murder.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Nominations morning last month revealed major surprises for the Academy Awards, promising one of the most wide-open campaigns ever for Hollywood's highest honors.
ISLAMABAD (AP) - At least half the Afghan Taliban recently freed from Pakistani prisons have rejoined the insurgency, a Pakistani intelligence official says, throwing into question the value of such goodwill gestures that the Afghan government requested to restart a flagging peace process.
LAS VEGAS (AP) - The Las Vegas Strip became a scene of deadly violence early Thursday when someone in a black Range Rover opened fire on a Maserati at a stoplight, sending it crashing into a taxi that burst into flames, leaving three people dead and at least six injured.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A group of San Francisco Star Wars fans who want to travel to a galaxy not that far away have created a combat choreography class for Jedis-in-training with their weapon of choice: the lightsaber.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration is quietly considering urging the Supreme Court to overturn California's ban on gay marriage, a step that would mark a political victory for advocates of same-sex unions and a deepening commitment by President Barack Obama to rights for gay couples.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The U.S. Justice Department and the five Gulf coast states affected by a massive oil spill nearly three years ago have indicated they would like to settle their environmental and economic claims with BP PLC ahead of a trial scheduled to start next week.
THOMSON, Ga. (AP) - Federal and local authorities were investigating Thursday after a small jet crashed off the end of a runway at a Georgia airport, killing five people and injuring two.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Canadian tourist Elisa Lam had been missing for about two weeks when officials at the historic Cecil Hotel in downtown Los Angeles found her body in a water cistern on the hotel roof.
ST. LOUIS (AP) - Much of the nation's heartland awoke Thursday to heavy snow, treacherous roads and a day off from work or school as a large, potentially dangerous winter storm pushed eastward out of the Rockies.
TUSTIN, Calif. (AP) - The first of three people killed in a gunman's rampage was identified Wednesday as a 20-year-old woman but police did not know why she was in the home of the shooter, who lived with his parents and was described by authorities as a video game-playing loner.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Bolivian President Evo Morales said Wednesday that he was unable to meet with his friend and ally Hugo Chavez when he came to the military hospital in Caracas where the Venezuelan president is undergoing unspecified cancer treatment.