HOUSTON (AP) - A Texas man has been charged with murder in the fatal shooting at a crash scene of a suspected drunken driver who authorities say plowed into his sons as they helped push their family's broken-down pickup truck along a dark, narrow, rural road.
PHOENIX (AP) - A woman charged with killing her lover broke down in tears Monday as she described for jurors how her relationship with the victim included satisfying his "deviant" sexual urges and how he once beat her, kicked her in the ribs and broke her finger.
Pope Benedict XVI set clear and ambitious goals for his papacy quickly after he was elected: He hoped to re-evangelize the increasingly secular West. He would show that religious faith and reason could co-exist in the modern world. He would reach out to traditionalists who had split from the church and shore up Catholic identity.
NEW YORK (AP) - The zombies keep getting stronger. AMC's hit "The Walking Dead" set a series record Sunday night with 12.3 million viewers. The show was returning from a hiatus, and the Nielsen Co. said it beats the series' previous record of 10.9 million for its third season debut last October. More than half of Sunday's viewers, or 7.7 million, were in the youthful demographic of people ages 18 to 49. Nielsen says a ...
NEW YORK (AP) - If you don't like coffee or tea, Mountain Dew has a new breakfast drink that might perk you up.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - An attorney representing two women accidentally hit by police gunfire during the hunt for a fugitive ex-police officer says he expects the city of Los Angeles to pay his clients for their trauma or else face a federal lawsuit.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Gov. Jerry Brown has begun aggressively challenging federal court oversight of California's prison system by highlighting what he says is a costly conflict of interest: The private law firms representing inmates and the judges' own hand-picked authorities benefit financially by keeping the cases alive.
LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. (AP) - The Pentagon for the first time is considering scaling back the massive buildup of drones it has overseen in the past few years, both to save money and to adapt to changing security threats and an increased focus on Asia as the Afghanistan war winds down.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - The California Highway Patrol and other statewide traffic safety groups have created a set of written guidelines on motorcycle "lane-splitting," the at-times hair-splitting maneuver that allows riders to legally pass vehicles in adjacent lanes by driving between them.
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) - A satellite launched into space Monday will keep closer tabs on Earth's glaciers, crops, forests and shorelines, continuing a tradition that began four decades ago.
HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (AP) - As waves lapped in the background, the pianist tapped out Schumann, Debussy and Chopin at sunset, on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean where he had planned to let the baby grand succumb to the elements.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Reviving his populist re-election message, President Barack Obama will press a politically-divided Congress to approve more tax increases and fewer spending cuts during a State of the Union address focused on stabilizing the middle class and repairing the still-wobbly economy.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) - A remote southern Philippine town has gone into mourning over the death of the world's largest saltwater crocodile in captivity, even though it was blamed for the deaths of several villagers.
WASHINGTON (AP) - One in five consumers had an error in a credit report issued by a major agency, according to a government study released Monday.
HOUSTON (AP) - Passengers aboard a cruise vessel stranded in the Gulf of Mexico had limited access to hot coffee, food and bathrooms on Monday as they waited for two tugboats to arrive to tow them to Mexico, Carnival Cruise Lines said in a statement.
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.