OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - A new policy in Alameda County is instructing prosecutors to consider filing lesser criminal charges for some legal immigrants in an effort to avoid convictions with mandatory deportation.
ATLANTA (AP) - Lawyers on both sides of a battle over a Florida law requiring welfare applicants to pass a drug test appeared before a federal appeals court Thursday, presenting technical arguments about constitutional protections against unreasonable searches.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits dropped 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 363,000 last week, a level consistent with modest hiring.
WASHINGTON (AP) - A flurry of reports Thursday showed that U.S. consumers are growing more confident and spending more, boosting a still-weak economy just five days before the presidential election.
U.S. stocks rose strongly Thursday following positive reports about manufacturing and consumer confidence, two keys elements of the economic recovery.
ROANOKE, Va. (AP) - Presidential politics reignited in the wake of natural disaster Thursday, with the candidates beginning their full-throttle closing arguments with new vigor on the same pocketbook concerns that have dominated the campaign from the start.
UNION, Wash. (AP) - A flooding river covered a road in Washington, allowing some migrating salmon to swim across the pavement.
XILINHOT, China (AP) - In a small town in northern China's Inner Mongolia where sheep and cattle easily outnumber humans, Fan Chen paid a Communist Party boss three times an average urban resident's annual salary to become a local police chief.
PHOENIX (AP) - A Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Phoenix home that had been slated for demolition will apparently survive under a new owner.
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - A smog-like haze that hung over part of Alaska's Kodiak Island this week was courtesy of a volcanic eruption - 100 years ago.
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) - Donnie Lee Roberts, convicted in his girlfriend's 2003 slaying in Texas, was executed Wednesday for fatally shooting the woman and taking items from her home to sell or trade to support his drug habit.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Flames from a derailed train car sent people rushing out of neighborhoods and an entire town near Louisville on Wednesday while firefighters tried to douse the chemical blaze that left three workers badly burned.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Greece's government on Wednesday outlined the new austerity measures it intends to take over the next two years, a series of painful spending cuts and tax hikes that its international bailout creditors are demanding in exchange for rescue loans.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Brad Pitt has agreed to donate $100,000 to help the Human Rights Campaign raise money for its efforts to support same-sex marriage initiatives in several states.
BEIRUT (AP) - Syrian warplanes fired missiles at opposition strongholds around Damascus and in the north on Wednesday as Turkey, a key backer of the anti-regime rebels, appeared to distance itself from an earlier call to impose a no-fly zone.
CHICAGO (AP) - An 18-year-old Chicago woman was killed just hours after her sister sat on the stage at President Barack Obama's speech about gun violence at an area school.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Republicans and Democrats alike on Sunday predicted President Barack Obama would fail if he pushed forward with his own effort to overhaul the nation's immigration system and urged the administration to hold off while lawmakers work on a bipartisan measure.
BRYAN, Texas (AP) - Two Central Texas firefighters are in serious but stable condition as investigators try to determine what sparked a lodge hall fire that killed two colleagues.
HOUSTON (AP) - Terrence Ross had to settle his nerves at the start of the All-Star dunk contest. By the end, he was calming down a ball boy he needed as a prop for his winning slam.
AMARILLO, Texas (AP) - Stanley Marsh 3, an eccentric millionaire artist best known for his "Cadillac Ranch" art display along an interstate in the Texas Panhandle, has settled lawsuits from 10 teenagers who allege he paid them for sex acts, attorneys announced Saturday.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Bruce Willis remains a die-hard at the box office.
BAGHDAD (AP) - Car bombs tore through shopping areas within minutes of each other in mainly Shiite neighborhoods of the Iraqi capital on Sunday, killing at least 37 people and wounding more than 100.
BRYAN, Texas (AP) - Two Texas fire lieutenants have died of burns after battling a lodge hall fire, a city official said Saturday.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Hyla Merin grew up without a father and for a long time never knew why.
MIAMI (AP) - A byzantine maze of maritime rules and regulations, fragmented oversight and a patchwork quilt of nations that do business with cruise lines make it tough for consumers to assess the health and safety record of the ship they're about to board in what for many is the vacation of a lifetime.
HOUSTON (AP) - Billy Hunter was ousted from his job as executive director of the union in a unanimous vote by NBA players who said Saturday they will "no longer be divided, misled, misinformed."
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) - Passengers of the Carnival Triumph tried to put the memories of their nightmarish cruise behind them Friday, boarding buses and planes for home after five harrowing days aboard a vessel adrift at sea without power or working toilets.
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) - Clayton Kershaw was selected Saturday as the Los Angeles Dodgers' opening day starter and will become the team's first pitcher to start three straight openers since Derek Lowe from 2005-07.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Dozens of protesters rallied outside Los Angeles police headquarters in support of Christopher Dorner, the ex-LAPD officer and suspected killer of four who died after a shootout and fire this week at a mountain cabin.