Archive By Section - Signal AP
Social Security fast-tracks rare disease claims
WASHINGTON (AP) - In an effort to ease the burden of being stricken with a debilitating condition, the Social Security Administration is expanding a program that fast-tracks disability claims by people who get serious illnesses such as cancer, early-onset Alzheimer's and Lou Gehrig's disease - claims that could take months or years to approve in the past.
Cadet quits, cites overt religion at West Point
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - A cadet quitting West Point less than six months before graduation says he could no longer be part of a culture that promotes prayers and religious activities and disrespects nonreligious cadets.
Keaton honored at Women in Entertainment breakfast
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) - When Diane Keaton learned she would receive the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award, the 66-year-old actress immediately began panicking about her speech.
Dave Brubeck, legend who helped define jazz, dies
You don't have to be a jazz aficionado to recognize "Take Five," the smoky instrumental by the Dave Brubeck Quartet that instantly evokes swinging bachelor pads, hi-fi systems and cool nightclubs of the 1950s and '60s.
NY subway victim's daughter: 'What's done is done'
NEW YORK (AP) - The daughter of a man pushed in front of a subway train and photographed a split-second before his death said Wednesday after a suspect was arrested that it "would have been great" if someone had helped her father up but "what's done is done."
Hunters find bodies believed to be Iowa cousins
EVANSDALE, Iowa (AP) - Hunters found two bodies Wednesday believed to be those of young Iowa cousins who vanished five months ago while riding their bikes near a lake, authorities said.
Hundreds line up at California for work in Canada
INDIO, Calif. (AP) - Hundreds of people looking for work have shown up at a Southern California job fair in hopes of landing construction jobs in Canada.
California sheriff vows no spying with use of drone
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - A Northern California sheriff has vowed that his department won't use an aerial drone to spy on ordinary people, but civil liberties groups say there still needs to be some guidelines to ensure privacy.
Official: Iran has evidence it captured U.S. drone
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran has material evidence to prove that it has captured an American unmanned aircraft, a prominent lawmaker in Tehran said Wednesday, rejecting U.S. Navy statements that none of its drones in the region was missing.
Fast-growing fish may never wind up on your plate
WASHINGTON (AP) - Salmon that's been genetically modified to grow twice as fast as normal could soon show up on your dinner plate. That is, if the company that makes the fish can stay afloat.
Obama warns against another debt ceiling fight
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama warned Republicans on Wednesday against picking another fight over the nation's debt ceiling, telling business leaders that it's "not a game that I will play."
Royal pregnancy highlights succession issues
LONDON (AP) - The business of monarchy has always been stacked in favor of men. Not any more - or so the British government promises.
100,000 protest at Egypt's presidential palace
CAIRO (AP) - More than 100,000 Egyptians protested outside the presidential palace in Cairo on Tuesday, fueling tensions over Islamist leader Mohammed Morsi's seizure of nearly unrestricted powers and the adoption by his allies of a controversial draft constitution.
US home prices rise in October by most in 6 years
WASHINGTON (AP) - A measure of U.S. home prices rose 6.3 percent in October compared with a year ago, the largest yearly gain since July 2006. The jump adds to signs of a comeback in the once-battered housing market.
Sick girl sought after mom takes her from hospital
PHOENIX (AP) - Emily has leukemia. She just underwent a month of chemotherapy and had her right arm amputated after suffering complications. Doctors say she is at risk of dying from an infection.
Articles by Section - Signal AP
Frantic 911 call leads to 3 missing women in Ohio
CLEVELAND (AP) - The woman's voice was frantic and breathless, and she was choking back tears. "Help me. I'm Amanda Berry," she told a 911 dispatcher. "I've been kidnapped and I've been missing for 10 years and I'm, I'm here, I'm free now."
'Iron Man 3' finishes with $174.1M opening weekend
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Disney's Marvel Studios continues to mine precious metal with a $174.1 million opening weekend for "Iron Man 3," the second-biggest domestic debut ever behind the $200-million-plus launch of "The Avengers" a year ago.
Groups want details on license plate readers
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Two privacy rights groups questioning law enforcement's use of automated license plate readers asked a judge Monday to order the Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to provide more details on how they use the technology.
Limo driver: Fire took 3 minutes to claim 5 lives
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP) - First came the tapping. Over the blasting music, limo driver Orville Brown heard someone in the backseat knock on the partition behind him, saying something about smoke. No smoking allowed, he told the crowd of partying women.
Mass. funeral director chasing burial offers
BOSTON (AP) - A Massachusetts funeral director said Monday he has received burial offers for more than 100 out-of-state graves for the body of a Boston Marathon bombing suspect who was killed in a gun battle with police but none are panning out, even as Tamerlan Tsarnaev's mother told him she wants the body returned to Russia.
UPDATE:Senate passes bill letting states tax online sales
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate sided with traditional retailers and financially strapped state and local governments Monday by passing a bill that would widely subject online shopping - for many a largely tax-free frontier - to state sales taxes.
Former Calif. mortician gets 25-to-life sentence
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A former mortician was sentenced Monday to 25 years to life in prison for plotting to kill a funeral business rival in a decades-old case that initially resulted in an unusual sentence of lifetime probation.
Calif. crews mop up wildfire as rain falls
CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) - Rain showers moved across Southern California on Monday, dousing remnants of a wildfire that blackened thousands of acres in coastal mountains and bringing much-needed moisture to a region left parched by a dry winter.
Calif agency says PG&E should pay $2.25B for blast
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The California agency investigating the deadly 2010 gas pipeline explosion in a San Francisco Bay Area neighborhood recommended Monday that Pacific Gas & Electric Co. pay a $2.25 billion fine for its negligence leading up to the blast.
Lauryn Hill gets 3 months for failing to pay taxes
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Grammy-winning singer Lauryn Hill has been sentenced to three months in prison for failing to pay taxes on about $1 million in earnings.
What happened in limo that burst into flames?
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP) - Authorities searched for answers Monday in the fire that roared through a limousine packed with women celebrating a girls' night out, hoping to learn what sparked the blaze and why the dead could not escape the fast-spreading flames that turned a luxury car into a deadly inferno.
East about to be overrun by billions of cicadas
WASHINGTON (AP) - Any day now, billions of cicadas with bulging red eyes will crawl out of the earth after 17 years underground and overrun the East Coast. The insects will arrive in such numbers that people from North Carolina to Connecticut will be outnumbered roughly 600-to-1. Maybe more.
Could immigration bill set off another backlash?
WASHINGTON (AP) - As a Senate committee prepares to begin voting this week on far-reaching immigration legislation, advocates are watching warily to see whether relatively tame opposition balloons into the kind of fierce resistance that killed Congress' last attempt to overhaul the system.
Cause of Camarillo wildfire appears accidental
CAMARILLO (AP) - Investigators say the cause of a huge wildfire burning through Southern California's coastal mountains appears to be accidental.
Obama to launch series of trips on economic plans
WASHINGTON (AP) - Immigration, guns and national security are dominating the discussion on Capitol Hill, but Americans by and large are still focused on their bottom line. So President Barack Obama is launching a series of quick jaunts around the country to remind Americans he's still got jobs and the economy on his mind.
