WASHINGTON (AP) - The House and Senate ushered in a new Congress Thursday, hewing to tradition and hailing one of its own who returned a year after being felled by a stroke.
MARION, Mass. (AP) - A stray cat that spent at least a week stuck in a Massachusetts tree before plunging 80 feet to the ground and fleeing has been found, and all things considered, appears to be in good health.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Al-Jazeera, the Pan-Arab news channel that struggled to win space on American cable television, has acquired Current TV, boosting its reach in the U.S. nearly ninefold to about 40 million homes. With a focus on U.S. news, it plans to rebrand the left-leaning news network that cofounder Al Gore couldn't make relevant.
ELLSWORTH, Maine (AP) - A signed copy of a rare Stephen King book is up for auction at a Maine bookstore, with proceeds going to a nearby homeless shelter's emergency home heating fund.
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) - Pennsylvania's governor, in a challenge to the NCAA's powers, claimed in a lawsuit Wednesday that college sports' governing body overstepped its authority and "piled on" when it penalized Penn State over the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress' hectic resolution of the "fiscal cliff" crisis is the latest in a long series of decisions by lawmakers and the White House to do less than promised - and to ask Americans for little sacrifice - in confronting the nation's burgeoning debt.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Google's executive chairman is preparing to travel to one of the last frontiers of cyberspace: North Korea.
JASPER, Ala. (AP) - A teen pilot killed along with two friends in an Alabama plane crash had his own key to the aircraft and had flown it many times, his mother said Wednesday, denying authorities' assertion that the plane had been taken without permission.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Under intense pressure from angry Republicans, House Speaker John Boehner agreed Wednesday to a vote this week on aid for Superstorm Sandy recovery.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - A Kansas man who donated sperm to a lesbian couple after answering an online ad is fighting the state's efforts to suddenly force him to pay child support for the now 3-year-old girl, arguing that he and the women signed an agreement waiving all of his parental rights.
BEIRUT (AP) - The United Nations gave a grim new count Wednesday of the human cost of Syria's civil war, saying the death toll has exceeded 60,000 in 21 months - far higher than recent estimates by anti-regime activists.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was released from a New York hospital on Wednesday, three days after doctors discovered a blood clot in her head.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Under intense pressure from angry Republicans, House Speaker John Boehner agreed Wednesday to a vote this week on aid for Superstorm Sandy recovery.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - California's centuries-old Spanish missions are getting cutting-edge 3D treatment.
WHITTIER, Calif. (AP) - The case of a body found in concrete at a Southern California business has led to a murder charge against a 45-year-old man.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Efforts to curb global warming have quietly shifted as greenhouse gases inexorably rise.
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) - A jury has awarded $55 million to a Southern California man who lost his legs because he claims a private security firm's guard failed to protect him from gang members who shot him at an apartment building.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Lauren Grey didn't think much about the gender recorded on her Illinois driver's license until she went to test-drive a new car. Although she had been living as a woman for months and easily obtained a license with her new name and a picture reflecting her feminine appearance, Grey's ID still identified her as male, puzzling the salesmen and prompting uncomfortable questions.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - A Colorado sheriff says firefighters "are getting the upper hand" on the most destructive wildfire in state history as crews expanded containment with no new houses lost.
OXNARD, Calif. (AP) - More charges have been filed against a former Oxnard commissioner accused of child sex abuse.
WILLITS, Calif. (AP) - Health officials plan to keep closer watch on a Burger King restaurant in Mendocino County where a customer reported getting a cheeseburger with a 2-inch-long razor blade in it.
SACRAMENTO (AP) - The Legislature passed a major piece of the federal Affordable Care Act on Saturday, opting to expand Medicaid to 1.4 million low-income Californians, as it rushed to meet its deadline to complete a state budget.
ONTARIO, Calif. (AP) - Three people have been injured in Ontario after police say a suspected drunken driver sped through a DUI checkpoint and crashed into another vehicle.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A Southern California developer is under investigation for allegedly tapping his firm's attorneys and daughters to launder illegal campaign contributions to Los Angeles County Assessor John Noguez.
BREA, Calif. (AP) - A math teacher in Orange County has been arrested for investigation of having sex with one of her students.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Danielle Powell was going through a hard time in the spring of 2011, just months away from graduating from a conservative Christian college in Nebraska. She had fallen in love with another woman, a strictly forbidden relationship at a school where even prolonged hugs were banned.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's reformist-backed presidential candidate surged to a wide lead in a partial vote count Saturday, a top official said, suggesting a flurry of late support could have swayed a race that once appeared solidly in the hands of Tehran's ruling clerics.
LAS VEGAS (AP) - A Las Vegas businessman who developed the Grand Canyon Skywalk glass bridge in northwestern Arizona and later became entangled in legal battles about it has died in Los Angeles, a company representative said Friday.
LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. (AP) - A diamond wedding ring that was mistakenly sold at a community yard sale has been returned to its owner.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) - Paynter won the $63,866 feature at Betfair Hollywood Park by 4½ lengths Friday in his return to racing after a nearly 11-month layoff because of serious health issues.